Players don’t look like they’ve downed tools, to be fair.

Just looks like they don’t know where their tools are as Lampard’s lost them.

Tough on Lampard but I do think Chelsea can do better. Whether Tuchel or any other manager will be given the time they need is another story. They've got some very talented players there, need to figure out how best to use them.

Allegri is also available. Roman does like Italian managers.

comment by RB&W (U21434)
posted 3 minutes ago
would Avram Grant/Tunche//Fat Waiter* (*delete as appropriate) really be a better long term option than Frank for Chelsea?
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Chelsea don't care about the long term.

Roman seems to just like whatever's popular at the time. German managers seem to be in vogue at the moment and Tuchel is available.

The story the Athletic just dropped is so damning

Roman needs to sack off this ‘project’ stuff he’s dabbled with the last few years, with attacking/possession based managers. Stick to what you know.

11:33
Chelsea sack Lampard

And here's owner Roman Abramovich:

"This was a very difficult decision for the Club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him’.

"He is a man of great integrity and has the highest of work ethics. However, under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers.

"On behalf of everyone at the club, the board and personally, I would like to thank Frank for his work as head coach and wish him every success in the future. He is an important icon of this great club and his status here remains undiminished. He will always be warmly welcomed back at Stamford Bridge."
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Posted at 11:3011:30
Chelsea sack Lampard

Here's Chelsea's statement:

"This has been a very difficult decision, and not one that the owner and the board have taken lightly.

"We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as head coach of the club. However, recent results and performances have not met the club’s expectations, leaving the club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement.

"There can never be a good time to part ways with a club legend such as Frank, but after lengthy deliberation and consideration it was decided a change is needed now to give the club time to improve performances and results this season."

I did say Roman is pals with Frank.

comment by The Post Nearly Man. 20times, 20legend (U1270)
posted 16 minutes ago
comment by TheWhiteWall (U17633)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by The Post Nearly Man. 20times, 20legend (U1270)
posted 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
If the players at Chelsea want a manager gone, he's gone.
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And you've come to that conclusion based on what exactly
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We call it observation and interpretation of past events.
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No, think I will call it a feeling you have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncOdiC8feBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzHV-QlXEfI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42YTXqtCeLg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5VCziPxe0Q

Its funny how bitter everyone is about Ole. Also Simon Jordan is so bitter.

“The moment he goes on a bad run of four-five games, Chelsea will decide to make a change,” a prominent source told The Athletic in August. It was hard to believe but spoken with real meaning. He added: “Lampard won’t last long if there is a serious downturn in form, especially after all the money that’s been spent. He’s in a very precarious situation and I can only see it going one way.”

“Marina said she was considering her strategy, was actively replanning the managerial situation and would get back to them,” a source reveals. “I think they were surprised about that because it was still so early and the managerial market would be better for Chelsea in the summer.” Cech had a role to play here too naturally in his role as technical and performance advisor, holding informal discussions with agents of key players about Chelsea’s slump in form. He took part in training too, meaning Lampard had the strange situation to manage of support from his long-term friend but knowing the Czech is close to the club’s hierarchy.

He asked for Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was considering leaving Emirates Stadium at that juncture, and Ajax’s attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech. Neither arrived that month — a deal for the latter was agreed in February but too late to help the 2019-20 campaign.

Lampard’s growing frustration was evident during some tense post-match briefings with the media, which implied criticism of the hierarchy for the lack of new arrivals. One source said he was not happy behind the scenes either and described the bond with Granovskaia as “not being fantastic”.

Another claimed that it was at this juncture that Mauricio Pochettino, who had been fired by Tottenham in November 2019, and RB Leipzig coach Nagelsmann were being mentioned as a potential “plan B”.

Definitely a premature decision, but you only do this is you've got someone ready in the wings.

I'm sure he'll land on his feet with a Championship job available.

During the close season, things came to a head or as one individual put it: “They clashed over Kepa. Lampard put in a request for a replacement and was told he should try putting his arm around Kepa, to help build his confidence. Lampard was insistent though.”

