The first time Frank Lampard left Chelsea, it felt an ending marred by ingratitude. News emerged, not in a glowing tribute to their record scorer and Champions League-winning captain, but in the form of the list of released players submitted to the Premier League.
That was in 2014. Jose Mourinho, the manager who had elevated Lampard to the rank of the second-best player in the world, ended up dropping him, discarding him and lining up his successor, Cesc Fabregas. Now Roman Abramovich, the owner who once lent Lampard his yacht, has sacked him. Even with a rare statement from the Russian, containing plenty of praise, it ranks as another undignified departure.
Brutal place, Stamford Bridge. The cast of characters coming and going, often in bloody fashion, lend it the feel of a soap opera. Lampard has gone from favourite son to casualty in the space of seven weeks. He may have overdone the references to Chelsea’s 17-game unbeaten run of late, but it meant they topped the table in early December.
Yet they will be 10th when they kick off against Wolves on Wednesday. Lampard’s past means he, more than anyone else, knows the fundamental rules of Chelsea. Failing to qualify for the Champions League is a sackable offence. The prospect of it tends to prompt a pre-emptive strike.
Lampard’s legendary status, his past as Chelsea’s greatest player, afforded no protection, but neither did the track record of success some of his predecessors boasted. Even Roberto Di Matteo and Avram Grant had more on their managerial CVs than Lampard when appointed; and, indeed, when dismissed.
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Other contenders for Chelsea job
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Former Paris St Germain coach Thomas Tuchel is reported to be top of Chelsea's wanted list following Frank Lampard's dismissal on Monday. Tuchel was sacked by PSG in December after two-and-a-half seasons in charge, winning the league twice and reaching the 2020 Champions League final, which they lost to Bayern Munich. Before that the 47-year-old managed Borussia Dortmund for two seasons, winning the Germany Cup in 2017. Getty -
Max Allegri is one of the favourites for the Stamford Bridge job, while also interesting Roma in Italy. Without a club since he left Juventus in the summer of 2019, where he won five consecutive Serie A titles and twice reached the final of the Champions League. AFP -
German Ralf Rangnick is reported to be on the Chelsea shortlist. The former RB Leipzig boss was even approached for an interim role with the Blues, according to The Athletic. One of the most highly influential coaches in the game, a spell at Chelsea would be intriguing. AFP -
Carlo Ancelotti, the current Everton manager, is never short of interest for his services. He has won 20 trophies during his career and is one of only three managers to win the European Cup or Uefa Champions League three times, doing so twice with AC Milan and once with Real Madrid. Hs also had spells at Paris Saint-Germain and of course Chelsea, leading them to their first Premier League and FA Cup double in 2010. Everton will not want him to leave. Getty -
Rafael Benitez is back on the market after recently leaving Chinese Super League club Dalian Professional. Managed Chelsea on an interim basis from November 2012 to May 2013, winning the Europa League, so knows his way around Stamford Bridge. Also managed Liverpool and Newcastle in the Premier League, and Valencia, Inter Milan, Napoli and Real Madrid are among his other high-profile roles. AP -
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba would certainly excite the fans, but remains a real outsider for the post after the failed experiment with his former teammate Lampard. Drogba scored 164 goals in 381 appearances in his two spells at Chelsea, the club's fourth all-time highest scorer. Won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups with the Blues - and scored the winning penalty when they won the Champions League final against Bayern in 2012. Getty
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But the lack of sentimentality and the swiftness of Lampard’s demise do not render this a surprise sacking. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mikel Arteta have survived worse slumps, but at different clubs.
It is not merely that Chelsea have lost five times in eight league games. It is the manner of the setbacks. Chelsea have had sorry starts, losing the first halves to Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester by an aggregate score of 8-0. They have looked unprepared and unmotivated.
It is hard to escape the sense that some of the players, with the honourable exception of his protege Mason Mount, gave up on Lampard or that some of his rhetoric consisted of blaming them. He strayed further from his strongest team, with recent odd selections betraying more desperation than inspiration.
He has been tactically outwitted by Pep Guardiola and Brendan Rodgers, two far more experienced managers. But perhaps that always threatened to be the case: Chelsea knew they were appointing a rookie.
Some failings of Lampard’s side – a weakness in transition and a susceptibility to the counter-attack – were recurring themes. Others were addressed: his team became far better at set-pieces this season.
Yet they regressed in defining games as expenditure raised expectations. They have only beaten one top-half team this season, in West Ham, while Abramovich’s nearly £300 million ($409m) outlay in a depressed market was designed to catapult Chelsea back to the summit.
Kai Havertz and Timo Werner became the flagship failures of Lampard’s Chelsea, two budding Galacticos who scarcely ranked in his best side. That, Chelsea seemingly concluded, was more his fault than theirs.
Perhaps he was a better manager with fewer elite players. Last season’s mitigating circumstances – the loss of Eden Hazard and Chelsea’s transfer ban, lumbered with Kepa Arrizabalaga, bequeathed the perpetual problem of Jorginho by Maurizio Sarri – forged a unique campaign in which, despite a poor defensive record, Lampard got more right than wrong.
The underachievement has come this year. But Chelsea’s plight may call for a proven manager. Lampard is not that, but then he never has been. He was an uncharacteristic appointment by Chelsea, but he has suffered a familiar fate.
