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Chelsea sent shockwaves across the world after they made the decision to sack former Blues midfielder Frank Lampard on Monday after just 18 months in charge of the club.
The decision comes after Chelsea found themselves languishing in 9th place in the Premier League table at the midway mark of the season, having amassed a mere 29 points and after losing 5 of their last 8 league games.
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Frank Lampard becomes Roman Abramovich's 14th managerial change in 17 years in charge of Chelsea, and given the Englishman's iconic status at the club, his most controversial.
Innocence quickly turned into expectations for Frank Lampard at Chelsea following a summer splurge
Between Frank Lampard's appointment at the club in July 2019 and his eventual departure in January 2021, circumstances around Chelsea have become remarkably different.
The Englishman came into Chelsea during a particularly sticky period for the club after Italian manager Maurizio Sarri departed for Juventus despite winning the Europa League the previous season and talisman Eden Hazard transferred to Real Madrid.
The Blues were also unable to replace Hazard, due to a transfer embargo imposed by FIFA, which was subsequently removed 6 months later.
Lampard, therefore, had to turn to the up-and-coming academy players at the club, many of whom had been neglected due to the big-name signings the West London club made under Abramovich.
Frank Lampard- with assistant manager Jody Morris - delivered this target with significant success. The 42-year-old started at least one academy graduate in every single competitive fixture he was in charge of, leaving behind a streak of 89 matches, an unprecedented success no matter how you see it. The former Blues boss also led Chelsea into the Champions League with his team finishing in 4th place in the Premier League, and the final of the FA Cup.
So it is difficult to place your finger on where exactly it all went wrong for Frank Lampard at Chelsea after a relatively successful first season- full of development, big wins and a seemingly above-average league finish.
Things, however, dramatically changed for Frank Lampard during the first few weeks of the 2020/21 campaign after Roman Abramovich sanctioned massive spending to bolster Chelsea's squad to be able to challenge for major honours.
Whether the signings were a sign of faith in Lampard or not will always remain unknown, but there was an atmosphere around the club that the splurge was always coming. Chelsea had not spent any money during two consecutive transfer windows and also had a surplus of over £150 million after the sales of Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata, along with a vulnerable transfer market hit badly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Blues brought in the likes of Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, and Kai Havertz to bolster their attack; along with Ben Chilwell, goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, and Thiago Silva to improve the defense.
However, where Frank Lampard sat among these massive changes in the squad was always a mystery. Reports have emerged that the former Blues midfielder fancied maintaining the English core he had developed over one season at Chelsea, and was handed signings that he did not necessarily want or need to implement his ideas. The idea at the hierarchy at Chelsea quickly became that Lampard would be unable to get the best out of the players he had been assigned.
Ultimately, despite being one of the club's greatest icons, both performances and results did not come to Frank Lampard's aid. As the Englishman was asked to integrate the new signings into his squad, the Blues failed to show any signs of progress on the pitch, with football that was terrible on the eyes, and deeply ineffective.
Sitting 9th in the table at the midway mark of the season, Lampard's side even failed to show any signs of the effective pressing and attacking football that they had shown glimpses of in the previous season, and Chelsea called time on his career at the club after 18 months.
Did Frank Lampard need more time at Chelsea?
Frank Lampard's sacking generated a lot of debate in various parts of British football and the media, with many claiming he needed more time in accordance with the project that Chelsea had started under him, with young players coming in from different leagues.
However, time can only be afforded to a manager that has a proven record of coming good in the past. In just his third year of management, Lampard has shown no signs of being able to come out of the poor period he foundhimself in and the club have seemingly turned to the best available option in German Thomas Tuchel.
This criticism is, of course, operating within the assumption that Roman Abramovich entrusted Frank Lampard with a long-term project in the first place. As many would have found out the hard way over the years, that is not the way Chelsea usually operate.
The Chelsea hierarchy made the decision to sack Carlo Ancelotti in 2011 after the Italian had won the League and Cup double the previous year. The Blues also sacked former player Roberto Di Matteo 6 months after he delivered the most prized possession in European football- the Champions League.
Time is a commodity at Chelsea that is not afforded to managers under Abramovich- the fact that he has hired 12 different managers in 17 years is telling of this, something Frank Lampard would know better than anybody.
Frank Lampard is, of course, not just any manager. He is the club's highest all-time goalscorer, a mainstay in the team's highest of highs, a club legend, an icon, perhaps the greatest the club has ever seen.
His stock with the fans will always remain high, something that is not unknown to Abramovich who made a personal statement on the club's website following their decision to part ways with the Englishman.
Chelsea now find themselves in the precarious position of making a new managerial appointment to get the best of their new talented players who they hope to be the nucleus of their next great winning team, on the back of having sacked one of their greatest ever.
The situation at the club has now become an increasingly divisive one, with fans angrier at the board than they ever have been before. However, many of them- myself included - owe all of their greatest memories of football to Roman Abramovich, who has won 16 major honours during his time at Chelsea and established them as one of the big European super clubs of the twenty-first century.
Even though it seemed like he was always set to fail at Chelsea, as a relatively inexperienced manager with changing expectations overnight, Frank Lampard has shown signs of becoming a top-class manager in the future, and at the moment could perhaps do well at a team of smaller stature, with younger players and lesser expectations.
It would also mean that despite Abramovich's statements as attempts at bringing the fans onside, Lampard would genuinely be welcomed back at Stamford Bridge at some point in the future. Until then, (I hope) we all wish him well.
