Former Premier League stars Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole have disagreed over whether Frank Lampard would be handed the permanent role as Chelsea head coach once again if he were to win the Champions League with the club. The former midfielder turned coach was given the task of becoming the interim manager for the remainder of the season.
The Blues have struggled this campaign, sitting 11th in the Premier League, with the European competition being their only respite. Plenty have linked Lampard with a second stint in permanent charge of the club if he were to win the Champions League for a third time at the club.
The interim head coach was unwilling to be drawn into any potential situations, saying: "I don't think it's worth speaking about past moments," when compared to Roberto Di Matteo's Champions League win as interim. "Roberto did an incredible job and stayed on - that's a different part of Chelsea's history and for me, in simple terms it won't be my decision as such, so again I don't want to jump forward to that.
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"I understand I'm probably going to get asked that question a lot and asked a series of questions. I've got my eyes wide open, I expect those questions. The important thing for me is to park that to the side and focus on the job in hand. I'm very excited to do that along with the staff that I will be working with and the players I will be working with."
Should Lampard achieve the unlikely, he'd have to overcome Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, with one of Manchester City and Bayern Munich awaiting in the semi-finals. The topic of the former England international taking charge was discussed in the build-up to the game on BT Sport, where Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Glenn Hoddle discussed a permanent stay.
Hoddle asked: "What happens if he [Lampard] does win this trophy?" before Ferdinand responds: "He don’t get the job." That was against the belief of Hoddle and Cole, with the former saying: "Still doesn’t get the job here?" to which Ferdinand said: "I don’t think he gets the job here. I think he’ll be like Roberto di Matteo."
Cole then said: "I disagree. If you win the trophy, I just think with his connection to the club and the fans, the owners would have no option but to give him the job... But, we have seen Chelsea in the last 20 years do some interesting things so I just think like you Rio, what an opportunity for him. Frank, we all know him, he’s a competitor and he’s always going to gravitate to there and competing and trying to win."
It remains to be seen what will be in the future for Lampard and Chelsea on their journey, but for now they have a few more games to enjoy as a partnership.
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