Frank Lampard: 'I certainly enjoy the wins more than I did as a player, but I feel losses more'

Frank Lampard portrait
Frank Lampard says he enjoys victories more as a manager than he ever did as a player Credit: John Robertson for The Telegraph

He may not have bargained on people trying to peep through the bushes at his training sessions, but Frank Lampard knew very well that all eyes would be on him once he took his first step into management.

Lampard was aware his name would make a difference, that it would open doors but also invite greater scrutiny. He could have kept his “cosy” post-playing lifestyle of dividing his time between Chelsea’s Academy, punditry and King’s Road cafes.

But, halfway through his first season in charge of Derby County, former Chelsea midfielder Lampard does not regret stepping outside his comfort zone – even at the end of a week in which he has been caught in the middle of the Leeds United 'spying' storm.

There was less than a month between his old England team-mate Steven Gerrard taking the Rangers job and Lampard’s appointment at Derby, and there is no way of avoiding the spotlight for either man.

“We’re not stupid, myself and Steven know that the ante is upped because of the name,” said Lampard. “I do feel pressure, I felt it particularly early on when we won at Reading but lost [against] Leeds and Millwall, and already people were saying ‘how long’s it going to last.’ That’s harsh.

“But it is the job we’re in and when the spotlight is slightly more, it is what it is. I’ve felt I’ve gone through that a little bit now. We’re all in the same game and if results turn, then we’re all as susceptible as the next manager. But I’m not seeing it as a one season job. I knew I would come into this and it wouldn’t all be a doddle – I knew it would be hard work.”

Derby County manager Frank Lampard celebrates after the final whistle of the Emirates FA Cup third round replay match at St Mary's Stadium
Frank Lampard acknowledges the Derby fans after knocking Southampton out of the FA Cup Credit: Nick Potts/PA

The different challenges of the job could not have been better demonstrated than by a week in which Derby had to stop training while police dealt with Marcelo Bielsa’s 'spy' before losing to promotion rivals Leeds and then recovering to dump Premier League Southampton out of the FA Cup.

But Lampard was clear that he had not picked an easy route from day one. Although they reached last season’s play-offs, Derby had one of the oldest squads in the Championship and owner Mel Morris wanted to reduce the transfer expenditure as well as the wage bill.

The average age of the playing staff was cut during the summer, although that will creep up if 38-year-old Ashley Cole signs, and Derby came out of the last transfer window in profit, having sold Matej Vydra for £11 million and allowed the likes of Andreas Weimann and Cameron Jerome to leave.

Martyn Waghorn, for around £5m from Ipswich Town, was the most expensive of Lampard’s signings while he made astute use of the loan market – taking Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori from Chelsea and Harry Wilson from Liverpool.

Derby have been inside the top six for most of Lampard’s first six months, outperforming richer rivals such as Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Stoke City, and knocked Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup.

Derby County manager Frank Lampard (right) and Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa shake hands prior to the beginning of the Sky Bet Championship match at Elland Road
Lampard shakes Marcelo Bielsa's hand before the defeat by Leeds last week  Credit: Simon Cooper/PA

“When I came here, Mel and I were very open and we said we wouldn’t spend a lot, we’d have to look at the wage bill and youth is important to us,” said Lampard, whose team entertain Reading on Saturday.

“With that transition, it’s hard to say that we’ll get promoted. That’s the dream, we’ll try hard to achieve it but I’m here for a much longer project than that, to help build, to help youngsters through, to see what we can do when seven or eight players are out of contract and move on naturally. These are all massive achievements for me.”

While he relishes working with his squad on the training ground, trying to get into the heads of his players and studying formations, Lampard is still getting used to taking questions on his team selections and tactics, whether or not Derby win.

“I certainly enjoy the wins more than I did as a player, but I feel losses more,” said Lampard. “That’s a sign of the responsibility that you take on. You take on so much in the week in preparation, trying to do things right and be diligent. So the highs and lows are something you have to get used to and balance off.

“I have heard managers say how lonely it is. The last five minutes on the sidelines at Leeds are lonely, you’re 2-0 down and you know what’s coming. You do take the rap for it and rightly so.

“If you win, you can take some great praise and if not, you end up slightly alone. But you have to be sociable. You have to be engaging to your players, engaging to the fans, engaging at all times when you don’t feel like being engaging. In fact, that is part of the skill-set and that is something you can always improve and work on.”

Staying on our television screens or working his way up through the Chelsea coaching ranks would have been easier options for Lampard and would have allowed him to maintain a more relaxed lifestyle, but management has so far been worth the sacrifices.

“I had an opportunity to be an ambassador at Chelsea, but it didn’t feel right at the time, it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he said. “I did a lot of my coaching work at Chelsea with the Academy and, in terms of being involved, Neil Bath, the Academy manager, and Marina [Granovskaia] were very welcoming, but they had their first-team coaching staff who, at the time, was Antonio Conte and his team.

“The punditry life was much cosier, I did enjoy it. When I say cosy, I don’t mean it’s easy. It’s certainly not, but your lifestyle is a lot easier. Anyone will tell you the same thing. It was certainly an absolute change in lifestyle to do this but I am a really driven person. Even though I enjoy the media, this was a burning desire.

“The job consumes you. There are moments when I’m away working or I’m on the laptop at home and this time last year my wife, Christine, and I were chilling, having a bite to eat down the King’s Road. So of course there are moments when it can be difficult, but I’m fortunate my wife is very understanding and I have support so I won’t cry about that.”

Andy Murray’s emotional announcement of his planned retirement from tennis was a reminder of how hard top sportsmen can be hit by the end of their playing careers.

But Lampard, who is Chelsea’s record goalscorer and won every domestic and European club trophy before finishing his career at Manchester City and New York City, insists he does not stand on the touchline wishing he was playing or take the opportunity to remind himself and others how good he was on the training pitch.

“You see the story of Glenn Hoddle, the famous one, that he could ping it and then couldn’t understand why everyone else couldn’t do it,” said Lampard. “I’m not like that at all.

“If ever the players sense you were like that it is a difficult situation. That’s the first thing to learn as a manager if you’ve been a player. I like to think I’ve got humility as a player. I don’t sing my own praises in my head. I was always: ‘What can I do to improve?’ As long as I see that in players, I don’t care what level they are at. I care about their desire to get better.

“I felt like I did as much as I could. I didn't feel like I left anything else on the table. If you’d told me at 17 that you’re going to play for Chelsea and England, and win everything I did, I genuinely wouldn’t have believed you.

“I was so on myself as a player, completely driven - season after season game after game and I really enjoyed not having that. I enjoyed that my career was done and starting a new chapter. I sometimes get involved here [in training] when my calf’s all right, but when it’s not I’m not that concerned. I like what I’m doing now, I’m not the one trying to play in the five-a-side all the time.”

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