Frank Lampard insists the decision to return to Chelsea as interim manager was ‘easy’ given his strong affiliation to the club.
The club’s record goalscorer made a stunning return to Stamford Bridge to help aide Chelsea’s search for a new first-team manager following the sacking of Graham Potter earlier this week.
Lampard has been tasked with overseeing Chelsea’s remaining fixtures, which includes a daunting Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid.
The 44-year-old returns for second spell in charge after he was sacked in January 2021 and replaced by Thomas Tuchel.
“It was a pretty easy decision for me,” Lampard explained.
“This is my club in terms of my playing career and having managed and coached here before.
“So I have a lot of emotions and feelings towards the club.
“I’m also a very practical person and when you become a manager you understand that you don’t manage your own club, the club that you say is your club forever.
“Obviously I’ve been on a different path since I left Chelsea. To come back in a time where the club has asked me to come and take the role, of course that’s the most important thing.
“But also with belief that I can come and help the cause in this period to the end of the season.”
Lampard was first appointed as manager back in the summer of 2019 and guided Chelsea to a top four finish before he was unceremoniously sacked following a poor run of results the following season.
A difficult spell at Everton followed but Lampard doesn’t believe he has returned to Chelsea with a point to prove.
“I didn’t think I’d never be in this seat [again],” he added.
“I’m a confident person. I want to work hard and I understand the game.
“This club I obviously have a big connection with but, if I’m honest, that wasn’t my thought that one day I would be back as Chelsea manager.
“My job is to be as good a manager as I can be. It’s useless to sit here and think what might be down the line, so it wasn’t in the first part of my mind.
“In terms of unfinished business, I don’t quite see it like that. I was here for that period of time, I look back on that with really good feelings about the positives.
“I reflected on the things that I could have done a little bit better, most managers would have done the same and now I’m here in a different period, a different era.
“Unfinished business sounds a little bit Hollywood, it’s like you are looking for a great line. I want to work and of course I want to help this club as much as I can.”
