Chelsea Football Club is almost unrecognizable. Just a year ago, the club was taken over by a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, behind which is the billion-managing investment firm Clearlake. And during this time, the new bosses have not only replaced all managers and half the professional team, including two coaches with the German Thomas Tuchel in September 2022 and the Englishman Graham Potter at the beginning of the week. But also the club culture of secrecy and discretion established by previous owner Roman Abramowitsch over almost two decades.
Instead, Chelsea, spoiled by success, has developed into a conspicuous, almost boastful football company, analogous to the bustling appearance of the American Boehly. The reorientation is so striking that even the fans’ sense of belonging seems to be waning. The condition is reinforced by the crash to eleventh place in the Premier League. Chelsea have only scored 29 goals in 29 league games, fewer at the same time only in 1922 and 1924. The dangerous alienation seems to have caught the eye of even the confident Boehly. In order to stop them, he now named club legend Frank Lampard, who is very familiar to the supporters, as caretaker manager.
Three days after Potter’s ouster, Chelsea confirmed on Thursday that Lampard will take over the side until the end of the season. The league catch-up game on Tuesday (0-0 against Liverpool) was coached by the Spaniard Bruno Saltor, Potter’s longtime assistant in Brighton, who had never been responsible for a football game before. Surprisingly, Lampard also attended this match. He sat in the stands with the owners and watched the game so intently that it was almost clear he would join Chelsea. Lampard is reportedly allowed to bring three assistants for the two-month stint, including his former Chelsea team-mate Ashley Cole.
Speaking at a hastily arranged press conference, Frank Lampard, 44, said it was “easy” for him to sign up because Chelsea are his club and he has “a lot of emotions and feelings” for him. The former midfielder once won all relevant titles with the Blues in 13 years as a player, with 211 goals in 648 competitive games he is the club’s record scorer. After spending a year at second division side Derby County when he first started coaching, Lampard returned to Chelsea in the summer of 2019 as a novice in the profession.
For Lampard, the commitment is an unexpected opportunity
After a year and a half, however, the club then sacked him due to lack of success and replaced him with Tuchel (who then led the team directly to the Champions League title). In the course of a transfer ban, Lampard should build a team with many young players. He succeeded, but his sometimes rough handling of the players, his apparently immature detailed knowledge as a coach and his obviously wrong self-perception led to the end. A similar certificate was recently issued to him after less than a year at Everton FC
Therefore, Lampard’s brief stint at Chelsea represents an unexpected opportunity to improve his reputation as a manager. With Chelsea’s already bleak season prospects, the risk for him is limited. He doesn’t have to be considerate when it comes to personnel decisions in the bloated squad. Rather, he could surprise positively if his team manages to assert themselves against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals. Chelsea’s premier class triumphs in 2012 and 2021 were preceded by a change of coach, and in 2012 the club even won the pot with former Chelsea player Roberto Di Matteo.
Nagelsmann and Enrique are traded as possible coaches in the long term
Most importantly, the interim solution gives the club time to continue the “thorough and complete process” of finding a new manager for next season, as stated in the statement. Chelsea are said to be tapping the interest of several candidates, including Julian Nagelsmann, who has just been deposed at FC Bayern, as well as former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique.
As expected, the fans have welcomed Lampard’s return. Unlike his predecessor Potter, his playing career gives him the charisma that the discerning crowd at Stamford Bridge is always longing for. The media also commented on the decision largely benevolently, Chelsea are now the only world club to continue to be looked after by an Englishman.
Lampard was once unable to find a suitable position for Kai Havertz
But what about the players? On the one hand, Lampard established several junior players in the pros during his first time at Chelsea, including Reece James and Mason Mount, who was recently neglected under Potter. They should be in a good mood for him, like left-back Ben Chilwell, whose signing he had played a key role in promoting. At the same time, a not inconsiderable part of the squad is probably not that good on him. At the time, Lampard fired the current goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and also failed to find a suitable position for DFB offensive all-rounder Kai Havertz. And he demoted the club’s respected defender Antonio Rudiger, who now plays for Real Madrid, because he was patently suspicious of his influence on the team. So Frank Lampard’s squad change this season is certainly not inconvenient to start reasonably unencumbered.
However, his main task will be to unite the divided and haunted club – while bringing fans and owners closer together.