Chelsea

When reports emerged that Frank Lampard was about to be appointed as caretaker boss of Chelsea, a non-football fan would have been forgiven for assuming that Derek Trotter had just brought in Trigger to front Trotters Independent Traders while he took a trip to Benidorm or Miami.

There are similarities to Del Boy and Todd Boehly splashing cash - another article for another day - but there should be no denying that Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and the rest of the decision-makers at Stamford Bridge have pulled off a shrewd move in tempting Lampard back to a club where he will forever be regarded as a legend.

Being held in such high esteem should not automatically lead to umpteenth opportunities and that is part of the negative narrative that has followed Lampard ever since he was first promoted to the West Ham United senior ranks while his uncle and father were with the Hammers. Yet, it is that underlying desire to prove people wrong that led to Lampard becoming Chelsea's greatest of all time and will be the persistent catalyst throughout his managerial career, wherever that takes him.

For the time being, it has taken him to Derby County, Chelsea and Everton. The general consensus is that each period was a failure, and it is easy for the Lampard critics to form that view because it fits their aforementioned agenda. Derby failed to get promoted with a big budget, Chelsea went through a rough patch at the end of his tenure and Everton were shot-shy when the 44-year-old was sacked as recently as January. That is what gets shouted from the social media rooftops with wild abandon because there are enough people who are willing to listen and give you that pat on the back for agreeing with them.

But it's just fantasy. You are jumping on the bandwagon because you want someone who played for a rival club to fail, because you believe in the perception that he was gifted his break as a player and manager. Lampard's managerial statistics currently read 80 wins, 42 draws and 63 defeats from 185 matches - nothing spectacular by any means - and he does not have any silverware to his name, yet that is not to say that each of his three reigns should be viewed as negative. And that's not me producing some contradictory spin of my own.

Lampard was given the freedom and budget to stamp his mark at Derby, signing the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount and Harry Wilson. The trio are a mixture of world class and international players now, but they were not four years ago. The Rams only scrapped into the playoffs by one point and won less than half of their 46 league games, yet Lampard spearheaded a playoff-semi-final win over Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United before watching Derby succumb 2-1 to Aston Villa in the final, not helped by Kelle Roos's glaring error which put Villa two goals to the good.

Aside from Chelsea losing five of the eight Premier League matches before his exit, it is bewildering to view the rest of his spell on familiar ground as anything other but a success. Despite the restrictions of a transfer ban and having sold Eden Hazard, Chelsea finished in the top four of the Premier League and reached an FA Cup final in his first season, one which was disputed by the coronavirus pandemic. Such was - and still is - Lampard's stature that an array of world-reknown talent arrived in the summer, including Thiago Silva, and Chelsea were top of the Premier League in December and had come through their Champions League group unbeaten and having conceded just two goals.

Lampard took a risk in taking the Everton job in January 2022, although you could say that he had worked himself into a corner having turned down other similar opportunities. Everton lost their way at the middle point of this season, and Sean Dyche has since proven that he is better equipped to get more out of that particular set of players, but Everton still produced a miracle-like finish under Lampard to survive in the Premier League in 2021-22. From the middle of March, Everton defeated Newcastle United, Manchester United, Leicester City and Chelsea to put themselves into the position to get over the line with a two-goal comeback versus Crystal Palace with a game to go.

When someone has lost 34.05% of their games as a manager, they have to accept that they are open to being scrutinised, but that should not give licence to forming an unbalanced argument. Aside from the near-miss with Derby, Lampard has delivered what was initially expected of him. Chelsea required continuity in the upper echelons of the top flight and the development of academy graduates. They got that. Everton required a figure to inspire them and avoid one of the lowest points in their history. They got that.

Perhaps that is what Boehly and co see in Lampard right now. Chelsea needed someone who commands greater respect than Graham Potter allegedly did and who has the potential to lift a team that desperately needs to develop a ruthless streak in the final third. Of course, familiarity of the club comes into it, and it can be debated with justification that Chelsea's seemingly scattergun owners were beginning to clutch at straws, but that does not take away from the fact that they found their way to a logical short-term appointment.

Despite the qualities of Lampard that get overlooked, he also must acknowledge that he made mistakes in his first Chelsea stay and he needs to have learned from them.

Much has been made of Potter's impossible task of handling an overly-populated squad with big characters. He made every effort to keep morale as high as possible, keen to minimalise disruption, and the belief is that this is something which Lampard struggled with during the back-end of his reign. That side of his job has got even tougher, but he also requires a narrow-mindedness to achieve the club's goal and his own.

Some perceive Lampard's second chance at Chelsea to be a free hit, when in fact it could define how his managerial career pans out from the summer onwards. Aside from Chelsea's profligacy when they enter the penalty area, they are actually playing some attractive football and feel on an upward trajectory. If Lampard takes the team off that path, the surprise call that he received from Chelsea is not going to come from many other attractive positions in England or Europe.

When Lampard spoke to the media on Thursday, there was a glint in his eye. He does not believe that this simply has to be a short-term role. While he is not naive regarding his chances of staying past the summer, he is not prepared to be someone's stop-gap. If Chelsea had not been on the other end of the phone at the start of the week, this would not be happening, nor would it if he had not had the experience of playing in a Chelsea side which won the Champions League under a caretaker boss in Roberto Di Matteo back in 2012.

Chelsea should be seen as the rank outsiders to win that competition for a third time. They will need to beat Real Madrid and one of Manchester City or Bayern Munich just to reach the final, yet maybe the underdog mentality can cancel out the fact that this is extremely high stakes for everyone associated with Chelsea. All their eggs are firmly in the basket of Lampard delivering the Champions League, or both manager and club may find themselves facing an extended period away from the limelight.