The web is littered with speculation over Frank Lampard’s future as head coach at Chelsea Football Club, a job he has held for 544 days at the time of writing this piece, much of it pointing towards his sacking.
He is out of his depth for many, and for some, a clueless stubborn football coach riding on his achievements from his football playing days. A bit uncalled for, don’t you think?
For years, Abramovich’s citizenship woes have affected spend at Chelsea, many a time having speculation come to the fore about him looking even to sell the club. On the managerial end of things, after the second coming of Jose Mourinho and the subsequent now-expected Guus Hiddink sit-in in such situations, Abramovich went to Italy for managers twice, picking totally different kinds of managers both times in Conte and Sarri; a sign that there was simply no direction to the club, hoping and gambling on what could work.
The difference between this stint between 2016 and 2020 and those between 2004 and 2015 is that in the latter, Abramovich was quite clear he was seeking a UEFA Champions League title, and sacked anyone who failed to get this; he was ruthless. He has since got it, albeit from the most unexpected of coaches in Roberto Di Matteo.
Chelsea are no longer all about quick success. They are no longer about the Champions League or bust, not about the league title this year, or you are out… They are trying to build a dynasty, which makes the calls for Lampard’s sack very misinformed, especially now.
At every unveiling since Lampard was able to sign, Marina Granovskaia, Abramovich’s right-hand woman in charge of Chelsea, has stated something along the lines of top young talents for the future. For Kai Havertz, she told the Chelsea website, “Kai is one of the best players of his age in world football, so we are very happy that his future lies at Chelsea.” On Timo Werner, she said, “He is a player who was coveted all over Europe, and it is no surprise, he has that rare mix of being young and exciting and yet established and proven.” Similar quotes can be seen in line with the Chilwell deal, especially the contract renewals for Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Tammy Abraham.
Therefore, it would be pointless at best to let go of the man who has engineered this. This man did this while integrating his backroom staff with some of the most successful underage Chelsea coaches (Jody Morris) and hiring some of the most highly rated ones (Anthony Barry). This same coaching unit, bar Barry that joined this year, went out and earned Champions League football through a season opened on account of a transfer ban. Further testament to how big of a project this is is that Chelsea still went the January 2019 window inactive despite being free to sign new players because the right deal hadn’t come, signaling the presence of an actual plan being in place.
I reckon, like my pinned tweet goes, Frank Lampard is going to go on and succeed as Chelsea FC manager, and will be a legend in that regard too, as he is in the player one. He’ll also become the longest-serving manager of the Roman Abramovich era! Mark this article!
Discussion about this post