By Amaechi Agbo

English Premiership side, Chelsea have sacked their manager Frank Lampard 18 months after he was handed the job.

Chelsea have decided to part ways with Frank Lampard after a string of disappointing results including a disastrous 2-0 loss to former champions, Leicester City last week.

Chelsea announced the sacking on their website Monday morning

“Chelsea Football Club has today parted company with Head Coach Frank Lampard. — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 25, 202”

In a statement, Chelsea described the decision to part ways with their club legend as “very difficult decision” and thanked the former West Ham player for his service to the club in the past two years.

“Chelsea Football Club have today parted company with Head Coach Frank Lampard. This has been a very difficult decision, and not one that the owner and the Board have taken lightly.

“We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as Head Coach of the Club. However, recent results and performances have not met the Club’s expectations, leaving the Club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement.

“There can never be a good time to part ways with a club legend such as Frank, but after lengthy deliberation and consideration it was decided a change is needed now to give the Club time to improve performances and results this season,” the statement concluded.

Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich said the decision to sack Lampard who has “integrity and good work ethics” was a hard one and concluded that the club will not make further comment on the development pending when a new manager is appointed.

“This was a very difficult decision for the Club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him’.

“He is a man of great integrity and has the highest of work ethics. However, under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers.

“On behalf of everyone at the Club, the Board and personally, I would like to thank Frank for his work as Head Coach and wish him every success in the future. He is an important icon of this great club and his status here remains undiminished. He will always be warmly welcomed back at Stamford Bridge.”

The Club will be making no further comment until such time as a new Head Coach is appointed,” ended the brief.

Why Chelsea Sacked their legend

London giants Chelsea have reportedly parted ways with coach Frank Lampard after a run of disappointing results followed by boardroom actions.

While Chelsea are yet to confirm the strong reports, leading American sports outlet, The Athletic, have reported the events that have led to the relationship breakdown and Lampard’s alleged departure.

According to the publication, Lampard first fell out with the club’s powerful director Marina Granovskaia, before the club took actions to approach Lampard’s replacements, an action that was not taken well by the Englishman – and Chelsea’s 2-0 loss against Leicester City would the the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Lampard did not sign a single player during his first season as the club were operating under a transfer embargo, but spent more than £200m on seven major signings last summer, including £45m on Leicester’s Ben Chilwell and £71m on midfielder Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen.

It is the most Chelsea have spent in one summer, eclipsing the £186m they invested at the start of the 2017-18 season.

Lampard is Chelsea’s all-time record scorer, with 211 goals for the club between 2001 and 2014, and is also joint-seventh on the list of England players with the most caps, having made 106 appearances for his country over 15 years from 1999.

During his 13 seasons as a player at Stamford Bridge, he made 648 appearances and won 11 major trophies – including four Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League.

His first managerial posting was at Derby. In his one season in charge, they reached the Championship play-off final, where they lost to Aston Villa.

Lampard became the 10th full-time manager appointed by Abramovich since the billionaire bought the club in 2003.

Abramovich has spent £110m on sacking managers before Lampard’s dismissal.

Having finished with 66 points last season after 20 wins and 12 defeats, Chelsea have lost six times in their opening 19 league games this season.

Lampard’s points-per-game average of 1.67 is the lowest of any permanent Chelsea manager in the Premier League. During the Abramovich era, only Andre Villas-Boas (47.5%) has a worse win rate than Lampard’s 52.4%, in all competitions amongst permanent Chelsea bosses.

In contrast, Jose Mourinho’s win rate in all competitions during his first spell in charge was 67.03%, while Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri, Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Claudio Ranieri all had win rates over 60%.

Meanwhile, the club is reportedly set to announce former PSG boss Thomas Tuchel as Lampard’s replacement.