Chelsea have re-appointed Frank Lampard as the club manager on a short-term basis.
The title of his role is caretaker manager and the correspondence from Chelsea is clear, and that is that Lampard is here until the end of the season.
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But that will not stop speculation about him potentially staying longer and being in contention for the job on a permanent basis, that’s always going to happen.
And who is to say that if he doesn’t do really well during the rest of the season, with also a shot at winning the Champions League, then perhaps that speculation starts to turn to reality. Nobody knows what will happen, even though it appears apparent that Chelsea are seeking a new long-term manager still.
Lampard himself was asked about it in his first press conference back at the club yesterday, and he was pretty clear with his response. I don’t think it’s anything he will ever rule out completely though.
“I think it clear what the job is from the title of the role. Do I want to do as well as I can in this period to show I am managing and coaching really well? Then we’ll see. I don’t need answers to that point. I have taken that under the conditions that I know what it is and now it is up to me to do very well. As I say, this is a club I am connected to. I just want to do well in this moment.
“After that, of course, it may mean I end up saying thank you very much in what looks like a future for me, and at that point I will be very happy and say I think I have given everything and hopefully it is positive. And that is it. I cannot get ahead of my station at all. I am not there. I am just here to affect this period.
“My only focus can be this,” he said: “The feeling I have from the club, rightly so, is that they want to do a process to find the right person to take the club forward whoever that might be. And that is absolutely their prerogative. Maybe that is why I am here in this period in this moment.
“Can I do as well as possible? I hope so. It is not for me to decide the club’s process and how they go about it. Any of the talk during this next period… you’ll ask me but it won’t be affecting me. It will only affect me because I know what it is – what results we can get, how we train and how we prepare for games.”
Quotes via Football London.
