'I saw things that cannot be right at elite football' - Frank Lampard insists he was correct to rejoin struggling Chelsea in 2023 following Todd Boehly & BlueCo's takeover despite recording terrible 9% win ratio

The Blues legend, who won Premier League and Champions League titles at Stamford Bridge as a player, spent 18 months at the helm during his first stint in charge of a club that will always hold a special place in his heart. He answered an SOS call when returning to west London in April 2023.

With Chelsea giving Graham Potter just 31 games in charge, following the big-money takeover completed by Todd Boehly and BlueCo, somebody was required to steer the Blues through to the end of a troubled campaign. Lampard, fresh from leaving Everton a few months earlier, was asked to step in.

Emotional ties saw the ex-England international accept that challenge, but he picked up just one victory from 11 fixtures – giving him an awful nine per cent win ratio. Lampard has, however, told Sky Sports of the mess that he inherited: "I saw things that I know cannot be right at elite football and that's the truth. I didn't love working in that short period because it's hard to lay down an idea when you're going to be leaving but Chelsea will always be a massive club in my life.

"But when I understand the standards of Chelsea - in that period of time a lot of players were in transition of maybe leaving and some problems and motivation were a problem - in an interim period you can't really affect that.

"When you see the results of it, I'm experienced enough to know what's right and what's wrong and basic things in a training ground on a pitch. I didn't learn anything tactical but it did reinforce my beliefs of all my experiences of when you know what a group is really fighting in the same direction - how strong that can be and when it's not, it can be really challenging."

Despite those struggles, Lampard claims to have taken important lessons from all of his managerial roles to date. He added: "In my first week at Derby I was fresh, open-eyed to everything and there were a lot of things I needed to learn quickly. So I've certainly matured through that and seen that, and to be able to work at Derby in the Championship was a real development year for me.

"To then go to Chelsea and work in the Champions League and get into the Champions League, through the league - those things are all great experiences, so you kind of layer them up hopefully.

"Everton in a relegation battle and we stayed up, and even going back to Chelsea's interim, it was a really tough time at the club and I saw a lot of things with people questioning like was it the right thing to do…I'm absolutely better for the experience of that, even though it was six or seven weeks."

After taking a 17-month break, Lampard stepped back into the dugout at Coventry in November 2024. He has guided the Sky Blues into the Championship play-off places and is daring to dream of returning them to the Premier League after a 24-year absence.