Frank Lampard has been backed to return to the Chelsea manager role by former team-mate Carlton Cole.<\/p>\n
Chelsea are on the lookout for a new manager after Enzo Maresca left via mutual terms on New Year\u2019s Day but are widely expected to appoint Liam Rosenior, the current manager of the also BlueCo-owned club Strasbourg.<\/p>\n
But while the Chelsea hierarchy plot their next move, Cole has put forward Lampard as a contender for the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis first outing there was really good,\u201d Cole said on talkSPORT. \u201cBecause he used the young players, he had Jody Morris next to him\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did really well, better than expected, with no budget, so they had to feed the youth in. That set the tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot forget that. That was miracle work from Lampard.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his managerial reputation was questioned following an unsuccessful spell at Everton, Lampard\u2019s stock has gone up after a strong 2025 in charge of Coventry.<\/p>\n
Under Lampard, Coventry reached the playoffs last year and are currently top, eight points clear of second place Ipswich.<\/p>\n
MORE ON CHELSEA ON F365 Lampard then may not want to leave mid-season but the call of Chelsea, a club he played 648 times for, may be enough to tempt him.<\/p>\n Cole believes Lampard\u2019s knowledge of the club and his first spell at Stamford Bridge makes him a good candidate.<\/p>\n \u201cI like Lampard as a Chelsea manager,\u201d Cole continued. \u201cThe reason why I\u2019m saying that is because I know he knows the club inside out.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows the culture, and listen, he didn\u2019t do too bad in his first outing. Imagine if he gets backed.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s another thing, if he was to come in, they couldn\u2019t dictate to him what to do. That\u2019s what none of them want.\u201d<\/p>\n While Lampard remains an unlikely option, Cole suggested Chelsea will struggle to appoint a top-level coach as reports of the conditions Maresca had to work under surface.<\/p>\n Cole said that if the BlueCo hierarchy was insistent on having a say, no high-level manager would want to go there.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not going to run in this world,\u201d added the former striker.<\/p>\n \u201cTop managers are going to look at Chelsea now and think, \u2018I\u2019m not going there, I\u2019m not getting dictated to\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThese coaches know the game, they know what they\u2019re doing\u2026 don\u2019t tell them how it needs to look on the football pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just do the money. You do the paperwork. Let the managers deal with the football.\u201d<\/p>\n
*\u00a0Chelsea \u2018prepare\u2019 \u00a3130m \u2018investment\u2019 with \u2018sights set\u2019 on Newcastle star to replace \u00a318m Blues player<\/a>
*\u00a0Rosenior deal \u2018could fall through\u2019 on one \u2018extraordinary\u2019 condition as he makes request<\/a>
*\u00a0Alan Shearer slams \u2018bonkers\u2019 Chelsea as he reveals \u2018big question\u2019 with Liam Rosenior appointment<\/a><\/p>\n