Frank Lampard claims to have seen "things that cannot be right at elite football" during his troubled spell as interim manager at Chelsea.
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Returned to Stamford Bridge in April 2023Saw out troubled Premier League campaignProving his worth again at Coventry CityFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱GettyWHAT HAPPENED?
The Blues legend, who won Premier League and Champions League titles at Stamford Bridge as a player, spent 18 months at the helm during his first stint in charge of a club that will always hold a special place in his heart. He answered an SOS call when returning to west London in April 2023.
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With Chelsea giving Graham Potter just 31 games in charge, following the big-money takeover completed by Todd Boehly and BlueCo, somebody was required to steer the Blues through to the end of a troubled campaign. Lampard, fresh from leaving Everton a few months earlier, was asked to step in.
WHAT FRANK LAMPARD SAID
Emotional ties saw the ex-England international accept that challenge, but he picked up just one victory from 11 fixtures – giving him an awful nine per cent win ratio. Lampard has, however, told of the mess that he inherited: "I saw things that I know cannot be right at elite football and that's the truth. I didn't love working in that short period because it's hard to lay down an idea when you're going to be leaving but Chelsea will always be a massive club in my life.
"But when I understand the standards of Chelsea – in that period of time a lot of players were in transition of maybe leaving and some problems and motivation were a problem – in an interim period you can't really affect that.
"When you see the results of it, I'm experienced enough to know what's right and what's wrong and basic things in a training ground on a pitch. I didn't learn anything tactical but it did reinforce my beliefs of all my experiences of when you know what a group is really fighting in the same direction – how strong that can be and when it's not, it can be really challenging."
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Despite those struggles, Lampard claims to have taken important lessons from all of his managerial roles to date. He added: "In my first week at Derby I was fresh, open-eyed to everything and there were a lot of things I needed to learn quickly. So I've certainly matured through that and seen that, and to be able to work at Derby in the Championship was a real development year for me.
"To then go to Chelsea and work in the Champions League and get into the Champions League, through the league – those things are all great experiences, so you kind of layer them up hopefully.
"Everton in a relegation battle and we stayed up, and even going back to Chelsea's interim, it was a really tough time at the club and I saw a lot of things with people questioning like was it the right thing to do…I'm absolutely better for the experience of that, even though it was six or seven weeks."
