Frank Lampard: The Ordinary Man

Frank Lampard’s second goal against Bolton which helped Chelsea win their first league title in 50 years on April 30, 2005

But Frank Lampard is ordinary.

He only scored inconsequential goals, as he rounded the keeper slotting home his second goal of the game that got Chelsea its first title in 50 years. And he had no skills, even as he swiveled 360 degrees to score against the best keeper in the world with his weaker foot.

He couldn't step up on the big stage, as he scooped the ball from an impossible angle against the best team in the world in their own backyard. He didn't have the drive or the desire, even as he slotted home from the spot days after his mother passed away to send Chelsea into the final of the Champions League.

He didn't inspire the team, as he robbed the best player in the world and set up the goal against Barcelona in the first leg, and 10 men down in the second leg squeezed the ball past four men to set up the goal that got Chelsea to the finals. And in the finals, captained the team to the greatest victory in the history of the club.

The genius of Frank Lampard is his simplicity.

James Gordon probably said this famous quote while referring to Frank Lampard - “He isn't the hero we deserve, but the one that we needed.”

Frank Lampard is a hero that we needed in this era of modern football where simplicity is a skill so easily ignored. His goal scoring record would put most top-class strikers to shame. His ability to arrive in the box and slot it into the bottom corner has become a trademark of his.

It’s almost become a habit, and perhaps we are so used to it over 13 years, that it’s sometimes forgotten how much effort and dedication it took to be able to consistently run 50 yards, time the run to perfection and slot home game in and game out for the best part of the last decade. Football is about passing, shooting and scoring, and in the modern age that basic rule has been overshadowed completely by unnecessary while still spectacular intricacies, over-exuberance and the intense pressure that comes with playing.

And yet Frank Lampard withstood it all, as the Matthew Harding end scream 'Super, Super Frank' over and over again. He is a beacon to all of us ordinary men; a player who showed that you don't need flair and skill to go 'right to the very top'. He is an ordinary man who, through his modesty and hard work, added a little extra to that ordinary. And yet, his genius will not be known.

Didier Drogba ended his glorious days by slotting home the goal on the grandest stage of them all, Ashley Cole finished his by captaining Chelsea in his final game, while Lampard's last game had him substituted at half time. It’s almost befitting though; Frank Lampard came in as a boy whom no one believed in and went out as a whisper after breaking through everything that came his way.

Thank you Frank Lampard for being an inspiration, a true footballer and the greatest Chelsea player ever to have graced the game.