Frank Lampard is progressing through his coaching development, and spoke this week about his options for his first job. Chelsea should bring him aboard in Steve Holland’s old role, as the “permanent” assistant coach providing stability across managerial turnover.
When Steve Holland left Chelsea to join Gareth Southgate’s England staff, he was already one of the last holdovers from earlier eras in the sport. Holland was Chelsea FC’s first team assistant coach. He was not Antonio Conte’s assistant, nor Jose Mourinho’s, nor any of the four other managers he worked with. Holland was a Blue, an unusually stable one.
Most managers, particularly at the top clubs, bring with them their retinue of assistant coaches, performances coaches, nutritionists, analytics gurus and other support roles. Clubs no longer hire a head coach. They hire a complete coaching staff.
While this helps the manager quickly implement his methods, it guts the training staff when the manager is fired. Few assistants will organize a training session while their benefactor packs up his office, assuming they were not also sacked effective immediately. Even if they had the chance to do so, they would have already lost the locker room as the players know the club is moving in a new direction.
Steve Holland covered those gaps in Chelsea’s managerial timeline, even though he was only once the official caretaker manager. The players knew what was happening behind the scenes. But Holland was there to ensure they put in the work for the upcoming game, even if he himself did not know who would be on the touchline (and be his boss) come the weekend.
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Teams lose a lot of their identity when they lack this stability and continuity. Chelsea lost the anchors of their training ground and front office within a few months of each other with Holland’s and Michael Emenalo’s departure. They have been all sorts of adrift ever since.
Frank Lampard would be the ideal candidate to revive the role of “permanent” assistant coach at Chelsea. Never one to shy away from putting in the long hours to achieve his ambitions, Lampard said he is willing to work as an assistant, as a youth coach or at a lower level en route to eventually managing a top-tier team. He recognizes the path ahead of him and the importance of learning from experienced managers along the way. He will not bail out early to chase a shiny object job because doing so would compromise his long-term plan.
Lampard also would simply never do that to Chelsea. His commitment to the club is unquestionable. He would bring the Blues stability and the proper example to the players of what this club could and should be about.
Each new manager at Chelsea would take the job knowing that Frank Lampard would be on their coaching staff. They would accept his position as part of the job. No one who would be upset at the prospect of inheriting Frank Lampard as their assistant coach as any place being Chelsea’s manager, or anyone’s manager for that matter. If you are not willing to teach and learn from Lampard, you have no place on any touchline.
Chelsea are in the midst of any number of identity crises right now, all self-inflicted. They seem unwilling to do what it takes to keep a manager at the club for more than a few years. If they are at least willing to stand by an assistant manager, they would take a significant step towards becoming a cohesive club again.
Hopefully they would inspire this practice across the Premier League. Rapid turnover is not unique to Chelsea, nor are the negative consequences it has on a club. If Chelsea lead the way in reviving assistant coaches who are loyal to club rather than the manager, they will make a positive impact on the sport.
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Frank Lampard is the perfect candidate to start this process. Eventually he would leave, but as he did when he departed as a player, he would do so with respect and class. As long as he doesn’t go to Manchester City to replace Pep Guardiola.
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