If you’re familiar with Frank Lampard, the man, the myth, the legend, his status, his story, and his accomplishments, most of this interview with Sky Sports — their version of Wired’s “Autocomplete Interview” — will not reveal any new information.
But we all love listening to Frank Lampard, so even if you know everything about him, you will likely enjoy these dozen or so minutes in his company.
For me, there were a few interesting new details, especially regarding his supposedly genius-level IQ and how that came about. As it turns out, the test was mandated by then Chelsea team doctor Bryan “Dr. Needles” English, after John Terry was knocked out by Abou Diaby in the 2007 League Cup final against Arsenal. The idea was to establish a baseline measure of the players’ cognitive abilities, and then run further tests to see how dumb they get after repeated head trauma, or some such. I’m not sure that’s a proper way to go about it all, but it probably can’t hurt.
In any case, Lampard tested out at over 150, which would put him in the top 0.1% of the population.
Lampard also talks about his A-level in Latin, his favorite goals (brace against Bolton to win the league in 2005 the most memorable; volley against Bayern the most technical; this time no mention of the Barcelona tight angle chip), his favorite moments (Champions League victory, obviously), and the awkwardness of the entire scene when Harry Redknapp, his uncle, declared that he would go right to the very top. (Here are both goals in higher quality, and a few more, but UEFA doesn’t allow embeds on their YouTube videos for some idiotic reason.)
Click and watch. It’s good.