Frank Lampard’s next job and where uncle Harry Redknapp would hate to see him manage
Frank Lampard is on the hunt for his next managerial role – and uncle Harry Redknapp is keeping his fingers crossed the right club comes along. Redknapp is hoping to see a top club give his out-of-work nephew another chance to prove his credentials. Lampard’s last role was his second stint back in the Chelsea dugout on an interim basis at the back end of the 2022/23 campaign.
That went disappointingly, with the 45-year-old leading the team to just one win in the Blues’ final 11 games. Just over a year on, and while Lampard has recently been linked with posts at recently relegated Burnley and Birmingham City, along with an international position with Canada, he is yet to agree terms anywhere.
After narrowly missing out on promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2019 with Derby County, Lampard then spent 18 months at his beloved Chelsea – his first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge – where he had to cope with managing under the cloud of a transfer embargo. Following his sacking in January 2021, he spent a year out of the game and then dramatically guided Everton to safety, but ultimately lasted just 12 months at Goodison Park.
Everton have their own ongoing problems, especially financially due to their failed takeover, and Redknapp feels the difficult circumstances Lampard has had to contend with to date have not allowed him to prove his worth in management. The former West Ham and Tottenham boss, 77, is desperate to see the Chelsea and England hero stick with English football rather than going abroad in search of a new challenge. He exclusively told Football London :
“I hope he gets a job in England somewhere. I think he’s just been unfortunate. “Like everything, you need good players. Chelsea was a poisoned chalice. Whoever’s been at Chelsea recently, they haven’t managed to turn it around, it’s been hard. It was for Pochettino this year, it was hard for Potter, it’s just that it was a hard gig. They recruited badly. Frank was left with a very average team, which wasn’t easy.
“He did ok at Everton, but again Everton was tough. Sean Dyche has done great Everton, keeping them up, but that’s about where Everton are as a club, in a bit of turmoil. They’re looking for an owner, it wasn’t an easy job to go into keeping them up, like when they turned it around that when they were 2-0 down at home and come back against Palace. Who’s achieving anything now? He couldn’t do nothing there.
“For Frank, I’d like to see him get a team where he’s got a chance to achieve something. He had no chance at Everton to achieve anything except keeping them up, then he’s gone back to Chelsea, who were in a mess – had a transfer embargo. He knows the game inside out. He’s got great knowledge of the game. He was a fantastic professional. Frank needs to go somewhere where he’s got a chance to be successful.”
Redknapp, who managed Lampard when he broke through into professional football at West Ham, made clear:
“I’d hate to see him take another middle of the road job where you’ve got no chance of being a success. This is important for him now. He’s got to make the right decision.”
Redknapp is convinced if Lampard is given the tools in the right setting, he can shape a top team and produce results. Whether a club who have those foundations in place would now take a punt on Lampard, though, is another matter. His stock isn’t as high as a few years back – before he’d experienced some failure.
However, few can match Lampard’s experience at the top level from his playing days, and other former footballers such as Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso have shown if you recruit well in the modern day, it can help make all the difference. Redknapp, who spent over 30 years in football management, even added:
“If Frank walked into Man City tomorrow – if Pep went – there’s every chance you win the title again next year. “But if he took the Leicester job or whatever, you’ve got a job on to try to stay up. It’s about where you are, it’s about good players. People get carried away. They forget Vincent Kompany won the league at Burnley. Absolutely ran away with it, he did great. I love Vincent Kompany, but he had players there that were too good. They were the best team in that league. Then they come into the Premier League, they can’t win a game hardly because they’re different levels.
“Ain’t nothing to do with the manager, he’s still the same man. He’s still saying the same things. He’s still training them the same. Everything’s the same except the players are playing at a different level. You can go and be the British 100 metre champion and then you go and run in the Olympics and suddenly you don’t even make the final. The opposition’s different. It’s all about competition.
“It’s the same thing Steven Gerrard got. He did a great great job at Rangers, went to Villa, it was tough. Then they bought, they recruited a few better players under the new manager, Emery, and they’ve done very well. It’s about you need good players. That’s the most important thing. “The best teams at the top. They’ve got the best players in the Premier League. City, Arsenal, Liverpool, probably Tottenham. Man United now are not so great because they’ve not got the players, Chelsea are the same – they need massive, and better, recruitment.”
The reality for Lampard at this stage is he probably will have to drop down the football pyramid if his next job is to be in England. He’ll know better than anyone, too, that the harsh nature of the modern game means he will have to impress in his next post, or it could be curtains for his coaching hopes.
