When Frank Lampard left Everton, few would have expected him to earn a return to Stamford Bridge off the back of it. Not even three months following a year spent at Goodison Park, the Chelsea legend is back in the hot seat and hoping to ignite Chelsea's season.
The caretaker manager joined the Toffees in January 2022 and helped galvanise the club and its supporters en route to Premier League safety but 12 months on a similar battle awaited and he was judged not to be the man for the job having earned just three wins in 2022/23. His period out of the game, albeit it short and with plenty of family time, has also allowed for a period of reflection to consider his career.
He said: "It’s probably too long an answer in a way to give you the full story. But I reflected on having an amazing year at Everton personally. It’s always an honour to manage a club of that status, like it is for me to be sitting here, because it’s a huge football club. We had an amazing moment together, staying in the Premier League, which will absolutely stick with me for a long time because of what it meant to the people of Everton, my employers at Everton, the team, everything.
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"So that was a good period and of course, when I leave the club, there are things where you think 'I wish that could have changed...' But as I said before, every different managerial job will have all those things that every manager will reflect on and then they move forwards onto their next opportunity.
"So I don’t sit on it with too much thinking this and that, it’d be useless to do. It’d be very easy in hindsight to sit and say 'I could have done this, I could have done that,' I think that’s useless too.
"Can you think about how you can get better? Yeah. But you can also reflect on things and say that in that six months it was a challenge to stay up and we managed to stay up in a difficult moment. So there are things I sort of throw around in my head but it’s only with a view to getting better going forwards."
The new Blues boss is under no illusion that he has changed since his first time in charge of Chelsea, however.
"I’ve definitely changed and I took some things that I changed on to Everton," he added. "You evolve – that’s probably a better word. I’ve always been very open to listening, looking and learning. And obviously reflecting. I’m certainly not a person who sits here and says: I’ve got all the answers. I think that’s probably when you level out as a coach – or maybe in life.
"So there are things I look back on. Things I feel I’ve maybe improved and there will always be things that you want to get better at. But there are not absolute things I can say - here or there - and the results will always be in how I perform here and how I can affect the players now. So I think I’ve improved."
The Blues' boss was coy on the specifics but remembers some advice from his first period in charge which sticks with him. While Lampard remains reflective on his abilities he is steadfast in his confidence with the team he is set to work with. He was unable to confirm the group on Thursday but it is widely expected to include former Blues Paul Clement, Ashley Cole and Joe Edwards.
He said: "I don’t know [the ways he's improved] because a great manager – who is not with us anymore – said to me when I was first here actually, in my office: there are things he did towards the end of his career and he reflects and he was actually a better coach in that way when he was in his first year of managing.
"And I really understood what he meant. Some things in your early years of managing when you have that freshness, that naivety also but you look back and think: that was really good. and the game can change a little bit but you want to stick to those basics and you learn and maybe you feel better in that period. So at the minute I don’t know where I am on that scale. I just work and you just see the game as you want. I will have good staff around me that I know well and can work with me on that. And that’s it."
Given what Lampard achieved as a player it will be no surprise that he still retains his ambition. The 44-year-old understands that he may not be held in the highest regard by some given his most recent exploits but that does not impact the reason he decided to return to Stamford Bridge. While his ego may seek some appreciation, his passion is more insular.
He explained: "I think to do work with the considerations of what opinions may be about it - is your opinion that Antonio Conte is a bad manager because he just left Tottenham, Thomas Tuchel leaves Chelsea, he's a bad manager - I think the reality is always wherever it is in the middle. We see that changes a lot.
"From a selfish reason you want to do well in this period because I have a professional ego where I can be the best I can be and you want people to see that and feel it but you can't control. I want to be as good as possible. I want that feeling. I want the feeling of being a manager here with a good group that wins football games because there's nothing better. That's why I'm here."
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