Chelsea vs Derby: Victory tonight will mark another step forward in Frank Lampard's budding managerial career

At a recent Nordoff-Robbins charity dinner to celebrate Frank Lampard’s playing career, the polished new Derby County manager naturally spoke well, but most of all about his own former bosses. Lampard was hugely gracious about so many Chelsea coaches to a degree that was striking.

There was of course the will of Jose Mourinho, the tactics of Claudio Ranieri and - maybe most surprisingly - the man-management of Avram Grant. Lampard spoke so appreciatively of how the Israeli looked after him following the life-changing moment of his mother’s death, to the point the 40-year-old was moved to tears, and a lot of people’s opinion of Grant might change.

While football is obviously trivial against such real-life matters, all this does raise a tantalising question for what has defined Lampard’s life and career.

Is it possible that Roman Abramovich’s willingness to so readily discard managers might have helped create a very well-rounded and fully formed manager, and one the club might eventually turn to?

While it is obviously far too early in Lampard’s career to talk so exaggeratedly about him or talk of Wednesday’s return to Stamford Bridge in the League Cup as a dress rehearsal for the job, the connections are there, as is the obvious context.

Only feeding this is the fact that the Derby boss beat one of his managerial mentors in Jose Mourinho to set up this fourth-round tie, with his side having defeated Manchester United on penalties at Old Trafford after a fine 2-2 draw.

Lampard has certainly played under more defined manager types than the majority of other former players, and few of the latter will have been disposed to take on so much. The former midfielder was famously one of those individuals who really thought about his game to make himself better - in this case, properly world-class - and that is usually at least a common trait among those players who made themselves into successful managers. It has been said of both Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, so Lampard does have that going for him too.

His career is not all there is to say about Derby, nor is he the only Chelsea connection. It is possible that the Championship side may have put in place a highly promising managerial team. While Lampard seems to have the mindset and will of a boss, his former Stamford Bridge teammate Jody Morris looks like he has the tactical intelligence really required for assistants.

It was that which beat United, and that has them four points off top in the Championship.

Their chances of beating Chelsea meanwhile might be aided by Maurizio Sarri’s need to rotate his squad, and some of those coming in may come up against players they know well from the sides below the Stamford Bridge senior squad. Chelsea have approved the appearance of loanees Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori.

All of this might make tonight a more even game than matches between sides from different divisions usually are, and might yet allow Lampard another highly symbolic victory. It might well be another step in a significant path, and not just to Wembley.