Former Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has spoken about his sack from the London club for the first time since his contract was terminated in January 2021.
Lampard who was speaking in an interview with Gary Neville that was reported by BBC Sports on Friday, December 3rd, 2021. According to the Chelsea legend, he knew his contract was already terminated when he got a message from the club’s chairman.
The decision to sack Lampard was triggered by the poor run of form by the club in the Premier League. The Blues have just won a game in their last five fixtures and were placed ninth of the league table.
I got a message from Bruce Buck, the chairman saying, can you move training and come and meet us in the boardroom?
Once the decision has been made, there is no nice way to do it. It was very cordial. I knew what was coming then as well. Not at the time, but you are thankful for the period, you understand what it was.
Frank Lampard took charge of Chelsea in July 2019 after Maurizio Sarri left the club to return to the Serie A.
He added that he was concerned about the level of expectation that everyone will expect from him.
I was oncerned about the level of expectation compared to the squad and the job that I had on my hands. It felt like at least a transition, at the most a rebuild. At Chelsea it probably will come unless you win back to back titles and that was never going to happen.
We have a big squad and were leaving out players. We needed to be less at that point. It is tough because we had three left-backs, and you can play one generally and five center backs. As time goes on and the new manager is there now. You can make changes and trim but that’s just how I felt at that time.
He also spoke about dropping Kepa Arrizabalaga for Wily Caballero, he said his communication with the hierarchy was good as it concerns his decision.
When you are aware of a 70 million goalkeeper, that you take out of the team, you know it’s not a simple decision. Kepa was having a tough time but there is no bones about it, in his first season and he said it himself. There was no feeling of pressure from above is what I am trying to say, but it become very high profile when you do it and there is a price tag on a player.
The signing of Eduoard Mendy by the Blues in the summer of 2020 ensured Kepa was benched. Kepa has since developed under Thomas Tuchel helping the club to win the UEFA Super Cup and was responsible that the team qualified for the Quater Finals
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“There was no feeling of pressure from above is what I’m trying to say, but it becomes very high profile when you do it and there’s that price tag on a player.”
The signing of Senegalese keeper Mendy sent Kepa further down the pecking order.
“Mendy was the result of that and he’s obviously been fantastic since he’s been at the club,” added Lampard.
