Man Utd legend tells Chelsea to rehire Frank Lampard as manager

Nicky Butt has backed Frank Lampard for another stint in charge of Chelsea and says he would do an ‘amazing job’ back at Stamford Bridge.

Lampard looks set to take Coventry City back into the Premier League, with the Sky Blues sitting nine points clear at the top of the Championship with seven games remaining.

Coventry have been in brilliant form under Lampard, losing just seven games in a highly competitive league and scoring 81 goals – 14 more than any other Championship side.

This is by far Lampard’s most successful spell as a manager following his previous stints at Chelsea, Derby County and Everton.

Chelsea legend Lampard was appointed as manager at Stamford Bridge in 2019 and enjoyed an encouraging start to his tenure, guiding the Blues to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League and into the FA Cup final, which they lost to Arsenal.

The west London side continued to impress at the start of Lampard’s second season in charge, topping their Champions League group and climbing to the top of the Premier League in early December.

But Chelsea then won just two of their next eight games to slip to ninth and Lampard was sacked at the end of January 2021.

A disappointing spell at Everton followed before Lampard returned to Chelsea during the 2022-23 season as caretaker manager following Graham Potter’s sacking.

But Lampard failed to change the mood in west London, winning just one of his 11 matches in charge and taking Chelsea into the bottom-half of the Premier League.

Lampard has had no such issues at Coventry, however, and Manchester United hero Butt believes he should now be a candidate for the Chelsea job once again.

A large section of Chelsea supporters are already losing faith in Liam Rosenior, who was appointed in January following Enzo Maresca’s departure.

Chelsea were thrashed 8-2 by PSG in the Champions League and have slipped to sixth in the Premier League, six points outside the top-four places, since Rosenior took over.

The Blues are willing to give Rosenior more time to turn things around but Butt believes Lampard would do an ‘amazing job’ back at Chelsea should they be searching for a new manager in the near future.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Butt said: ‘Do you think if Frank Lampard gets promotion with Coventry they could go back in for Frank?

‘He got the job too early the first time I think and he had the transfer embargo so he had to use a lot of young players.

‘It wouldn’t be a stupid thing to go and get Frank Lampard back in charge of Chelsea for me. He’s done a great job at Coventry.

‘He’s got a bit more experience now and he probably made a few mistakes the first time around. People need to understand that transfer embargo means you have to rely on loads of young players, that must have been difficult for him.

‘He would be a totally different manager now. I think Lampard would find it easier working with better players, it would be easier for him to get his messages across to more technical players.

‘If Frank went back into Chelsea, with all the experience he’s got now, I think he would do an amazing job, I really do.’

Coventry moved a step closer to promotion on Saturday with an emphatic 3-0 win away at Swansea City. They face Derby County in their first game following the international break.

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