'People said I should have started managing at the bottom. Why? The stars aligned for me to get the Chelsea job' Frank Lampard rejects the idea he was benefactor of Stamford Bridge nepotism

"People sometimes say to me, Oh, you should have gone to manage the youth team or managed down at the bottom.' But I'm like, Why?' I had a really long playing career where I learned a lot," Lampard explains to FourFourTwo. "Of course you have to retrain as a manager and the job has much more responsibility in loads of ways, but I'd played for a long time and I wanted to take that opportunity with Derby."

"Lampard played for the Blues for 13 seasons, scoring 147 Premier League goals and winning everything there is to win. There are some calls you just don't ignore, no matter the public reaction. The stars aligned with Chelsea, says Lampard. People had opinions, of course, but the opportunity was there, they had the transfer ban and everything. "I wouldn't have got the job without that, I knew that, but I went there, worked with the younger players, and we made it into the C"

Frank Lampard is pursuing a return to the Premier League as manager of Coventry City after twice missing promotion via the play-offs. Promotion as league winners is the preferred route following a season that lifted Coventry into the top six. Lampard previously reached the 2019 play-off final with Derby County in his first managerial role and cites learning much from that experience. Lampard highlights a long playing career that informed his managerial ambition and notes the need to retrain for management while carrying greater responsibilities. Lampard accepted Chelsea's managerial opportunity and worked with younger players amid a transfer ban.

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