Gary Neville says Frank Lampard should be the “least surprised” of anyone after being sacked by Chelsea, given his role in the dismissing of managers while he was a player at the club.
Chelsea sacked Lampard after a poor run of results and replaced him with former PSG boss Thomas Tuchel, who won his first game as Blues manager on Sunday.
Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, Neville said: “I think because of the rumours that came out of Stamford Bridge and the media before, it wasn’t really a shock. I thought initially he would get more time, just to let them settle in but you can’t be surprised by Chelsea.
“I go back Martin to in Napoli eight or nine years ago, when Villas-Boas had picked a team in the afternoon of a Champions League game. And he left out Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and another big player at that time.
“And I remember Chelsea players at that time ringing up members of the media and trying to get him out. And Frank was part of that group.
“And it has been really a brutal football club for managers for many many years, and Frank has suffered that brutality last week, so he should be the least of all surprised because he has been at the club when Villas-Boas was sacked, Scolari, and all the rest of them have come and gone.”
“He will be hurt and disappointed,” Neville added. “But I hope he is pragmatic about it. In the sense that it’s not a reflection upon him in the sense that every manager at Chelsea gets sacked before they think they should. They don’t get the time they think they should. That’s what happens. It is a club that has a model that has worked and he knows that model.
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“For me, I never shed a tear for Frank the other day. Sometimes I feel sorry for managers, but I think Frank has had a massive experience. He has had a great experience at Derby, he has had a great experience at Chelsea, and where he is at now in his managerial career, is that he is a lot further ahead than most English managers have been, and that’s a real positive.”
He said: “We have to try and build up young managers’ careers to a point where they can become experienced and get to this level of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola and these types of exceptional coaches.
“Brendan Rodgers is doing it at Leicester, doing a fantastic job and he has had many good jobs along the way. He has been sacked, he has been let go and he has had difficult moments.
“And Frank has just got to make sure now that the next club he picks is a good one. That is the key for Frank Lampard. Take the experiences that he has had, he has had amazing experiences, he did a great job at Chelsea last season.
“It is harsh but it’s not harsh at Chelsea because that is what Chelsea do.”
