Chelsea legendary player and manager Frank Lampard is closing in on his Chelsea exit as his catastrophic short-term reign comes to an end on Sunday.
It was his second spell with the Blues as manager but the stats and benchmarks on his managerial trail at Stamford Bridge leave much to be desired.
Despite his blighted first stint with the club as manager between 2019 to 2021, his arrival as Chelsea’s interim boss to succeed Graham Potter, was greeted with optimism and renewed hope by Chelsea fans.
Frank Lampard has remained the fans’ favorite due to his legendary playing career with the club from 2001 to 2014 which saw him emerged as the club’s all-time highest goal-scorer.
He won 13 trophies as Chelsea player, including several individual awards.
However, his stellar playing career with the club is a stark contrast to his underwhelming managerial spell.
In his first spell with Chelsea as manager, Frank Lampard met his match in 2021 as the then Chelsea board led by ex-owner, Roman Abramovich, sacked him over concerns on the club’s dismal campaign under his watch.
Frank Lampard had the worst points per game of any manager in Roman Abramovich era.
In his second stint as interim boss, the benchmarks still leaves much to be desired.
Lampard has managed just four points in his eight matches with the Blues since taking over on interim basis from Graham Potter.
With one match to the end of the season, Chelsea are 12th on the Premier League with no European football next season. While he met the club in ruins, he has done less to improve performance.
His deal with the club will run out at the end of the season with former Tottenham and PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino lined up to take over the reins at the Blues’ dugout next season.
Despite Lampard’s underwhelming performance with the Blues as manager, the Chelsea legend is still bent on exiting the Blues on a high with the last game on sight.
Speaking with Sky Sports ahead of his last game before his interim spell come to an end, Lampard maintained he will not totally exit the club waving goodbye to his fans who have stuck by him.
”…but more than anything, I would love to give them a performance to take away for the summer and eel a bit more positive about.’
”I don’t want this to sound corny but I don’t feel like it is a goodbye. ‘It doesn’t feel odd to me and – this is the corny part – I will never feel like I am saying goodbye to the fans,” he said.
When asked whether his successor Mauricio Pochettino is going to face a tough rebuilding task at Chelsea, Lampard laughed off the question and stylishly evaded it as he joked, “it’s his problem.”
He, however, admitted Chelsea job was the most difficult job with a lot of managers rejecting it before he accepted the deal.
After taking over as Chelsea interim manager, Lampard suffered consecutive Premier League defeats to Wolves and Brighton, including back-to-back Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
He aimed a subtle dig at his predecessor, Graham Potter for an under-motivated and unfit Chelsea squad.
Despite evading the question of the task ahead of Mauricio Pochettino, it could be gleaned from his lines that the Argentinian will face a tough task ahead next season.
Lampard will play his last game against Newcastle United on Sunday. The Blues suffered a capitulating defeat to Manchester United in their last game.
Lampard hopes to leave the reins at the Blues dugout with glimmers of hope ahead of next season by rolling back their difficult campaign to eke out a win against the Magpies at Stamford Bridge.
