The Man in The Shed

25^th January 2021 – Why ?

Why did Chelsea appoint Frank Lampard ?

I am a Chelsea fan of 50+ years, a Londoner and a season ticket holder. I regard myself as a fan although not a die-hard one (I was in Moscow and Munich) but family commitments mean my attendance is generally limited to home games. So like many Chelsea supporters I am really hurting right now. 

For the first time in over 20 years we had an English manager, a playing legend and a very intelligent man coaching our men's first team. He was idolised as a player to the point where he was the main reason players wanted to join our club. So this appealed to the hearts of many - including me. The romantic side of football.

But 21st century football is a multi-billion pound industry and those who own top tier clubs are ruthless when it comes to their investments. All fans are constantly reminded how much money is at stake being in the Premier league. Those that aspire to operate at the top of the Premier league also know the sizable revenue increase that European football adds to the pot.

So when it comes to selecting a manager there are a number of factors considered. Risk assessments and considerations of "the downside" - i.e. if the newly announced saviour turns out to be a complete disaster.

In the summer of 2019, losing your best player and unable to bring in any new ones what do you do ? You've spent millions creating one of the best youth development systems in the country but despite winning youth trophies aplenty, none of the players had established themselves in the team. Of course whilst the romantic notion is to develop your own players Chelsea are clearly a production factory where these "assets" all have intrinsic value which needs to be maintained to generate additional income.

There are no obvious, established big hitters sitting at home waiting for a new job (Big Sam was surely never an option) so what do you do ?

You needed to send a message to existing and future top young footballers that Chelsea was still the place to be. But this becomes a hard sell when you have no evidence of how you make it to the first team (with John Terry now retired the evidence is sparse).

You needed someone with the ability or reputation to attract new players as soon as the transfer circus and early "contacts" are being made for future windows.

You needed someone who was media-friendly (Jose was a winner but made every other team's fans hate Chelsea).

And you needed somebody who would not be moaning after every defeat that this was not his team and would have brought in better players.

So Frank seemed to tick all of these boxes. He was confident to use Chelsea youth products (at Derby), he had the pulling power (much stronger than I realised at the time), the intelligence to handle media work and he was realistic about what the 2019 squad was capable of.

For once I believe the Chelsea board actually had reasonable expectations for the 19-20 season - and Frank actually hit the top of the range of what was possible. More minutes for youth products than ever, a cup final and Champions League qualification.

But of course what of the downsides ? The board knew that Frank Lampard the player would be a draw for transfer targets. Almost every new player who arrived last summer gave him as a key factor in why they chose Chelsea. So even if this season went badly we'd still have a squad full of top talent under contract; they just needed to revert to type, sack the manager and find another "winner" (you only have to look at the way the club used Rudiger to pester his German teammates only to make him an outcast once they'd both signed).

Frank made mistakes, he was only in his second year of management for fecks sake and he was honest enough to admit that. But I believe that he was just what Chelsea needed in 2019. I'm sure the board hoped he would grow into the job as the new players began to settle but as soon as the wheels started to wobble they lost their nerve.

Thomas Tuchel might seem like a suitable replacement (a German to get the expensive German players firing) and a man with a high win ratio but his appointment will probably kill off youth products in the squad and he is not a media friendly person. I'd give him 12 months at most.

If I were John Terry right now my heart would still be set on the Chelsea job in the future. But my head would tell me not to consider it until Roman Abramovich had sold the club.

Goodbye Frank and thanks. Perhaps after a few more years in management you will be ready for Chelsea and hopefully Chelsea will be ready for you. I think you were the right choice for the club in 2019 but the reservations the board held at the start came back with a bang.

I hope you prove them wrong.