The Blues icon spent 13 years at Stamford Bridge as a player, becoming the club’s record goal-scorer in the process, before trying his hand at management in west London to much less success
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Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has shed light on the way he was dismissed from his post as the club’s manager at the beginning of this year.
The ex-Blues midfielder enjoyed over a decade at the club before making the switch to Manchester City, calling time on his playing career after a brief spell at New York City.
After a first managerial gig at Championship side Derby County, Lampard was entrusted with the responsibility of taking charge of his former side through a particularly turbulent period that involved a two-window transfer ban.
Having secured Champions League qualification in his first term, things quickly soured around the festive period of his second campaign at the helm.
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Lampard oversaw some heavy spending in the summer of 2020, enticing the likes of Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech to Stamford Bridge as well as Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr.
The accumulative total of seven new additions came to a whopping £220m, meaning the pressure was firmly on Lampard to guide the Blues to a title tilt – yet performances on the pitch were some way off the required standard.
As a result, the former England international was sacked from his role as Chelsea manager at the turn of the calendar year, replaced by ex-Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel.
Lampard has since given an insight into how he was relieved of his duties by those at the top of the Chelsea hierarchy.
Speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap, the former Blues boss explained: “We had beaten Luton Town in the FA Cup fourth round, and it was the next morning – I got a text from [chairman] Bruce Buck saying can you move training and come and meet us in the boardroom.
“You know that first message as well, you wake up and think ‘let’s have a flick through Instagram – I’m joking but once the club make that decision, there’s no nice way to do it.
“They said can you come and meet us in the boardroom, I knew straightaway there is no nice way of doing that, there may be different ways of etiquette but at the end of the day results are the same.”
He went on to give details of the following meeting with Buck and Director Marina Granovskaia, revealing: “When I met Bruce and Marina, it was very cordial – I knew what was coming then.
“Not at the time but I was thankful for the period, you understand what it is – they are going to move on and there is nothing you can do about it, I’ve never been in that position before and it was a little bit surreal at the time, but it is what is.
“When you take the job, you understand that call may come, unless you are winning back to back titles that’s going to happen.”
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