Giving the manager’s job to someone as inexperienced as Frank Lampard is a huge gamble from Chelsea. However, giving the manager’s job and position of assistant manager to inexperienced candidates could be a decision that comes back to haunt Chelsea.
After the departure of Maurizio Sarri and arrival of Lampard, Gianfranco Zola left Chelsea. Lampard was said to be keen to bring in his own backroom staff to the club. The 41-year-old brought in his assistant Jody Morris from Derby County to Chelsea with him, and it could be a decision Lampard lives to rue.
The decision to replace Zola with someone who has zero coaching experience in top-flight football is quite baffling. Morris in comparison to Zola is hugely inexperienced as both a manager and assistant manager. Morris’s only previous stint as a manager was as coach of Chelsea’s under-18 team. Last season with Derby was Morris’s only stint as an assistant manager, even then it was in the second-tier of English football.
In comparison, Zola’s experiences in football management are quite vast. The Italian has served as a manager in the top flight of both Serie A and the Premier League with Cagliari and West Ham United respectively. While the stints didn’t end well for the 53-year-old as he was sacked by both clubs, he could draw on experiences which Morris doesn’t have.
As well as managerial stints, Zola served as an assistant manager in quite successful a successful season for Chelsea last campaign. Zola was hired as assistant manager for the previous manager Maurizio Sarri, winning the Europa League and finishing in the top four.
The difference between the two men couldn’t be more apparent. In times of crisis, being able to turn to Zola rather than Morris really could’ve helped Lampard out. It will be interesting to see how Morris handles the responsibility of being an assistant manager next season.
