Fighting the Cycle: The Greatest Moments of Frank Lampard’s Reign as Chelsea Manager

When Frank Lampard was appointed Chelsea manager in 2019, I felt a mixture of apprehension and excitement. Frank Lampard is, quite conclusively, without contest, my favorite association football player of all time. He’s the reason I became a Chelsea fan. By British standards, I was kind of a latecomer to soccer. I became suddenly obsessed with it at the age of 12, with most of my buddies having been passionate about the sport for years. One time, sat in the lounge of my grandparents’ house, I watched Lampard score a stunning long-range effort in a game we were watching on TV. I remember it quite well; there was a throw-in from the left, he let it run onto his right foot, opened his body, and struck the ball, which seemed to rise upward before dipping into the top corner on the far side of the goal. That’s the moment I like to say I became a Chelsea fan, though I didn’t actually think this at the time. It was his prolific goalscoring ability from deep, in conjunction with his stoic, no-nonsense, vaguely Roman demeanor, that made me want to watch football. Gradually, I became a Chelsea fan, but I like the poetry in the idea that it stems from this singular moment of individual brilliance.

During the latter years of his playing career, I actually thought a lot about him returning to Chelsea as the team’s…