Frank Lampard RETURNS as Chelsea manager

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 6 Apr 2023 13:44 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea have confirmed the return of Frank Lampard as manager, with the club legend being named as caretaker manager until the end of the season.

Lampard had 84 games in charge of the Blues between 2019 and 2021 and takes over at Stamford Bridge following the sacking of Graham Potter, with Bruno Saltor having been in charge of Chelsea's draw over Liverpool earlier this week.

A statement on Chelsea's website quoted owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, who said: "We are delighted to welcome Frank back to Stamford Bridge. Frank is a Premier League Hall of Famer and a legend at this club.

"As we continue our thorough and exhaustive process for a permanent head coach, we want to provide the club and our fans with a clear and stable plan for the remainder of the season. We want to give ourselves every chance of success and Frank has all of the characteristics and qualities we need to drive us to the finish line.

"We have an important game against Wolves on Saturday and then we will turn our attention to our Champions League quarter-final in Madrid next week. We are all going to give Frank our full backing as we aim to get the best possible outcome from all our remaining games."

Chelsea are still in negotiations with the likes of Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique to take over full-time in the summer, however Lampard will take over the team in the meantime, starting with the club's next game against Wolves this weekend.

READ MORE: Graham Potter: ‘Try and win the f***ing Champions League!’

Lampard's first spell at Chelsea

Lampard’s first spell as manager at Chelsea ended badly.

After finishing fourth in his first season in charge and runners-up in the FA Cup, Lampard endured a dismal first half to his second campaign.

Lampard was eventually sacked as Chelsea manager at the end of January 2021 after a dreadful run of form saw the club fall to ninth place in the Premier League table.

Having spent €250 million the summer before on big-name signings such as Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy, this was deemed unacceptable for a club expected to challenge for the Premier League title.

He was replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who subsequently led Chelsea to Champions League glory at the end of that season.

With Tuchel and his successor Graham Potter having since got the chop, Lampard is now set for a shock return to the club where he became a legend as a player.

In 13 years at Chelsea as a player, he scored 211 goals in 648 games and won three Premier League titles and a Champions League.

His managerial career has been far less successful, and he was sacked by Everton in January after less than a year in charge and with the Toffees down in 19th position in the Premier League.