Frank Lampard is, at the time of writing, the manager of Chelsea. According to the latest reports from Forbes, Chelsea is the eighth most valuable football club in world football. It gets better: on UEFA’s coefficient ranking system for 2022/23 they are the third-best side in the world. And yet they are languishing in 12th place in the Premier League table. They have tough fixtures remaining too and could well slip below Bournemouth soon after the two meet, which is incredible given that just a few weeks ago the south coast side were near certainties for relegation!
Now, we hate (honest!) to put the boot in on Frank whilst he’s down, but given just how badly the Blues are doing, we thought we’d look at his managerial career as a whole. Before that, though, with our steel toe caps in place, let’s look at the former England midfielder’s current run of results.
Lampard’s Current Run of Results
“Lamps” was brought in to steady the ship at Chelsea until the summer when they could appoint a permanent boss. He cannot be entirely blamed for Chelsea’s terrible season but if the owners thought they might get a new-manager bounce from him, they were very wrong. Lampard’s Chelsea results thus far have been (starting with the most recent):
- Lost 3-1 to Arsenal
- Lost 2-0 to Brentford
- Lost 2-0 to Real Madrid
- Lost 2-1 to Brighton
- Lost 2-0 to Real Madrid
- Lost 1-0 to Wolves
Six games, six defeats. And if we look back further to how his time at Everton ended, it is very much the same position. His overall win percentage with the Toffees was a dire 27.3%, with 24 of the 44 games he took charge of seeing his men taste defeat. But if we look specifically at the build-up to him being sacked in January 2023, the picture is even less pretty.
In October three fairly narrow defeats against Man United, then away at Spurs and Newcastle were far from the end of the world. They then scored three sensational goals to rout Palace 3-0 and followed that up with a 0-0 draw against high-flying Fulham. The results that followed can only be explained by saying one word: football. Or to use five, it’s a funny old game. The Toffees lost eight of their next nine and just to back up our point about the nature of this crazy sport, the only game they didn’t lose was a draw with Man City. At the Etihad!
All in all though, Lampard is currently on a run of results that reads (most recent first): L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-D-L-L-L-L-D. Eek. So, is Frank cut out for management?
Frank Lampard’s Overall Career in Football Management
Lampard is intelligent on and off the pitch, was a world-class player who achieved so much, speaks well to the press and, by all accounts, is liked by players. All the ingredients are there but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and it seems as though Lampard has let his ingredients rot before burning them in a furnace, feeding them to a dog and then reconstructing them into a cake once the dog has … ok, we’ll leave the metaphor there.
The simplest way to analyse his career is through the win percentages he has achieved, though this only gives a simple picture and does not take into account the relative strengths of the clubs a manager has worked for. For example, winning 55% of games at Man City will get a boss sacked, whilst achieving that with a Premier League outfit such as Crystal Palace would be incredible. Anyway, back to Lampard:
| Club | Games | Win Percent | Win | Loss | Draw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derby County | 57 | 42.1% | 24 | 16 | 17 |
| Chelsea | 84 | 52.4% | 44 | 23 | 17 |
| Everton | 44 | 27.3% | 12 | 24 | 8 |
| Chelsea* | 6 | 0% | 0 | 6 | 0 |
* Chelsea second stint correct as of 4/5/23
The stats are not horrendous and at times in all three jobs (we’ll just ignore his current caretaker position!) he did well. At Derby, he helped the Rams to the Championship play-offs, though it should be noted that they had done the same the season prior under Gary Rowett. With Lampard, Derby finished sixth and made it to the play-off final, whilst 12 months prior they had also finished sixth but only lost at the semi-final stage. It was a small improvement and County also knocked Man United out of the EFL Cup.
Dream Job … But Too Soon
This “success” at Derby persuaded Chelsea he was the man for them and things began brightly with the Blues. Lampard was a Chelsea legend as a player and so for him, and many fans, this was a dream appointment. The dream and bright start wasn’t immediate. In fact, the club were hammered 4-0 by Man United in his first competitive game. They then lost the UEFA Super Cup final to Liverpool on penalties.
However, they then went on a fine run which saw Lampard crowned Manager of the Month in October. They continued to play well and finished the season in fourth spot, also making the FA Cup final. It was a highly promising first campaign, especially as Lampard had to operate with a FIFA-imposed transfer ban in place. Things got better too, and after beating Leeds at the start of December Chelsea were top of the Premier League table.
However, a poor run followed, with five defeats and just two wins in eight PL games. Had Chelsea stuck with Lampard, who knows what might have been? But they didn’t, sacking him around 50 days after he had guided them to the summit of the table.
Everton Rollercoaster
Lampard was appointed by Everton just over a year later, on 31st January 2022. The club were 16th when he took charge and finished 16th but that does not tell the whole story. He came in after Rafa Benitez had overseen a run of one win in 17 games, the Toffees taking five points from a possible 51. It was an emotional season but he did the job that was asked of him and the fans were behind him.
Again the former Chelsea manager started a season well and after nine games they had lost just twice and were 11th. However, once again there was a slump, as his team lost nine of the next 12, again managing just one win, dropping to 19th.
Lampard’s next move is hard to predict but he quite simply has to get it right in the job that follows. Perhaps he will one day make a great manager … or maybe not.