Chelsea: The cat is in the cradle for Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho

Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho were once close at Chelsea, but time and decisions have caused the two to drift away from one another.

There was once a time when Jose Mourinho followed Frank Lampard into the shower to tell him he could be the greatest player in the world. Mourinho was no fool. He understood that Lampard was a big reason for his rise as a coach. At the same time, Lampard, though somewhat established already, only truly exploded under Mourinho. The Englishman will fully understand the influence Mourinho had over his career.

But times change. Mourinho went off to Inter Milan and Real Madrid before making a return to London. Lampard had moved into the twilight of his career at that point but still had much to give. Even still, Mourinho was not willing to cling on to Lampard for sentimentality’s sake. Lampard was allowed to leave at the end of his contract and through a shell game by City Football Group, ended up at Manchester City when the team was arguably Chelsea’s biggest threat to the title. Mourinho, in a quote that would come back to haunt him, said the “love story was over“.

The gulf has only grown since Lampard became a manager himself. Mourinho has only bettered his former superstar once (last match) and that is sure to get under Mourinho’s skin. Beyond that, Lampard isn’t overtly going out of his way to say he was influenced by Mourinho. There touch line spat last time out wasn’t large in the grand scheme of things, but it would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. What is happening here?

It surely all does go back to the 14/15 season. From Lampard’s side of things, he was let go from the club that had become his own. He still had plenty to give, as shown with Manchester City. Perhaps, however, he needed to go elsewhere to bolster his coaching ambitions. There is a lot of Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and others in his tactics. But look closely enough and signs of Manuel Pellegrini are just as prevalent.

The seeds of Mourinho’s fall were also laid that season despite the title win. Prior to a loss to Tottenham, Chelsea was playing majestic buccaneering football. Afterwards? Mourinho shut up shop and played to concede as few as possible rather than score as many as possible.

Whatever magic Mourinho possessed when he told Lampard he could be the best in the world was gone as well. In 15/16, the players looked like they were trying but weren’t motivated to run through walls for Mourinho like previous teams. That saw him sacked and eventually hired by Manchester United in what only felt like a petty hire. The love story was over.

So was much of Mourinho’s magic. Few Manchester United fans will look back on his tenure as a success. He was sacked there too before ending the love story even further by joining Tottenham. Seemingly every job Mourinho has taken post 2016 seems to have been to strike out against Chelsea for firing him.

Maybe that is another point between him and Lampard. Mourinho had a rather sizeable spat with Antonio Conte. The one with Lampard is smaller but still there. Now think of who else Mourinho is striking out at. Anyone besides Pep Guardiola and occasional Jurgen Klopp? No not really.

All this being said, in the All or Nothing series, Mourinho was full of praise for Lampard. “The best” Mourinho said. Of course, that wasn’t to Lampard and much of the show seems to be Mourinho winking at the camera to look as good as possible. The moment, however, felt sincere. Overall, however, the relationship feels like one that has become strained if not broken with at least Mourinho regretting that things have turned out this way.

Maybe the relationship can be mended someday. It likely will not be on Sunday. Long gone are the days of Mourinho mentoring Lampard. The latter has struck out on his own in the world and there has been grievance between the two. Anything can happen though.