Former England national team and Tottenham Hotspur coach Harry Redknapp has revealed that he linked up Chelsea coach Frank Lampard to his first managerial job. The 73-year-old veteran coach said he helped Lampard to convince Mel Morris the owner of Derby County football club to give the former England international his first managerial job.
According to Redknapp, a nephew of Lampard, Morris was not interested in signing a rookie coach but wanted a more established coach. But the Tottenham former manager continued to persuade Morris that Lampard was the kind of coach he needed.
Harry Redknapp told Sky Sports that the proximity of his house to the house of Morris made it easier for him to continue persuading him to consider Lampard.
Morris finally bowed to the persuasion of Redknapp and he invited Lampard to a meeting. After the meeting, the Derby owner was convinced and decided to give Lampard a three-year contract. Lampard didn’t disappoint much as he helped Derby County reach the final of the 2918-2019 season playoff but lost it to Aston Villa.
Frank Lampard and Mel Morris have once revealed that Harry Redknapp played a huge role in ensuring that the 41-year-old coach gets a chance to showcase his managerial skills.
Harry Redknapp says Frank Lampard almost became Ipswich’s coach
While confirming his role in Lampard’s managerial career, Redknapp said that Lampard’s Derby job was not the first time he tried to get him a coaching job. He disclosed that he was able to convince the owner of Ipswich Town football club Marcus Evans to give Lampard a coaching job but Lampard turned it down.
“First off I got Frank the job at Ipswich with Marcus Evans,” Redknapp said. “I phoned him, I said ‘you need a manager, how Frank Lampard’s your man’, he met him, loved him, offered him the job.
“Frank said, ‘Harry, they’ve got no budget, it’s difficult, I can’t bring any players in’. I said it was a great club but you’ve not got a magic wand, you’re going to need a bit of help.
“Suddenly the Derby job became available, and I rang Mel Morris, he’s got a house up the road from me. He told me he was going to go for an experienced manager, I said, ‘you keep getting managers and getting rid of them, you’ve not been very clever at picking managers. Take Frank Lampard’.
“He said he had no experience, but I replied ‘there have been lots of great managers who’ve had no experience – look at Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard… He knows the game. He’s a great professional, he understands football, he’ll bring so much to the football club’.
“He thought about having him as an assistant but I said he wants to be a manager, please meet him. The next day he met him in London, they had a meeting at 7 o’clock, half-past eight he rang me and said he’d blown him away. I’ve given him the job. And that was it.
“I had no doubts he’d be a success. He’s a clever, bright lad, his work ethic is incredible, he’s been brought up with the game, he’ll be amazing.”
Lampard has gone on to return to Chelsea, where he spent the best part of his football career, to become the club’s manager, a year after he took up Derby’s job. Morris permitted him to go and he has stunned most football fans across the world for being able to hold his own against veterans like Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, Tottenham’s Jose Mourinho and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp.
