Frank Lampard has been backed to return to the Chelsea manager role by former team-mate Carlton Cole.
Chelsea are on the lookout for a new manager after Enzo Maresca left via mutual terms on New Year’s Day but are widely expected to appoint Liam Rosenior, the current manager of the also BlueCo-owned club Strasbourg.
But while the Chelsea hierarchy plot their next move, Cole has put forward Lampard as a contender for the job.
“His first outing there was really good,” Cole said on talkSPORT. “Because he used the young players, he had Jody Morris next to him…
“He did really well, better than expected, with no budget, so they had to feed the youth in. That set the tone.
“You cannot forget that. That was miracle work from Lampard.”
After his managerial reputation was questioned following an unsuccessful spell at Everton, Lampard’s stock has gone up after a strong 2025 in charge of Coventry.
Under Lampard, Coventry reached the playoffs last year and are currently top, eight points clear of second place Ipswich.
Lampard then may not want to leave mid-season but the call of Chelsea, a club he played 648 times for, may be enough to tempt him.
Cole believes Lampard’s knowledge of the club and his first spell at Stamford Bridge makes him a good candidate.
“I like Lampard as a Chelsea manager,” Cole continued. “The reason why I’m saying that is because I know he knows the club inside out.
“He knows the culture, and listen, he didn’t do too bad in his first outing. Imagine if he gets backed.
“But that’s another thing, if he was to come in, they couldn’t dictate to him what to do. That’s what none of them want.”
While Lampard remains an unlikely option, Cole suggested Chelsea will struggle to appoint a top-level coach as reports of the conditions Maresca had to work under surface.
Cole said that if the BlueCo hierarchy was insistent on having a say, no high-level manager would want to go there.
“That’s not going to run in this world,” added the former striker.
“Top managers are going to look at Chelsea now and think, ‘I’m not going there, I’m not getting dictated to’.
“These coaches know the game, they know what they’re doing… don’t tell them how it needs to look on the football pitch.
“You just do the money. You do the paperwork. Let the managers deal with the football.”