Frank Lampard signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2001, the very same summer I returned as a season ticket holder to Stamford Bridge, having been absent for too long, for too many dull reasons. As a consequence, Super Frankie Lampard is the first Chelsea player who’s entire career I have witnessed at first hand
To say I’m immensely privileged to have witnessed his Chelsea career is a massive understatement.
Frank’s departure means that apart from JT there are no pre-Roman players left at the club. We we will not see their like again. Players like Frank get the Club and more important they get us, the supporters. I fear we are now lurching towards becoming a club populated by ‘galacticos’ who believe they are here to grace us with their presence for a few years before succumbing to a juicy deal at Real, Barce or PSG. It appears that Roman Abramovich’s dream of his own personal ‘fantasy football’ team is now even closer. A merry-go-round of star names playing for the Club for a few seasons rather than building a career at the Club, and leaving a legacy.
What can you say about Frank that hasn’t already been said, not least by me in two articles on Frank in the past for cfcuk?
Frank is an old school player in many ways. He is a great professional; he has a great work ethic; he is a team man, a big game player and a great, great goalscorer. He is also superb with the supporters, is intelligent and shows humility, something almost anachronistic in this day and age. What a shame that the Club and Frank could not find a way to keep him within the bosom of what had become very much his family. He had so much more to offer – less so on the pitch going forward perhaps, but certainly as a leader and a fine example in the dressing room and on the training ground. As a highly intelligent individual we should have harnessed that experience, knowledge and passion for football and Chelsea and utilised it at the Club in some capacity. Alas this is not to be.
Was it a desire for more money or to carry on playing for a few more years, or was this the slow lingering retribution for defying Roman’s choice of AVB as manager? I guess we’ll never know and in truth this is neither the time nor the place to ponder such issues.
Quite simply Frank Lampard is the greatest player we have seen, and I suspect ever will see at the Club.
His stats and performances bear this out on their own. Of course he is the Club’s highest goalscorer with 211 goals – remarkable for a midfield player. He is also the Club’s third highest
appearance maker with 648 appearances. He has won 3 Premier Leagues; 4 FA Cups; 2 League Cups; 1 Champions League and 1 Europa League. No Chelsea player has won more caps for their Country – 101 to date – whilst playing for Chelsea. No Chelsea player has won Player of the Year more times than Frank (3). He scored 20 or more goals for five consecutive seasons and has supplied the second-highest number of assists in Premier League history. Frank also made a record-breaking 164 consecutive league appearances between 2001 and 2005, still the highest for an outfield player. And of course he made an impact on the world stage as runner-up in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year.
We’ll all have our favourite memories of Frank’s goals and performances. His goal against Lazio in the Champions League early in his Chelsea career: the goals that won our first title in 50 years at Bolton, and then following it up by doing the same the next season; the amazing goals against Bayern Munich and Barcelona; his performance in a losing cause against Utd in the Champions’ League final in the torrential rain of Moscow; the raw emotion of the penalty against Liverpool days after he’d lost his Mother; the pass to Drogba for the winning goal in the Cup Final against Utd; the winner in the Cup Final against Everton (I was right behind the goal for that one and it was special); the superb defence splitting pass to Ramires who’s sublime chip helped get us past Barcelona in the semi-final before we famously went on to finally lift the European Cup in Munich and the unforgettable elation and emotion of his record breaking goal away at Aston Villa.
And then there are the more personal memories…
The Chelsea FanCast had a spell where we were able to host various competition winners in one of the hospitality boxes at Chelsea. For one particular match – Swansea at home as I recall – Frank was out of favour and getting a bad press from the Club and media alike. In spite of not playing he was the only player who warmed down after the match. As there was plenty of free drink still to be consumed, we were still in the hospitality box when we caught sight of Frank warming down some 30 yards in front of us. Instantly we belted out a rather drunken version of “Super, Super Frank, Super, Super Frank, Super, Super Frank, Super Frankie Lampard” and plenty of other vocal encouragement. Frank immediately looked to our direction and responded with a grin and a round of applause. We loved it and were encouraged in to doing an encore!
Chelsea FanCast regular, Darren ‘Dazza Mental’ Mantle visited a pub where Frank has an interest after one Chelsea game. Again this was at a time in Frank’s Chelsea career where he was neither getting the love or the respect that he deserved. To Dazza’s immense delight and surprise Frank and Christine Bleakley were in said pub that evening. Dazza like a child with OCD patiently waited his moment to strike before approaching Frank with a bug eyed look on his face. He proceeded to declare undying love for Frank, which was received with 
patience and humility. Frank happened to remark favourably on the t-shirt Dazza was wearing at the time – a Chelsea FanCast t-shirt. Dazza proceeded to explain to Frank what the show was all about and more important, the fact that the last show we had done was entitled “SuperFrankieIsFantasticTheDoubtersAreAtrocious!” In this particular show we had voted Frank winner of every match award – Man of the Match; Chant of the Match; Guinness and Celery Moment – unprecedented on the show. Dazza then promised to send him both a Chelsea FanCast t-shirt and a CD of this particular show. I would love to know what Frank did with them!
A couple of years ago I was also lucky enough to meet Frank, as a member of the Fans Forum and the annual trip to watch the players train at Cobham. As expected Frank was mobbed after training by the 20 or so of us there, but had a cheerful word for everyone, and the time to pose for a photo or two. During my time writing for the cfcuk fanzine, I had penned two articles on Frank – basically praising him as the greatest player in the Club’s history. I had the good sense to take along a copy so that Frank could sign the article. 
I presented it to Frank and explained to him what it was and what it was about. At this point Frank looked somewhat intense and very sincere as he started to read the article. With a massive queue waiting to meet the great man, I quietly quipped that it was OK, he didn’t need to read it! He chuckled somewhat gratefully and then signed it.
For many years, the generation before me held the much loved and lamented Peter Osgood up as the ‘King of Stamford Bridge’. I was not old enough to either watch him play live for Chelsea or to feel the pain of Peter Osgood leaving the Club in the seventies, but I think I now know how that must have felt for many of my older Chelsea mates.
Chelsea FC are very much poorer for Frank Lampard leaving and I feel like a little bit of my love for the Club has diminished as a result. I get the feeling that in some way things will just not quite be the same again. All that’s left to say is “thank you Frank – you are a true gent and legend at Chelsea FC. Thank you for 13 fantastic years and some of the best memories I have had watching my beloved Chelsea. I will savour them”.
Leave it to Chidge to strike the right chord. It is sad to see Lampard go, though this is the way football clubs operate in this day and age; nothing remains the same. I agree that Frank was a consummate professional footballer — always prepared mentally and physically to play, to put in a shift, to do the little things for the club. Very few players can achieve that, year in and year out, for the same club, or connect with supporters the way Frank and JT have.
Thanks, Chidge.
Thanks Brian – much appreciated 🙂
Very well put Chidge. I am very sad to see Lamps go, all this time I kept holding out hope that he could play one more year then transition to a management position at the club. But Frank has earned the right to go out as he sees fit, and if that is playing one or two more years someplace else, then he above all has earned that right. I hope the club does right by him and finds him a position when he does decide to hang up the boots. I know it is cheesy, but in America, a retiring sports star will often sign a 1 day contract then retire with his original club. I hope CFC finds an even better way to keep him involved. Chidge, Thanks for sharing your memories on a true legend and thanks for the great podcast!