Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The tenure of Chelsea Football Club legend, Frank Lampard, at the Stamford Bridge as Head Coach of the team has ended as he has been sacked by the club.
Lampard, who spent more than 12 years at the London football outfit from 2001 to 2014, played as a midfielder and made 429 appearances, scoring 147 goals.
He returned to the club as manager in 2019 after he left Derby County.
However, he has struggled to guide his team to the glory days of when he was there as a player and his run of poor forms could no longer be accepted by the management, resulting in his sacking on Monday as confirmed in a statement on Chelsea’s website.
The owner of the club, Mr Roman Abramovich, described the decision to remove Lampard as manager of the team as “very difficult” especially because of the respect he has for the club legend.
However, he emphasised that allowing another person to manage the team was the best decision for all parties, thanking the former England international for his work ethics and efforts for Chelsea.
The Russian billionaire wished Lampard success in his future endeavours, stressing that the erstwhile coach, who he called “a man of great integrity”, will remain “an important icon of this great club and his status here remains undiminished [and] will always be warmly welcomed back at Stamford Bridge.”
The sacking of Lampard came barely 24 hours after the team won their FA Cup tie with Luton by 3-1. His removal had been expected since he started to struggle to win games, leaving the club on the 9th position on the Premier League table despite spending over £200 million last summer to bring some players to the Bridge, including Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
Meanwhile, former PSG manager, Thomas Tuchel, has been tipped to take charge of the West London club after the exit of Lampard.
The German was sacked by the French side just a month ago. He is highly experienced and had previously managed Borussia Dortmund for two seasons and won the Germany Cup in 2017.
Read the full statement below;
Chelsea Football Club have today parted company with Head Coach Frank Lampard.
This has been a very difficult decision, and not one that the owner and the Board have taken lightly.
We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as Head Coach of the Club. However, recent results and performances have not met the Club’s expectations, leaving the Club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement.
There can never be a good time to part ways with a club legend such as Frank, but after lengthy deliberation and consideration, it was decided a change is needed now to give the Club time to improve performances and results this season.
Roman Abramovich said,
“This was a very difficult decision for the Club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him.
“He is a man of great integrity and has the highest of work ethics. However, under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers.
“On behalf of everyone at the Club, the Board and personally, I would like to thank Frank for his work as Head Coach and wish him every success in the future. He is an important icon of this great club and his status here remains undiminished. He will always be warmly welcomed back at Stamford Bridge.”
The Club will be making no further comment until such time as a new Head Coach is appointed.
