New boss Frank Lampard has said he will select his Chelsea backroom staff for their “work ethic” and not to create an “old boys’ club”. The 41-year-old former England midfielder is back at Stamford Bridge having been appointed the club’s new head coach following a season in charge of Championship side Derby.
Lampard has signed a three-year deal to replace Maurizio Sarri after the Italian left to join Juventus in June, with assistant manager Jody Morris and first-team coach Chris Jones following him from Pride Park. Morris is a former Chelsea midfielder, while Jones has also enjoyed a previous spell in a coaching role at the club.
Lampard revealed Eddie Newton, another Chelsea alumni, and under-23s coach Joe Edwards will form part of his backroom staff. His former team-mates Didier Drogba and Claude Makelele have also been linked with returns, while Petr Cech is back in the role of technical and performance advisor.
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But Lampard insists any appointments to his staff will be made on merit and not purely on sentiment. “It’s a very Chelsea orientated team but what I want to make clear is this is not an old boys’ club,” he said. “What I’m trying to put together with this staff is talent, it’s fresh talent in my eyes. We are relatively young but we are not inexperienced.
“I may have only one year in management but in Jody, Joe and Eddie and Chris we have many years of coaching within us. “And you mention about Petr and you mention about the talk of Didier and Makelele.
“I think what we are trying to do and that is not just me – it is the club, is to bring in not just players who played for the club because they played for the club, we are trying to bring in people that feel the club. Yes, first and foremost, yes that is nice but also people with an incredible work ethic.”
