The success being enjoyed by Frank Lampard has come as no surprise to Carlo Ancelotti, with the former Chelsea boss expecting John Terry to be the next Blues legend to fill a prominent post.
The former Blues boss finds himself back in the Premier League at Everton and expects two men who once played under him to become top coaches
Those at Stamford Bridge turned to a familiar face for inspiration when finding themselves with a coaching role to fill in 2019. Lampard, with just one season of managerial experience to his name at Derby, returned to west London and was charged with the task of delivering on lofty expectations.
Ancelotti always believed that the ex-England international would become a top boss and believes Terry – who is currently assistant to Dean Smith at Aston Villa – will tread a similar path in the near future.
The vastly-experienced Italian told Sky Sports: “I’m not surprised [to see Lampard as a manager] because as a player, Frank had fantastic tactical qualities. I’m waiting now for Terry as a manager, now he’s an assistant, but I think they both have the qualities to be a good manager. Of course, Frank is doing really well at Chelsea now.”
Lampard will be hoping to emulate the success that Ancelotti enjoyed during his time with the Blues.
Ancelotti, who finds himself back in the Premier League at Everton, guided Chelsea to a league and FA Cup double in 2009-10. He would last just one more season in the most demanding of roles, but still holds fond memories of his time at Stamford Bridge.
Ancelotti added: “The second year was more difficult, but the first year was really fantastic. The club had the goal for the Champions League, but the fact that in the first year we won the Premier League and the FA Cup was really important and really exciting.
“The second year was more difficult, I think, because we had some problems. We had [Didier] Drogba with malaria and these kinds of problems. We started really well and we finished really well but the middle of the season was not so good.
“Drogba was fantastic. In the first year, he scored 36 goals but to mention Drogba means to forget [Nicolas] Anelka, for example, [Florent] Malouda, Joe Cole, [Salomon] Kalou, Michael Ballack in the middle, [Michael] Essien, Deco and at the back, Alex, [Branislav] Ivanovic, Ashley Cole so the team really, really was a fantastic team.
“When I arrived, the team was there, I didn’t build the team, so I was really excited to train these kinds of players with this kind of power.“Imagine when you needed to prepare set pieces, you had John Terry, Alex, Drogba, Ballack to jump so it was not so difficult to score on set pieces.”
Source: Goal.com
