Frank Lampard backed to be Derby success by ex-Chelsea boss Avram Grant
Ex-Stamford Bridge boss says Rams are appointing a natural leader and an intelligent man in the former midfielder
IT was at a training camp in America in the summer of 2007 that Avram Grant saw the early signs of Frank Lampard’s potential as a manager.
Grant had joined Chelsea as a director, appointed by his friend Roman Abramovich, and met the club’s 28-year-old vice-captain on their pre-season tour.
On Thursday, 11 years later, Grant was not surprised to see Lampard take his first steps into management with Derby County.
Grant told SunSport: “I found an intelligent guy that wants to win titles and it was good to talk to him about football.
“I was hoping he would become a manager because the team I had at Chelsea had a few players who were leaders.
“There were a few top players [in that team], a few top leaders, and I thought it would be good for them and for football for them to continue their journey.
“So I am very happy Frank is the first one going. He can be a good manager.
"He is a leader. He knows football. He is clever and saw a lot from coaches and different situations.”
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But Grant, who succeeded Jose Mourinho in September 2007 and led the team to their Champions League final misery in Moscow in his only season, has a warning for Lampard.
He said: “Frank needs to remember there is a difference between top clubs and other clubs.
“At top clubs, you have the best players and you can play any system that you want and can change the system in games because you have big players and a big squad.
“In the team that he is going to now, it’s different: you need to put the system according to the players that you have and you need to find a system they will be comfortable with.
“On the one hand, you need to use all of your experience but in the other hand he needs to forget that he was in a top club.
“And this is sometimes the problem with big players when they start from the beginning, they are starting with good players but not like Frank was, and [Didier] Drogba, and others.
“You need to forget the way he was dealing with Chelsea, like I forgot when I went to other clubs.”
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The romantics in the Shed End at Stamford Bridge will hope Lampard’s journey takes him to the Chelsea dugout.
Grant believes he would have an advantage in an interview but says football has little room for romance.
The 63-year-old said: “I think Roman Abramovich wants to do the best for the team and I’m sure if Frank will show the quality then of course he will have an advantage over anybody else.
“Romantic is good in football but it doesn’t bring success, doesn’t bring points.
“We can be romantic but our job is that you are as good as your last result – and Frank knows that.”
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