After being fired in January for the second time in three years, Frank Lampard is experiencing a very familiar emotion.
Less than a year after Rafael Benitez’s replacement, Everton announced that former England international would be stepping down from his position as manager. At the conclusion of his first season in charge, Lampard helped the Toffees avoid relegation. But he has been unable to turn things around with his team stuck in the relegation zone.
And Lampard also was told he was leaving Goodison Park after a humiliating loss to West Ham. His most recent setback occurs nearly two years after his traumatic firing as Chelsea manager. Despite winning his final game in charge, Lampard was fired toward the close of the January transfer window.
“This has been a very difficult decision, and not one that the owner and the board have taken lightly,”
the statement read.
Furthermore, the Blues fired Frank Lampard after a run of just one victory in his final five league games. That caused them to fall to ninth in the standings. Similar like to Merseyside, the Chelsea great enjoyed a successful debut season in charge. Lampard leads the Blues to a top-four finish despite a transfer ban.
But when Roman Abramovich, the club’s previous owner, saw the opportunity to hire Thomas Tuchel, it didn’t really matter. Pep Guardiola offered the dejected Lampard a kind offer at the time, as well as exposing him to the hard realities of life as a top manager.
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Pep Guardiola and his message to Frank Lampard
“People talk about projects and ideas, but they don’t exist – you have to win or you’ll be sacked,”
he said.
“I respect the decision by Chelsea, but hopefully I can see Frank soon, take him to a restaurant to see him again when lockdown is over.”
Guardiola had already commended Lampard for his debut game as a Premier League manager, so that wasn’t the first time he had gotten in touch with the Chelsea manager. Manchester United really defeated Chelsea 4-0, but Guardiola was nonetheless thrilled and gave Lampard a voicemail.
“He’s so great with managers, Pep, behind the scenes the things he does with the LMA, helping other managers. He’s sent me voice notes,”
Frank Lampard explained on the Overlap Extra.
“I don’t like giving away private conversations but in my first game as Chelsea manager we lost at Man United 4-0. We played well for 60 minutes, then got done on the counter, then bang, bang, 2, 3, it was 4-0.“
“Then we lost to Liverpool in the Super Cup. Played well, lost on penalties… I was on the plane on the way back from the game, a little bit disheartened.”
“Got a voice note from him, saying the way my team played was incredible, loved watching it, really positive chat. The voice note deleted itself though.”
Furthermore, he added:
“I wanted to get home and say, ‘listen to this, Pep said I’m a good manager’. Little touches like that, make an impression on you. Sometimes you get caught up in your own world and don’t see things. He’s doing the business and sends you a voice note like that, it was special.”
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