Another day on the Premier League managerial merry-go-round

A managerial sacking in football has many stages. It’s not merely the actual mechanism of doing the deed, the phone call or Zoom meeting where the trigger is pulled.

No, the last moments of a manager’s job at the very top level are layered and often drawn out for a lot longer than you would ever expect.

This is what Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is currently going through.

Though one of the club’s finest ever players, a series of poor results over the last month, culminating in the deeply damaging home defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Sunday, have put his job firmly in the firing line.

Whispers began as far back as the start of the season when a summer spend of more than £250m in the transfer window raised expectations, fairly or unfairly, for both the new-look team and the man in charge of them.

A top-four finish in Lampard's first season at Stamford Bridge was widely considered a success, but with the likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz on board much more was now expected from a fanbase very accustomed to success.

The early signs were good too, with a slow but steady start soon blown away with a 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions. A somewhat tricky Champions League group was negotiated expertly, while on the home front a tilt at the title was talked up after big wins over Crystal Palace, Burnley and Leeds.

But then came the stumble. Defeat at Everton in early December was quickly followed by another at Wolves and by the time London rivals Arsenal turned the Blues over during the festive period the vultures were well and truly circling over Lampard’s head.

Sunday’s defeat at the Bridge sent the rumour mill into high gear, with possible successors being openly discussed before the game had even finished.

A journalist’s job in all of this is to stay calm, to report what you know and to steer clear on engaging with what you do not.

With so many moving parts it is often difficult to know which information to trust and which to let go. What appears certain, however, is that Lampard’s days as Chelsea manager are numbered. Whether he stays or goes, we’ll be there to report on it all.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor