“Do I think it was harsh? Yeah, I thought it was super, super harsh.”
Former Chelsea assistant manager Jody Morris has claimed that the decision to sack both him and Frank Lampard from the club was “super harsh”.
The 43-year-old Lampard and Morris have worked together in both of the former’s management jobs at senior level, the first coming at Derby County in the Championship.
Lampard and his coaching team enjoyed a successful first season at Stamford Bridge, guiding the Blues to a top-four finish amid the backdrop of a transfer ban.
Despite the promising start, the following campaign didn’t go to plan for the Chelsea legend, with an awful six-week spell – including defeats against Arsenal, Everton, Wolves, Manchester City and Leicester – signalling the end of Lampard’s time at the helm.
However, Morris feels aggrieved by the club’s decision to sack the pair after just 18 months, insisting that the Blues’s record goalscorer deserved more time to implement his ideas and ride out the difficult patch they were going through.
“The way the season had gone for most teams, unusually for many teams at the top of the table, they went through some really bad spells,” Morris told the Off The Hook with Jimmy Bullard podcast.
“We definitely went through a six week period where we underperformed, totally.
“Arsenal and Everton away was really poor. But we absolutely believed we could turn it round.
“At Chelsea, things like that (sacking) can happen. Do I think it was harsh? Yeah, I thought it was super, super harsh.”
Former #Chelsea assistant Jody Morris on his and Frank Lampard's dismissal:
"Do I think it was harsh? Absolutely, I thought it was super, super harsh. But it is one of those things at Chelsea, things like that can happen."
[via Off The Hook Podcast]
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) November 21, 2021
The West London side quickly replaced Lampard with former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel, who has enjoyed an incredibly successful period at the Bridge so far.
Less than six months after being appointed, Tuchel guided Chelsea to the second Champions League title in the club’s prestigious history.
The German’s side also sit at the top of the Premier League table after 12 games so far this season, which has led to Morris admitting that Tuchel was the right man to take over.
“At the same time if you look now, I remember speaking to my Chelsea mates and I said I’d go for Tuchel, if I was looking for a manager,” he said.
“We’d heard rumblings in the days leading up to it. When you see what he went on to achieve in the Champions League – he’s a top quality manager.
“However, I’ve got to say I still felt like there was an opportunity for us to turn it around considering the problems we’d had in 18 months with the transfer ban and the pandemic. But we did go through a poor five-six week period.”
Neither Lampard nor Morris have returned to top-flight coaching since their departure from Chelsea, although the former was heavily linked to the Norwich job following the sacking of Daniel Farke, before Dean Smith was named as the Canaries’ new manager.
Related links:
- Thomas Tuchel says Frank Lampard helped Chelsea get to Champions League final
- Frank Lampard rejects Norwich City job offer
- Man United players unhappy with assistant manager’s ‘school teacher’ approach
