Frank Lampard has been speaking about the perception of English managers and how, a year into his role as Blues boss, he is still beaming with pride at managing the club he loves as he prepares for a Champions League night in Russia…
Chelsea take on Champions League debutants Krasnodar in our second group fixture tonight and, in his second campaign in charge, the head coach has reached yet another impressive milestone by becoming just the second English manager to take charge of a side in two different Champions League campaigns, following in the footsteps of the great Sir Bobby Robson.


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Lampard acknowledges he is flying the flag for English coaches in European competition right now but believes there is plenty of talent waiting for similar opportunities to prove themselves at the highest level.

‘It was for quite a long time that I used to hear towards the end of my career how English managers get the jobs in the Premier League and it’s a merry-go-round,’ he said.

As a young English manager, he understands and accepts that the Chelsea job is one that comes with plenty of criticism, though he hopes to be judged fairly on performances and results.

‘When I got this job, a lot of people were questioning me getting it and a lot of people also asked me, “are you sure you want to take it?” because of opinions,’ Lampard explained.

‘Sometimes people can be very quick to form opinions straight away for whatever reason and being a young English manager with only one year at Derby, some of that I understood. We just need to judge people on face value. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, I think all managers should be judged the same.’