As Frank Lampard continues to go about his task with Everton, the manager's former right-hand man has been nowhere to be seen.
Jody Morris played with the former England midfielder at Stamford Bridge, with the pair reunited in the dugout at Derby County before spending a year and a half together back in west London. When Lampard took the Everton job, though, Morris was not one of the ex-Blues to join him, though the likes of Joe Edwards and Ashley Cole have moved to Merseyside.
Instead of continuing along the path as an number two, Morris has been gearing up for his first steps as a manager in his own right. And, after turning down opportunities after leaving Chelsea, the 43-year-old has spoken to Mirror Football about what's next.
"I always thought I was going to be a manager myself, but didn't think it would maybe come around as quickly as possible," Morris says. He says he was approached by a Championship club shortly after he and Lampard were sacked by Chelsea in January 2021, and the first thing he did was call up his former teammate for advice.
"[Lampard] was like 'mate, you have to do it,'" he adds. " Then, once I'd kind of gone for interview I started thinking about that long-term.
"Frank at the time was like 'I'm not even sure if I'm going to get back into management, I don't know when I want to take a job'. He can afford to never take a job in his life where I needed to go back to work, and the fact that this club wanted to talk to me about the manager's job, it kind of made my mind up."
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The first step in management can be the toughest, and Morris has been reluctant to take on a position to which he isn't fully committed. This is why, in addition to missing out on jobs in the Championship, he has turned down opportunities lower down the football pyramid.
It's not a case of thinking League One or League Two are beneath him, he insists, but rather a determination to find the right fit. " I'm not turning my nose up at going below Championship or anything, it's just that it just needed to be maybe a little more suitable for me," he says.
"It's hard enough, the management game as it is, let alone taking something you're not 100 per cent convinced about. It's actively something I'm trying to do but it just might take a bit of time."
Morris, who was speaking to Mirror Football from the launch of the OPPO Smartphone series, would also be open to managing overseas. He has recognised the impact made by Brighton boss Graham Potter, who spent time in charge of Ostersunds earlier in his career, and believes the right job is the right job wherever it's based.
Morris, like Potter, played at age-group level for England in the 90s. However, their coaching paths diverged, with the former Chelsea man getting his start in youth coaching at his old club while Potter opted for Sweden.
"It's not something I would ever rule out, but at the same time it's kind of like whenever the opportunity arises I definitely wouldn't be averse to going abroad somewhere," he says. "It would just need to be right. You only have to look at Graham Potter, what a fantastic job he's doing at Brighton at the moment where he's obviously been to Scandinavia first and now look at how great he's doing at the moment."
Conversations with clubs have continued in the year-plus since Morris' time at Chelsea came to an end, and he held talks over the summer which ultimately didn't lead to anything more concrete. He's still very much focusing on management but hasn't ruled out another stint as a number two to a top-level boss.
"If I have an opportunity to work with another manager or another coach at another club, it's certainly something I'd be open to," he says "But right now I'm hoping I maybe get an opportunity from a management perspective
"Still sitting here fingers crossed hoping that it won't be too long now, but it's definitely something I want to do."
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