By Efosa Taiwo

Many will say they saw it coming, and it was just only a matter of time before Frank Lampard got his second topflight boot in his managerial career.

Having had it flourishing as a footballer with many laurels to his credit, Frank, just like a score of his predecessors, almost immediately after hanging up his boots waded into the treacherous waters of coaching, pioneering at Derby County where he cut his teeth rather promisingly.

At Derby, he successfully guided the Championship side to the playoff final in his only season at the club, one that got many football fans and pundits zeroing in on the coaching prospects of the former England international with even early impressions likening his meteoric success to that of Pep when the Spaniard started off at Barca — however justified that comparison was.

Not too long after his ‘precocious’ success at Derby County, and of course, the English media hype around his ‘genius’ at the club, he became the name on the lips of some Chelsea fans, and was given a ‘golden ticket’ back to the Stamford Bridge, this time around as a coach to take the place of Maurizio Sarri in 2019.

Although, his appointment came with lots of debates around how prepared he was for the demanding role of being a ‘Chelsea gaffer’ irrespective of his impressive record at Derby County, but the Chelsea management, apparently, knew better and entrusted him with the reigns of guiding Chelsea out of the rut Sarri had them thrusted in — with many hoping for a renaissance of the Pep-Barca dalliance.

In his first season at West London, he was able to guide the team to a fourth-place finish that guaranteed them a spot in Europe’s topflight competition, the UEFA Champions League, giving off hopes that if given more time at the club, he could do better with the ‘restructuring’ project he was engrossed in at the club.

The 2020/21 campaign came, and that was where all fell apart for the young English gaffer as Chelsea’s form took a turn for the worse, and patience with him ran out both on the end of the management and the fans. He was then shown the way out of the club rather unceremoniously on January 25th with the club languishing in ninth position under his watch.

And as widely reckoned, the heft around the name ‘Frank Lampard’ would never see him out of job for too long, and such was the case as he returned to management — after his inglorious Chelsea stint – at Everton replacing Rafa Benitez on 31 January, 2022.

After a challenging campaign, Lampard guided Everton to safety which included crucial, as well as memorable, victories over Manchester United and former club Chelsea. He, however, didn’t surprise many with his reputation as a good starter, and he sure continued in such light with the Merseyside club, raising the hopes of fans of better fortunes to come provided more time be granted him.

Expectedly, more time was surely given to the new coaching sensation, with the time doing nothing but returning Everton to the struggles he had lifted them out of in his first season at the club, as he got kicked out of the job on 23 January, 2023 with the Toffees sitting in 19th position on the log.

History has definitely shared its good and bad to footballers who ventured into coaching after their footballing career with many of them, after a graceful playing career, having it tough with management; and eventually coming to discover that playing football successfully and coaching successfully are two disparate crafts.

Frank has seen it all from a vantage point, and it is left to be seen what he makes of these experiences — a springboard or a detour.