Frank Lampard ‘pulls out’ of contention for Norwich City manager job — report

Chelsea legend and former manager Frank Lampard has been out of a job since getting sacked by Chelsea back in January, but he was not only heavily linked with the managerial opening at Norwich City, but had been one of the candidates extensively interviewed by the Canaries over the past week after their own sacking long-time manager Daniel Farke.

However, despite plenty of speculation, it would seem that Lampard will not be taking over in East Anglia, as reported by the Telegraph’s Matt Law earlier today. Lampard apparently doesn’t want to get involved in a “a bottom-of-the-table scrap”, which certainly isn’t going to change the whole narrative of him being handed a silver spoon in getting the jobs at both Derby County and Chelsea.

Norwich are now expected to appoint Dean Smith, who himself was just recently sacked at Aston Villa. Villa have since appointed Steven Gerrard, fresh off a Scottish Premier League title with (invincibles!) Rangers, who might make a play at Lampard now, though that seems rather wishful on their part. (As much as it pains me, it has to be said that Gerrard has run circles around Lampard in their managerial careers, dipping his toes in with Liverpool U18 and U19 before taking on the challenge of Rangers in 2018 and succeeding by meeting their, at the time unreasonably lofty ambitions, rather admirably.)

The Premier League isn’t the only league where managerial changes involving former Chelsea players are happening.

Damien Duff, a fan favorite and one of the cornerstones of the early Abramovich Era, has landed his first gig as manager at Irish first division side Shelbourne. Duff has been in coaching since retiring in 2015, and has held jobs as youth coach or assistant coach at Shamrock Rovers, Celtic Glasgow, Shelbourne, as well as the Republic of Ireland national football team — for a few months.

All of the best, Duffer!

Meanwhile, Andriy Shevchenko has also entered club football management, leaving his position as Ukraine national football team head coach after five fruitful years to take over at Genoa in Serie A. Italy’s practically Sheva’s second home, so it’s a bit of a homecoming for the footballing legend, who has replaced Davide Ballardini — Ballardini was in his fourth (4th!) stint as Genoa manager in the last eleven years; he’s never held any one job for longer than 40 matches over the last 17 years.

In any case, Sheva, who’s often been tenuously linked with Chelsea job openings over the years, certainly has his work cut out for him, with Genoa languishing right above the relegation zone and having won just one of their eleven Serie A matches so far. Unlike Lampard, he’s clearly not scared of a relegation fight.

(On a side note, Shevchenko’s appointment has already led to a slew of silly season nonsense, such as Christian Pulisic hilariously being linked with a move!!!)