Frank Lampard has spoken highly of Raheem Sterling and insists he has no issue with past comments that the Chelsea star made over the opportunities afforded to him when compared to black managers.
The 44-year-old, who began his coaching career at Derby, has been re-appointed at Chelsea as interim manager to see the team through until the end of the season while the club hierarchy conduct a process to find a permanent successor to Graham Potter.
Lampard will inherit a Blues sit who sit in the bottom half such has been their underwhelming season. There are a host of individuals at Stamford Bridge not playing up to their potential with Sterling among them. The forward made a summer switch from Manchester City but has struggled for goals.
The interim boss' task will be getting the likes of Sterling firing once again with a Champions League clash to come against Real Madrid.
Lampard though, who will manage Sterling for the first time, was quizzed on comments his player made about him in the past.
What was Sterling's issue?
The England star has received huge plaudits for how he's combated racism on and off the pitch. His stance and desire to speak out has helped tackle an issue that continues to plague both football and society.
A lack of BAME managers in the football league has long been pointed to as a concern and Sterling himself addressed it on BBC Newsnight back in 2020. Lampard and Steven Gerrard, both part of England's Golden Generation, had landed themselves jobs at Chelsea and Rangers respectively. Meanwhile some of their Three Lions team-mates, namely Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole, hadn't been handed chances that came close to their colleagues - something Sterling questioned.
He said: "There's Steven Gerrard, your Frank Lampards, you have your Sol Campbells and you have your Ashley Coles. All had great careers, all played for England.
"At the same time, they've all respectfully done their coaching badges to coach at the highest level and the two that haven't been given the right opportunities are the two black former players."
Lampard's response
Lampard enjoyed a debut year with Derby, leading them to within 90 minutes of promotion before a play-off loss to Aston Villa. That bagged him the Chelsea gig, albeit they hired him whilst the club were under a transfer embargo.
He led them to fourth spot and the FA Cup final in his first year and, when the comments were put to him, he didn't concur with Sterling's take. Whilst praising the then City star's stance, he felt that he'd grafted to get his job despite his age and experience.
"I think Raheem got it slightly wrong from my point of view," claimed Lampard when the quotes were put to him at the time. "It felt like a very casual comparison. I think it is very hard to make that comparison from the outside.
"The individual comparison when you don't have the detail of each person's pathway I felt wasn't quite right."
A clean slate
Now the pair are fighting for the same goal, but those past comments were put to Lampard upon his return for a second spell at Stamford Bridge. He insisted that Sterling's words would've come with the right motivation and he had no problem with the forward - insisting he is delighted to see him using his platform to speak out on social issues.
He said: "I don’t know Raheem that well. I played with him in England squads. In the period gone I’ve come across him a few times. I think he’s a young lad as we want out young men and women in the game to speak openly and honestly, and he’s not just spoken that one Newsnight interview you pulled out from two years ago.
"He’s spoken regularly on really good matters in how he sees. If I were to speak to him I would pat him on the back for being that way, whether he said a statement regarding myself or not.
"I understand he would do it from absolutely the right point and the right idea.
"And, of course from his eyes, my eyes as a 44-year-old coach here are different to Raheem Sterling's eyes and I would be more than interested to hear what he sees about the world.
"That’s one of the joys working in football, the dressing room, the travel, the talk on the training ground. I’ve clearly got no problem with that."
