LONDON: In a wild season of comings and goings at Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s out-of-the-blue return to Stamford Bridge is among the most improbable of the lot.
Lampard, Chelsea’s record scorer and one of their greatest ever players, was hired as interim manager until the end of the season on Thursday to give the club time to find a permanent replacement for the fired Graham Potter.
Lampard was fired himself by Chelsea only two years ago and replaced as manager by Thomas Tuchel, though this occurred before Chelsea’s current ownership — fronted by American businessman Todd Boehly — was in control.
Now Lampard is back as a short-term fix while Chelsea continue talking to candidates for the job on a fulltime basis. Former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was reportedly in London on Wednesday to speak to Chelsea officials while Julian Nagelsmann, who was recently fired by Bayern Munich, has also been linked with the vacancy.
“Frank is a Premier League Hall of Famer and a legend at this club,” Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali said. “As we continue our thorough and exhaustive process for a permanent head coach, we want to provide the club and our fans with a clear and stable plan for the remainder of the season.
“We want to give ourselves every chance of success and Frank has all of the characteristics and qualities we need to drive us to the finish line.”
Lampard, who was fired by relegation-threatened Everton in January, will be leading Chelsea into the Champions League quarterfinals and a two-legged meeting with defending champion Real Madrid.
In getting dismissed by Chelsea in January 2021, Lampard was denied a chance to coach the team in the knockout stage of the Champions League that season. Tuchel took over, made the team hard to beat and ended up leading Chelsea to its second European Cup title with a win over Manchester City in the final.
Lampard’s first game back at Chelsea will be against Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Saturday. Chelsea are languishing in 11th place, 14 points behind the top four, and unlikely to finish in the qualification spots for the Champions League.
The squad he will inherit is very different to the one he left behind, after Chelsea’s spending spree in the last two transfer windows totaling $630 million on 16 players.
Lampard, a midfielder for Chelsea from 2001-14, will also be the fourth manager to lead the team this season, after Tuchel, Potter — who was fired on Sunday — and Bruno Saltor, who took charge of the 0-0 draw with Liverpool on Tuesday.
“We are all going to give Frank our full backing as we aim to get the best possible outcome from all our remaining games,” Boehly and Eghbali said.
Lampard returns to Chelsea as manager until end of season
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Lampard returns to Chelsea as manager until end of season
- Lampard, Chelsea’s record scorer and one of their greatest ever players, was hired as interim manager until the end of the season on Thursday
- Lampard was fired himself by Chelsea only two years ago and replaced as manager by Thomas Tuchel
Leeds survive Birmingham scare to reach FA Cup fifth round
- Wolves also avoided an upset as they won 1-0 at fourth-division Grimsby
LONDON: Leeds survived an FA Cup scare to reach the fifth round with a penalty shoot-out victory against second-tier Birmingham on Sunday.
Birmingham substitute Patrick Roberts snatched an 89th-minute equalizer at St. Andrew’s to cancel out Lukas Nmecha’s 49th-minute opener for Leeds.
With a feisty fourth round tie level at 1-1 after extra-time, Leeds won the shoot-out 4-2.
Joel Piroe, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff all converted their penalties for Daniel Farke’s team.
Tommy Doyle’s effort was saved by Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri before Roberts fired over the crossbar.
Battling to avoid relegation from the Premier League, Leeds are one win away from reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003.
Wolves also avoided an upset as they won 1-0 at fourth-division Grimsby.
Grimsby stunned Manchester United in the League Cup earlier this season.
But Wolves avoided similar embarrassment thanks to Santiago Bueno’s 60th-minute goal from the visitors’ first shot on target on a mud-caked pitch at Blundell Park.
Grimsby did not manage to force Wolves ‘keeper Sam Johnstone into a save until Andy Cook’s header in the 90th minute.
It was Wolves’ first away win since beating Manchester United in April.
Mired in a miserable season that has left them bottom of the Premier League and almost certain to be relegated, Rob Edwards’ side can still salvage some pride in the FA Cup.
Fulham came from behind to win 2-1 at second tier Stoke.
Cottagers boss Marco Silva made 10 changes from their midweek defeat at Manchester City and nearly paid for the gamble.
South Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho capped a fine move to put Stoke ahead after 19 minutes.
But Brazilian winger Kevin got his reward for an impressive performance in the 55th minute, sending a first-time shot into the bottom corner.
Harrison Reed completed Fulham’s escape act in the 84th minute, intercepting a poor pass from Stoke keeper Tommy Simkin and slotting home.
Sunderland reached the fifth round for the first time since 2015 as Habib Diarra’s controversial penalty clinched a 1-0 win at second tier Oxford.
Regis Le Bris’ side went in front after 32 minutes when Dennis Cirkin tumbled under Christ Makosso’s challenge.
Referee Thomas Kirk pointed to the spot despite Oxford’s protests and Diarra rubbed salt into their wounds as he calmly converted the penalty.
