It may be nothing more than just a family member happlessly throwing his nephew’s name into the proverbial managerial hat, but former Tottenham, Southampton and West Ham manager Harry Redknapp believes Frank Lampard may just be swayed by the uncertanties currently unfolding at Celtic following his recent sacking by Chelsea – adding further fuel to the fire that burns ever dangerously to Neil Lennon’s hot seat.
Lampard, who dragged Chelsea to 4th place and an FA Cup final last year, had started strongly again this season following the signings of Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva. However, with goalkeeping problems raging on, and marquee signings Kai Havertz and Timo Werner heavily misfiring, Chelsea dropped to ninth – which ultimately cost Lampard his job.
And Redknapp, who is Frank’s uncle, believes that there would be huge benefits in Frank’s favour by moving north of the border to Parkhead. The recently retired manager’s opinion is definitely worth something given his vast experience, and he believes there is still a huge appeal to the Celtic Park hotseat.
Speaking to Record Sport, with quotes attributed to The Daily Record, Redknapp said:
“That’s certainly something that would interest any manager. It’s a great football club to come and manage, that’s for sure. Neil Lennon is still there so I wouldn’t want to talk too much about someone else taking his job but obviously it would be interesting to see Frank in direct opposition to Steven Gerrard.”
“I don’t know whether, if the Celtic job came up, it would be something that would interest Frank. Obviously Neil Lennon is still in charge and I wouldn’t want to see him lose his job. Would Frank want to jump straight back in if it did become available? I wouldn’t know.”
“But you can certainly see the appeal.”
It could potentially be a ludicrous thing to do in appointing a recently sacked manager; confidence may be low, and sackings can usually take time to repair a manager’s mind frame – especially the first of their career.
However, the benefits would definitely be there for Celtic. Firstly, owner Roman Abramovich is known to help Lampard out in terms of new additions; in Frank’s first tenure as a boss at Derby County, he was given Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori on loan, and the pair both excelled at Pride Park before sliding seamlessly into the first team squad, picking up 14 England caps between them on the way. With Mount arguably becoming the first name on the teamsheet under Lampard at Stamford Bridge – until his dismissal on Monday afternoon – there would be a growing belief that Chelsea’s endless talent factory could benefit Celtic if the Champions League winner was to make his way up to Paradise. This, alongside his huge reputation, could spark a renaissance under Peter Lawwell’s watchful eye.
There is also the added bonus of almost consistently achieving Champions League football – Celtic haven’t missed out on continental competition since 1995 – and with the qualification places gifting Scotland two spots, there isn’t a better time to take the reigns to rebuild. And, perhaps most importantly for those in the city of Glasgow, we’d be able to end the lifelong debate of who was better; Steven Gerrard, or Lampard himself.
Hopefully the latter would prevail given the chance.
