FRANK LAMPARD believes he built the platform for Thomas Tuchel, his successor as Chelsea manager, to succeed at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard, Chelsea’s all-time top goalscorer, was sacked in January with the Blues languishing ninth in the Premier League.
Tuchel has lifted his side to third in the table and reached the Champions League and FA Cup finals in just four months in charge.
However, the former Paris Saint-Germain coach has paid tribute to Lampard for qualifying Chelsea for the Champions League in his first season in charge despite a transfer ban and getting through the group stages before his was dismissed earlier this season.
“I come away with an overall feeling of pride in what I did in the job. I wanted to stay longer, I wanted real tangible success which, at Chelsea, is winning cups and winning leagues, but it didn’t happen,” Lampard told The Telegraph.
“Hopefully, from where I took over the job, I’ve laid down strong foundations for the future and in the context of where I wanted my managerial career to go, it was an amazing experience.”
The former England international was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame on Wednesday in recognititon of his three league titles as a Chelsea player.
But he played under several managers who were dismissed by the club’s ruthless owner Roman Abramovich as soon as results began to go awry.
And the 42-year-old said he knew the same standards would be expected of him despite his history as one of the club’s all-time greats.
“I don’t make any professional decisions with my heart,” added Lampard. “I took it with a pragmatic view of: ‘what’s the situation? OK, this is Chelsea, I’m going from Derby to Chelsea.’ Not many managers would turn that down.
“I have to say that when you lose your job it’s hard. Anyone who says anything differently is a liar.
“There’s an element of pride, you’re working towards something one day and then it’s taken away from you. That’s life. You have to be a realist about it.”
Great to get through but it’s not the one we wanted, Roll on the Huns on Sunday
@Alan Brazil: Jesus Alan. We have something in common. Big game for the hoops
@Alan Brazil: same craic every year , start to improve after getting knocked out of champions league..still though would have got some spanking in the group they would been in , Barca ,Dortmund, inter . Gone are the glory days when they could get a champions league result . .
I don’t know what has gone on with Lennon and Sinclair. Sinclair good for 20 goals a season and he’s been frozen out in favour of Lewis Morgan.. Lennon seems to make stupid decisions, Celtic clearly through with 20 mins to go and he leaves all his star players on with an important game on Sunday. Edwaurd then goes off injured..
@David Garland: Stop your whinging, they won 4-1 what more do you want? Get behind Lennon and the team rather than complain
An away win in Europe is rare. A score line of 4-1 is unheard of. Good to see the holy goalie back in Glasgow.
A nice double on Sunday would be nice. Starting with the Celts and finishing with 5 in a row.
Hail Hail.
Up the Dubs.
It’s not whining wanting to know why one of our better players is not even making the bench. As I said Sinclair contributes around 20 goals a season and by the looks of Rangers this season Celtic could do with his goals, he’s a far better option that Morgan who shouldn’t be near a Celtic jersey..
Very poor performance but still put 4 goals on the board. Great going forward but my good God the backline is woeful. Whoever scouted Boli needs sacking, that lad is a bomb scare. Hopefully Lennon can get it right before the transfer window closes and get in a few decent signings for a change.
Played well, can they meet rangers in group?
@Dougal67: not until the knock out stages, teams from the same country are kept apart