Chelsea making right call with 'God' Lampard – Duberry sees benefits of legend as boss

Frank Lampard is “virtually a God” at Chelsea and the right man to succeed Maurizio Sarri despite his lack of managerial experience, says Michael Duberry.

The Blues are expected to turn to a familiar face in their pursuit of a new head coach.

Derby have granted permission for talks to be opened, with the Rams reluctantly preparing to part with a man who led them to the Championship play-off final last season.

Former Chelsea defender Duberry believes Lampard is the ideal choice for those at Stamford Bridge, telling Love Sport Radio: “I think he’s got a great connection with the club. They love him. He’s virtually God there so it’ll be a good one from the point of view where there were so many fans unhappy with ‘Sarri-Ball’ last year.”

On the challenges Lampard could face if results do not go his way early on, he added: “I think it’s a great appointment for that same reason: I think [the fans] will stay patient.

“You saw up in Manchester with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer], they’re patient with him. They realised what’s happening. They realise that they need to work with what they’ve got.

“If the first six games don’t go well - they’ve always done this, even with the home-grown players - they’re patient, they realise. I don’t think they’ll switch on him like 'we need a change, you’re not a legend anymore' but I just feel may they say 'maybe it was too big a job, too soon'.

“But first six games they’ll be patient with him, they’ll be cheering, see how it goes and they’ll realise that they’re growing together in a change of direction. The club’s smart if they do appoint him.”

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It has been suggested that one year in the dugout is not enough for Lampard to be taking the reins at Chelsea, especially as they are currently working under a two-window transfer embargo.

Duberry, though, is convinced that appointing club legends to key positions is the best approach, with Petr Cech already back in a technical advisor post ahead of a potential return for Lampard.

Duberry said on turning to iconic figures: “It helps. There’s no guarantee of success, bringing a legend back doesn’t guarantee that. It helps that they know the setup, brilliant. But ultimately, they know the most successful parts of the club’s history and I think that’s the idea behind it but if it doesn’t work then it’s a flop, isn’t it?

“It just puts a culture in place. Top businesses, top clubs, there’s a culture of winning: 'this is how we do stuff, this is the tradition, this is what we follow, this is the blueprint, this is what we do at a successful club'. So everyone walks in the door and knows 'at this club we do this, we do that' and I think that’s what Chelsea want to get back to – a stage with Lampard, Cech, Terry, Drogba.

“Anybody who walked through the door at Chelsea at that time knew ‘this is how we operate, this is our ethos’ and I think the club are trying to get back to that identity.

“Recently, they’ve lost that identity [because of] people in and out of the door. They want to get back to that identity of 'we’ve got a strong core, and this is what we do'. And with Lamps now, he wants to implement the ethos of Chelsea Football Club under the Lampard regime.”