‘At Chelsea it probably will come unless you go and win back to back titles and that was never going to happen.’
Frank Lampard has opened up on the details around his dismissal as Chelsea manager in January, insisting that he ‘knew it was coming’.
The Blues legend lasted just 18 months in the hot-seat, leaving the club in ninth position in the Premier League after a disappointing run that saw the London outfit win just once in their last five league matches.
Despite this, the former England midfielder – who made 648 appearances for Chelsea and won the Champions League and three Premier League titles – did manage to secure a fourth place finish and reach the FA Cup final in his first season in charge.
The 43-year-old was also able to promote a host of youngsters from the club’s academy to the first-team as a result of the transfer ban that had been imposed by FIFA.
However, his time at Chelsea came to an end at the start of this year and Lampard has revealed that he knew his time at the helm was over when he received a text from chairman Bruce Buck.
Speaking on Gary Neville’s The Overlap YouTube channel, the ex-Derby boss said: “Well, we’d beaten Luton in the FA Cup fourth round or whatever it was.
“Then the next morning I got a message from Bruce Buck, the chairman, saying ‘can you move training and come and meet us in the boardroom?’
“That first message as well, you kind of wake up and think ‘let’s have a flick through Instagram’.
“I’m joking but once the club makes that decision to be fair there’s no nice way to do it.”
Neville – who played with Lampard for England – then asked what exactly the message from Buck said, to which Lampard replied: “Can you come and meet us in the boardroom at Stamford Bridge? I knew straight away.
“As I say there is no nice way to do that and there may be different ways of etiquette to do it but at the end of the day the result is the same.
“When I met Bruce and Marina (Granovskaia) it was very cordial. I knew what was coming then as well. Not at the time but you’re thankful for the period.
“It is what it is. They are going to move on and there’s nothing you can do there. I’ve never been in that position before so it was a bit surreal at the time but when you take the job you understand that that call could come.
“At Chelsea it probably will come unless you go and win back to back titles and that was never going to happen.”
Lampard was swiftly replaced by former Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel, who led the Blues to Champions League success against Manchester City in Porto in May.
Related links:
- Frank Lampard reveals ‘self destructing’ voice note from Pep Guardiola
- Jody Morris claims Chelsea’s sacking of him and Lampard was ‘super harsh’
- Thomas Tuchel says Frank Lampard helped Chelsea get to Champions League final
