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Frank Lampard lost his position as Chelsea manager this morning, less than 24 hours after the club’s FA Cup victory over Luton Town, with former PSG Manager Thomas Tuchel replacing him at the helm.
Prior to the announcement, Chelsea players were told not to report to the training ground until this afternoon.
Tuchel is far more known for his managerial career than his playing one, having been forced to retire aged 25 with a knee injury.
His first major role was with Mainz — replacing Jurgen Klopp — where he spent five seasons. He left the club in 2014 after a dispute over finances and was hired by Borussia Dortmund a year later, again replacing Klopp.
Tuchel spent two years at Dortmund before being sacked. He then replaced Unai Emery as Paris Saint-Germain boss in May 2018, but was relieved of his duties in Paris in December with the club third in Ligue 1.
Chelsea are currently on a poor run of form in the Premier League, losing five of their last eight games and well off the pace, struggling to get into the top four.
Lampard had not sought any reassurances over his future, and was confident he could find a solution to Chelsea’s current predicament.
Now 18 months into the three-year contract he was given when he was appointed in the summer of 2019, Lampard overachieved in his first season in charge – during which the club did not sign any players – by guiding the club to Champions League qualification and the final of the FA Cup.
Speaking before the Luton Town game Lampard said “I’m a fighter first and foremost. It’s how I managed to make a career out of the game as a player. When I packed up, I could have easily stayed in the media or come out of football altogether.
Frank Lampard was appointed as the new head coach at Chelsea on a three-year contract in June 4 2019, sealing a return to Stamford Bridge for the club’s record goalscorer.
This is after Derby had granted Chelsea permission to speak to Lampard and the 41-year-old – who will meet the media at a 2pm news conference – has now completed a move back to his former club as the permanent successor to Maurizio Sarri.
Lampard’s predecessor Maurizio Sarri led Chelsea to third place in the Premier League and won the Europa League before departing for Juventus after just one season in London.
During his tenure, Lampard had to contend with the two-window registration ban handed to the club by FIFA after they were found guilty of breaching rules regarding the signing of U18 players. Chelsea appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A transfer meant that Lampard had to maximise the resources already at his disposal at the time which ironically gave opportunities for some of Chelsea’s talented youngsters.
Lampard’s assistant manager and fellow ex-Blue, Jody Morris, spent four years working with Chelsea’s youth teams and knows the club’s next generation well, while Lampard showed he is happy to hand developing players responsibility while at Derby.
During his time, Lampard embraced the pressure of the £200 million ($264m) he spent on new players at Chelsea.
Chelsea bolstered their ranks from back to front, with the likes of Edouard Mendy, Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner drafted into an ambitious squad.The Blues boss was freed to oversee an elaborate spending spree in the last transfer window.
Roman Abramovich dusted off the chequebook at Stamford Bridge and set about funding moves that allowed big-money additions to be made across the field in west London – but return on investments has not been met with Chelsea languishing in the Premier League’s 9th position with 19 games played thus far.
Given that Jose Mourinho was at the helm for almost six years across his two spells, it is no surprise to see the now-Tottenham manager lead the spending table. Although given he presided over 11 different transfer windows, his average spend of £60m in each is actually lower than many other men to have taken charge at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea FC plc announced its annual financial results for the year ended 30 June 2020in which the group turnover fell to £407.4m from £446.7m the previous year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which impacted all revenue streams of the Group.
Editing By: Steve Umidha
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Financial Fortune is a digital financial news website and print business magazine published in Nairobi by Fortune & Transit Publishers Ltd and covers the financial services sector through news, views and extensive people coverage since 2018.
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