Nicky Butt has backed Frank Lampard for one more stint in command of Chelsea and says he would do an ‘amazing job’ back at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard looks set to take Coventry City back into the Premier League, with the Sky Blues sitting nine points clear at the highest of the Championship with seven games remaining.
Coventry have been in good form under Lampard, losing just seven games in a highly competitive league and scoring 81 goals – 14 greater than some other Championship side.
That is by far Lampard’s most successful spell as a manager following his previous stints at Chelsea, Derby County and Everton.
Chelsea legend Lampard was appointed as manager at Stamford Bridge in 2019 and enjoyed an encouraging begin to his tenure, guiding the Blues to a fourth-place finish within the Premier League and into the FA Cup final, which they lost to Arsenal.
The west London side continued to impress at the beginning of Lampard’s second season in charge, topping their Champions League group and climbing to the highest of the Premier League in early December.
But Chelsea then won just two of their next eight games to slide to ninth and Lampard was sacked at the tip of January 2021.
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A disappointing spell at Everton followed before Lampard returned to Chelsea through the 2022-23 season as caretaker manager following Graham Potter’s sacking.
But Lampard failed to vary the mood in west London, winning just certainly one of his 11 matches in charge and taking Chelsea into the bottom-half of the Premier League.
Lampard has had no such issues at Coventry, nonetheless, and Manchester United hero Butt believes he should now be a candidate for the Chelsea job once more.
A big section of Chelsea supporters are already losing faith in Liam Rosenior, who was appointed in January following Enzo Maresca’s departure.
Chelsea were thrashed 8-2 by PSG within the Champions League and have slipped to sixth within the Premier League, six points outside the top-four places, since Rosenior took over.
The Blues are willing to offer Rosenior more time to show things around but Butt believes Lampard would do an ‘amazing job’ back at Chelsea should they be trying to find a brand new manager within the near future.
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Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Butt said: ‘Do you’re thinking that if Frank Lampard gets promotion with Coventry they may return in for Frank?
‘He got the job too early the primary time I think and he had the transfer embargo so he had to make use of a variety of young players.
‘It wouldn’t be a silly thing to go and get Frank Lampard back in command of Chelsea for me. He’s done an awesome job at Coventry.
‘He’s got a bit more experience now and he probably made just a few mistakes the primary time around. People need to grasp that transfer embargo means you must depend on a great deal of young players, that should have been difficult for him.
‘He can be a very different manager now. I believe Lampard would find it easier working with higher players, it will be easier for him to get his messages across to more technical players.
‘If Frank went back into Chelsea, with all of the experience he’s got now, I believe he would do a tremendous job, I actually do.’
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