Chelsea FC Women look to Frank Lampard to replace Emma Hayes

Frank Lampard may make a return to the sidelines with Chelsea, only this time, he is rumored to go to the Chelsea FC Women. The Blues are losing manager Emma Hayes as she departs to lead the United States Women’s National Team. Her presence at Chelsea has led to the side emerging as the clear best team in England. While it fell just short of success in Europe, Emma Hayes has led Chelsea to a total of 14 major trophies. The highlights of those are a record six Women’s Super League Titles and five Women’s FA Cup titles.

With Hayes leaving, Chelsea has started the search for replacements to lead the squad. That led Chelsea brass to circle back to Frank Lampard, who has been the manager of the Chelsea men’s team on two occasions. One was on a permanent basis from 2019 to 2021. The other was this past season on an interim basis. The recent spell as a caretaker for the club was historically poor, with Chelsea winning just one out of the 11 games he was in charge of.

The Englishman has been in the rumor mill for other managerial openings over the last several months. That included a potential move to the United States as a manager with Charlotte FC. The MLS club opted to sign Dean Smith. Rangers also had links to Lampard before the club eventually settled with Philippe Clement for the role. That leads Lampard back to London, where he is comfortable as a coach.

Reports claim Lampard is a sensible pick because of his knowledge of how Chelsea operates. Lampard has no experience in the women’s game. Still, he spent decades with Chelsea as a player before working for the club as a coach. Granted, his time as a manager was not as successful as supporters would have wanted. Regardless, his experience at Stamford Bridge is beneficial to any club.

What does current Chelsea Women coach think of Frank Lampard?

Emma Hayes has set an elite example of what a knowledgeable woman can do as a manager. Hayes answered questions about the prospect of a man replacing her on the touchline.

“It’s about the club and what their needs are. It’s probably best that I stay out of that and just support that person.”

Hayes added that having a woman lead one of the most successful teams can set a precedent. She thinks the barriers to entry for women in soccer are too high.

“It’s about creating minimum standards so that the accessibility for women to come into the game is thought about differently… getting clubs to be in position so that they have minimum standards in place to hire women into the game, be it assistant or head coach level. But doing that is a challenge.”

One of the candidates to replace Hayes as the boss of Chelsea FC Women was Casey Stoney. Stoney starred for the women’s teams of Liverpool and Arsenal before breaking into the managerial scene with Manchester United. However, Stoney moved to the NWSL to manage the San Diego Wave, where she signed a deal to extend her stay. That contract extension ruled out her return to England as a manager for the time being.

Therefore, Frank Lampard leads the race to land the Chelsea FC Women job.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.