Frank Lampard wants to convince Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to ditch hire-and-fire policy
Sticking around: Frank Lampard
(Chelsea FC via Getty Images)Frank Lampard wants to convince Roman Abramovich to ditch his hiring and firing policy and prove he can be Chelsea’s first long-term manager under the Russian.
Lampard is the 10th permanent managerial appointment of the demanding owner’s 13 years at Stamford Bridge - while Avram Grant, twice, Guus Hiddink, twice and Rafa Benitez have held interim positions in that time.
Jose Mourinho remains the longest-serving, staying the course for three seasons in his first, trophy-laden spell at the club.
But Lampard, who has 18 months to run on his contract, insists he is building for the long term after a £220million transfer spree to turn Chelsea into title contenders this season.
“I feel like I would love to be part of the long-term plan here,” he said. “The signings we made in the summer, other than probably Thiago [Silva], were signings for now and the future, players that are going to progress and who will mature, and, of course, I would love to be part of that.
“Of course, that’s the club’s decision and the owner’s decision first and foremost, so I have to get on with the short-term, which starts with Leeds tomorrow.
“I’m a lucky man to be managing the club that I love and is my life.”
Lampard has been given a major say on recruitment, with Abramovich showing his faith in the club legend by giving the go-ahead to six major signings ahead of his second season in charge.
Lampard added: “I would love to do this job as long as possible, but I’m also very aware that that is results-based. At the minute, I think we’re working towards something and people are getting very excited and mentioning us being in a title race this year.
“I always saw it as a longer plan than that and it might take until next year for us to really challenge, because of the signings, because of the bedding-in process.
“What we’re doing at the moment, it’s really getting people excited, but I know we need to be consistent over the course of the season.
“I’m genuinely not thinking too much about my future. I’m just thinking about game to game at the minute.
“I guess the future will look after itself either way after that.
“In terms of my contract, it seems to have flown by the time I’ve been here. I’ve got 18 months left and I felt it when I came to the club, I knew there were a lot of circumstances at the beginning that were going to make last year transitional and maybe slightly difficult.
“I felt like I took the job in a different position to most recent Chelsea managers. I think people sympathise with that as well and I think it was a success.”
Crucially, Lampard’s relationship with the boardroom has ensured a more settled atmosphere at the club than in recent years.
It helps having former team-mate Pete Cech in the role of technical and performance advisor, while he has worked well with transfer chief Marina Granovskaia.
He added: “The relationship I have with Petr has been a huge strength for me because I get on so well with him and I think, hopefully, we work well together.
“The communication I have with Marina is very regular. I try to fo all the things I can for the club, for the best of the club on and off the pitch and I can’t go much further than that.”
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