Kepa was one of a number of senior players who felt that Lampard did not provide him with clear tactical instructions or offer sufficient support as his confidence disintegrated last season. Instead it was left to director Granovskaia and Cech to try to help the club’s record signing through his slump. Communication between the Spaniard and his head coach improved in the early weeks of this campaign, but that change in approach was rendered meaningless by the swift arrival of Edouard Mendy from Rennes to replace him as Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper.

In December The Athletic were told: “He needs to stop pushing for Rice or he’ll lose his job. The hierarchy are very wary about the potential embarrassment of buying back an academy reject at huge expense.”

That doesn’t stop people who work in the game from giving their interpretation of what took place, including on Chelsea’s last big spree. One insider alleges that of the six to join, only Ben Chilwell was a Lampard target.

His intention from the get-go was to reshape the defence. The plan was not only to acquire Rice, who Lampard felt could be converted into a top centre back as well as using him as a defensive midfielder, but also to buy James Tarkowski from Burnley. Defenders earmarked to go were Fikayo Tomori, Marcos Alonso, and Rudiger. There was even talk that Lampard was open to the idea of captain Cesar Azpilicueta departing.

In the end all four players stayed, which was another major factor in why Rice didn’t come as well as Tarkowski. With the club spending vast sums, money had to be raised to afford their fees too. Granovskaia is also said to have not been too keen on the latter.

And as a source told The Athletic after the Manchester City game, Roman became “very, very unhappy”.

And then came the Leicester City game. Chelsea were outclassed by Brendan Rodgers’ side and Abramovich was furious, he’d seen enough. The next morning was spent on calls trying to get a deal for an interim or permanent coach over the line. Lampard’s time was up. In the dressing room after the game, Lampard felt this too. He shook his players’ hands and thanked them for their efforts under him. The mood was sombre.

“The problem was, the manager didn’t talk to the players — well only the ones he liked,” one such source explains. “I know of players who weren’t in the team that didn’t hear from him for many months. That’s very frustrating for a player because you don’t know what you have to do to do better, what the manager is thinking. It’s crazy.

“Obviously when Chelsea were on their 17-game unbeaten run (between September and December), the coach is not going to make too many changes. But you still need to talk to people. Players are going to be wary about knocking on the manager’s door themselves because it can be perceived negatively.”

Another added: “It was very weird for me that Lampard’s way of working was to be distant to the players. He was a player until very recently (retired 2016). He should know how to approach players but he seemed to have forgotten.”

And one more said: “The communication of Lampard with the players was not fluent. When I met with one of the players last year I was asking if the manager was telling him things. He said to me: ‘No, but usually he never speaks to the players’. I said I could not understand that because Lampard needs a professional relationship with every player. You need to know players need information and guidance.”

One player told The Athletic that Lampard staying on for the rest of the season would have been a “catastrophe”, with the levels of tension in the dressing room too high to recover from and players comparing his criticism of performances to Jose Mourinho in his final days at the club.

comment by Christopher (U20930)
posted 1 minute ago
In December The Athletic were told: “He needs to stop pushing for Rice or he’ll lose his job. The hierarchy are very wary about the potential embarrassment of buying back an academy reject at huge expense.”
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This is where I don't have sympathy for the club, if you aren't going to back the manager with the players he wants, then it will only go one way unfortunately.

If he gets it wrong and Rice turns out to be a bad signing, then the hierarchy at the club made a mistake by appointing a manager who isn't capable with his recruitment staff of identifying players good enough for the club. But if you aren't going to give him that opportunity, then what chance has he got.

If it had been any other club than Chelsea, Lampard would have walked out in the summer. But obviously his connection with the fans and what Chelsea means to him meant he was always going to try to make things work.

“From what I can tell, he felt it was like pissing against the wind. He experienced difficult relationships with a lot of people and wasn’t always sure who he could trust. He would have a conversation with one person but wasn’t sure what they’d be saying about him afterwards. He found the politics hard, a constant battle.”

Sorry for spam just thought I'd share the most interesting parts for the people who don't have an athletic subscription

comment by Christopher (U20930)
posted 2 minutes ago
Sorry for spam just thought I'd share the most interesting parts for the people who don't have an athletic subscription
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Don't apologise! Thanks for sharing that - interesting reading.

Sounds like he’s taken on Mourinho’s particularly brand of man management.