2022-present
Among the most decorated footballers of a generation, Frank Lampard accepted his first managerial post with Derby County in summer 2018.
The three-times Premier League winning former Chelsea midfielder quickly put his stamp on the Pride Park job. Lampard constructed an enterprising team, with an experienced spine surrounded by youthful talent and speed.
Derby spent the entire campaign in the Championship’s upper reaches and held their nerve on the final day, scoring twice in the last quarter of a game against West Bromwich Albion to pip Middlesbrough to a play-off spot.
Lampard engineered a thrilling semi-final victory over Leeds United, Derby stunning Elland Road with a fearless display packed with verve and aggression to overcome a two-goal deficit and reach a Wembley final against Aston Villa.
Derby, who upset Manchester United at Old Trafford in a League Cup tie and beat another Premier League side in Southampton in the FA Cup, lost 2-1 to Villa despite a late rally inspired by the prompting of Chelsea loanee Mason Mount.
Lampard was presented with an irresistible opportunity to return to Chelsea as manager in the summer of 2019.
A player at Stamford Bridge for 13 primarily heady seasons – the highlight, arguably, an against-the-odds Champions League triumph in 2012 – Lampard took charge when his club was operating under a transfer embargo.
He made light of the restriction, promoting a cadre of gifted players from the academy to form an energetic side in Lampard’s burgeoning image as a forward-thinking manager, keen on trusting the promise of youth.
Mount and fellow former Derby loanee Fikayo Tomori were handed regular starting opportunities, while Reece James and Tammy Abraham emerged as serious players.
Lampard’s hard-running, resourceful team were the Premier League’s third-highest scorers and secured a top-four position and Champions League qualification.
They scored at least three goals in six away matches, including netting five at Wolverhampton Wanderers and four in victories over Southampton and Burnley.
There were away wins over Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, too, and Chelsea defeated defending champions Manchester City at home.
Lampard steered his side out of a devilishly-difficult Champions League group, featuring Valencia, Ajax and Lille.
In the FA Cup, Chelsea beat Liverpool and Manchester United on the way to reaching a final that was lost by one goal in three to Arsenal.
Lampard oversaw an unbeaten Champions League group stage in 2020/21 but, despite winning eight and drawing five of the opening 19 Premier League games, left the club midway through the campaign.
He originally went to Chelsea as a player in 2001, signed for £11m from West Ham United by manager Claudio Ranieri.
Lampard, who graduated from the Hammers academy and scored 38 goals in more than 150 appearances for the East London club following a debut, aged, 17, in January 1996, was quickly cemented as a key figure for Chelsea.
The Englishman played 101 games across his opening two seasons – including all 38 Premier League matches in 2002/03, as Chelsea qualified for the Champions League to open the gate to the Roman Abramovich revolution in West London.
Lampard started every league game of the opening campaign of the Abramovich era, reaching double figures for goals in the competition for the first time.
He crowned a season when Chelsea finished second to the Arsenal Invincibles by scoring three goals at the summer 2004 European Championship, where England progressed to the quarter-finals.
Lampard was growing a reputation as one of the continent’s standout midfielders, his trademark, exquisitely-timed bursts into the box the headline feature of a multi-purpose game.
Chelsea ended a 50-year wait for a second English title in 2004/05, the season when Lampard underscored his credentials as a world-class footballer.
He was on the field for every minute of a league season when Chelsea lost only once, scoring 13 goals – including a double at Bolton Wanderers to seal the championship – and assisting another 16.
Lampard, who won the first of two League Cups when Chelsea defeated Liverpool in the 2005 final, was named Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year for 2004/05.
The hunger for goals and success was never satiated. Lampard was on target 16 times as Chelsea retained their Premier League title in 2005/06 and played every minute of England’s summer World Cup quarter-final campaign.
He won both domestic cups in 2006/07, Chelsea defeating Manchester United and Arsenal to claim the FA Cup and League Cup, respectively.
All the while, Chelsea were falling short of a Champions League final but they converted the fourth semi-final of Lampard’s time at the club into an appearance in the competition’s deciding match in 2008.
Lampard scored Chelsea’s goal in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United in Moscow and netted in a deciding penalty shootout, only for Edwin van der Saar’s save from Nicolas Anelka to send the trophy to Old Trafford.
The Londoner drove in Chelsea’s winning goal in the 2009 FA Cup final against Everton.
And 12 months later, he was celebrating his third Premier League success, Lampard scoring a preposterous 22 goals – and providing 16 – as Chelsea finished one point in front of Manchester United at the top of the table.
Chelsea completed the Double with an FA Cup final victory over Portsmouth but experienced a relatively fallow 2010/11, despite Lampard’s 13 goals.
It was broadly felt the Chelsea of Lampard’s era had missed the boat when it came to Champions League glory.
But that was to reckon without a stunning 2012 effort under the caretaker charge of Roberto Di Matteo.
Chelsea overturned a 3-1 first-leg deficit to dispose of Napoli in the last-16, then recovered from 2-1 down on aggregate in Barcelona’s Nou Camp to reach the final – Lampard providing the crucial first goal for fellow midfielder Ramires.
Still, Chelsea were underdogs for a final against Bayern Munich – staged two weeks after Di Matteo’s side overcame Liverpool in the FA Cup final – in the German champions’ own back yard.
But, driven on by the indefatigable Lampard, captaining his side in the absence of suspended John Terry, Chelsea hit back after conceding in extra-time and prevailed in a penalty shootout, with the nerveless Lampard rattling home his strike.
His standing as a club legend cast in stone, Lampard skippered Chelsea to more European success in 2013, a Branislav Ivanovic goal winning the UEFA Cup final against Benfica in Holland.
Lampard, whose elite managers at Chelsea included Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti, left the capital for New York City at the end of 2013/14.
He took his Stamford Bridge leave as the owner of a host of prestigious club records, obtained across 648 appearances – 593 starts – the fourth-highest tally in Chelsea history.
Lampard’s 211 goals is a Chelsea high and he is the club’s leading top-flight scorer with 147.
His 26 FA Cup goals is another Chelsea record, while only striker Didier Drogba has scored more goals in European competition for the club than Lampard’s haul of 25.
Lampard hadn’t played a game for his MLS side when he agreed a loan move back to the Premier League with sister team Manchester City.
He scored six goals in 10 league starts for City, including one on the final day of 2014/15 when Lampard captained the side to victory over Southampton.
Lampard stayed in the US roughly 15 months, maintaining a very healthy goal return, with 18 – in addition to four assists – in 31 appearances.
The player, who won 106 England caps, scoring 29 goals and featuring at four major tournaments, retired in February 2017, at the age of 38.
In the Premier League alone, he finished with 177 goals and 102 assists from 609 appearances.
