Chelsea legend Frank Lampard was at the helm of Chelsea in the first half of last season. Lampard was expected to guide Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League and also fight for the Champions League. However, Lampard’s team failed to do the talking on the pitch due to various reasons and sometimes luck wasn’t on their side.
Chelsea decided to part ways with Lampard in January and appointed former PSG manager Thomas Tuchel who went to the Champions League 2019-20 final with PSG only to be beaten by Bayern Munich. However, together, Chelsea and Tuchel went on to lift the Champions League 2020-21 trophy.
Thomas Tuchel has now revealed that he asked Chelsea not to sack Frank Lampard. He told Sky Sports, recalling Chelsea’s first contact with him: “I actually said to the board: ‘Are you sure about this? Because they will not like you for it. Maybe he deserves more time’. When I think of Chelsea, I think of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Petr Cech and Didier Drogba.”
“I think of Lampard as the first because he is the epitome of everything Chelsea is: hard work, aggressive players, great leaders, but at the same time a normal guy on the pitch and a huge team player. A true, true legend.”
“But I understood that the decision was more or less made. It was take it or not for me. Then I just hoped that I would get a fair chance with the players, because when you step in, not all 20-22 players are happy.”
“You can not expect everyone to be happy that the coach leaves. Especially not because they had a good Champions League group game, good results, good performances and sometimes they were simply just unlucky from the data we saw.”
“I said very early in the process: ‘Listen guys, I did not push him out. I’m just here now to continue on my way. Let’s try to be open and give it a try together’.”
