Football can be an emotional game, sometimes too emotional. They can get in the way, cloud your judgement. Allow you to make rash decisions.
Sometimes, however, you have to accept what’s in front of you and that looks like it could be the case with Chelsea and Frank Lampard.
The former England international is set to leave MLS side, New York City when his contract runs out and that has left him to be linked with a return to Stamford Bridge in a coaching role, but where does he fit in?
Why should Chelsea give him a role? Will Antonio Conte want him involved? Those are all questions floating around with the situation less than clear at this moment in time.
One thing that Chelsea have never really done all that well is looking after those have come and gone at the club. Despite that, the club have employed former players such as Carlo Cudicini and Jody Morris to name a few. Cudicini is currently part of Conte’s coaching staff and Morris is currently in charge of the club’s U18s side.
Both players were extremely popular during their time at Stamford Bridge but both would admit that despite both being quality players in their prime, neither set the world alight in the way that Lampard did during his Chelsea career.
Here we have a man who won everything there is to win in club football. He’s the club’s all-time top goalscorer. Just let that sink in for a moment. He scored a massive 211 goals for the club from midfield. He’s just one of seven players to surpass the 150 goals landmark in Premier League history. The man is in an elite class, above the rest.
Paulo Ferreira works with the club in an ambassadorial role and helps with the players currently away from Stamford Bridge on loan. Another fan favourite during his time at Chelsea. There are plenty of former faces at the club, but no one to the calibre of the 38-year-old.
Lampard has been rumoured to be wanted by the FA in some form of coaching role with the England national team. But with the sudden change from Sam Allardyce to Gareth Southgate, that seems like it could be something for the future.
Under Antonio Conte, Chelsea are entering a new era for the club. A new style of football as they look to move on from the mess that Jose Mourinho left behind after a disastrous title defence.
There is nothing wrong with leaving that period of the club’s history behind, but, likewise, there is nothing wrong with remembering some of the figures that made those times so successful, players like Lampard himself.
Which is where emotions come into play, you can’t just hand Lampard a job for the sake of it, you’ll need to find a role for them, that they can really have an effect on the club.
An area that the club have notoriously failed in over the years is in the youth department. Working alongside a former team-mate like Morris could help ease Lampard, who is working on his coaching badges, into life as a member of staff at Stamford Bridge.
Having someone like Lampard working with the club’s youngsters on a day-to-day basis could be what helps get some of the most talented teenagers into the first-team. He would help keep them motivated, on the right path, as he’d be living proof of the journey available to them as young players.
Chelsea often produce plenty of great young players, but making the jump from the academy to the first-team can often be the undoing of many of those players. He may not have come through the academy, but after joining the club at the age of just 22, Lampard went on to achieve everything at Stamford Bridge.
Many of the young academy players at Chelsea now would’ve grown up watching Lampard score goal after goal at Stamford Bridge and he could help bridge the gap between the academy and the first-team squad.
