Frank Lampard fears about Forcing out of Chelsea

Frank Lampard says that he feared that he would be forced out of Chelsea when Roman Abramovich came to the club in 2003.

The Russian billionaire bought the club and immediately set about signing a number of players for vast sums of money. Lampard had arrived just two years earlier for £ 11 million from West Ham. Previous owner Ken Bates and former manager Claudio Ranieri were instrumental in bringing him to Stamford Bridge. After a mediocre first campaign at Chelsea, Lampard felt that he did better in the second season. Once Abramovich came, though, he was feeling the heat from a number of midfield arrivals.

The quality shown by the former England international eventually helped him settle at the club even amidst the new boys. Lampard also became one of the untouchables under Jose Mourinho, who had just come to Chelsea. Since then, there has been no looking back into Lampard has gone on to become one of the greatest midfielders in England and certainly one of the best for Chelsea. He is the record goal scorer for the club after overtaking Bobby Tambling in his final years at the club. Lampard is now playing with New York City FC in the MLS, but is widely expected to return to Chelsea once his playing days are over.

“I was definitely concerned I would slip down the order. First season here I did OK, and then I did a lot better in the second season. But when Roman arrived, I looked round and thought 'the big boys are starting to arrive now'. There was Claude Makelele and Juan Sebastian Veron – it seemed like every day they were signing a new midfielder! I can remember sitting on the bench for our first Champions League game that season next to John [Terry] and Eidur [Gudjohnsen] and thinking, “I’m not sure I like this Chelsea revolution!” said Lampard.