FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

14 February 2016 FourFourTwo.com

If you could track down the mug who

told you at a West Ham fans’ forum

that Frank Lampard wouldn’t amount

to much, what would you say now?

Jamie Bonner, via Facebook

Well, that was his opinion at the time...

I never had any doubts about Frank –

I couldn’t say I thought he’d become

what he did, but I knew he’d be a very

good player. The only person I’d ever

seen train as hard as him was his dad.

Every afternoon in the middle of winter,

I would look out of the office window.

It was raining, starting to get dark, and

he’d still be on his own 200 yards away,

doing his sprints, then getting a bag of

balls and shooting, left foot, right foot.

Practice, practice, practice. When a kid

is that determined to become a player,

he’s always going to become a player.

Frank just wanted it so bad.

Will you be offering some advice to

Frank Lampard at Chelsea?

Ryan Worthington, Yeovil

Not really, he’s his own man. He’s a very

bright lad with a great knowledge of

the game. It certainly won’t be through

lack of effort. I did really get him the job

at Derby. I know Derby chairman Mel

Morris very well, and I phoned him up

when Gary Rowett left. I said, “You keep

picking the wrong managers – give it to

Frank.” He said, “No, I need experience.”

I pushed and pushed and said, “Have

a meeting with him. I’m telling you, he’s

fantastic and he will bring so much to

your club.” He said, “Well, I’m in London

tomorrow.” I hadn’t even mentioned it

to Frank at that point, so I phoned him

and said, “Would you be interested in

the Derby job?” He said, “Of course.” So

I set up a meeting for them the next day

at 6pm. Mel called me at 8pm and said,

“I’ve given him the job – I loved him.”

Do you regret leaving Portsmouth

to manage Southampton in 2004?

Sean McCulloch, via Facebook

Yeah. I fell out with Milan Mandaric at

Portsmouth. I’d got into my car to drive

home one day, and suddenly I had four

phone calls from the press saying, “I see

you’ve got a director of football coming

tomorrow?” I said, “No chance, what are

you going on about? I’ve just been with

Milan and we haven’t got a director of

football. We have Jim Smith, Joe Jordan

and Kevin Bond. None of us are young –

what do we need a director of football

for?” The next day, I got to the training

ground and this guy was there, Velimir

Zajec. I went back to Milan, who’d told

me, “No one’s coming in.” We had a row

and I quit. Soon after, I got a call from

Southampton. I lived down here, so why

shouldn’t I work? It was a crazy move.

I didn’t realise the hate between them.

How bad did things get with Pompey’s

fans after you joined Southampton?

Luke Howard, King’s Lynn

Very bad. Non-stop phone calls all day,

leaving horrendous messages. At home,

I’d be outside and the boats that went

past always seemed to be fishermen

from Portsmouth. They would go past,

a big gang of them on their boats going

out through the harbour, yelling abuse...

How big a job was it at Southampton?

Did you believe we’d avoid relegation

in 2004-05?

Terry Couzens, via Twitter

Yeah, for sure. Sometimes you feel like

everything’s gone against you. When

I looked at all the fixtures, every home

game was against a top-half team. In

February, we were 2-1 up at home to

Everton deep into injury time and had

played fantastic. Peter Crouch had the

ball running down towards the corner

flag, and decided to whack it into the

penalty area instead of winning a throw

• the referee would have blown. They
  kicked the ball upfield, Duncan Ferguson
  flicked it on, Marcus Bent smashed it in

8 September 2019 FourFourTwo

and the ref blew the whistle. Those two

points would have kept us up on goal

difference. On the last day, we had to

beat Manchester United at home, but

Alex Ferguson is close to Bryan Robson,

who was in charge of West Brom. Man

United were in the FA Cup final against

Arsenal the following week, but he put

his full team out when normally he’d

have rested five or six. West Brom were

playing Portsmouth, and all the Pompey

fans had gone dressed up in West Brom

outfits. They were never going to beat

West Brom. It was an impossible day.

How strange was it when England’s

Rugby World Cup-winning coach Clive

Woodward worked at Southampton?

Tony Jenkins, Llandudno

It was strange, but I had great respect

for him. He had some interesting ideas

that he could have brought from rugby.

I always got on well with him – people

think I didn’t. [FFT: Was he part of your

decision to leave Southampton?] Not at

all. Chelsea beat Portsmouth at Fratton

Park and Milan Mandaric spoke to Frank

Lampard Snr in the boardroom after the

game. Frank said, “You’re struggling,

Milan.” He replied, “Yeah, we’re going to

get relegated.” Frank asked, “Why don’t

you get Harry back?” Milan said, “He

wouldn’t come back, he doesn’t like me

any more.” Frank phoned me and said,

“Milan wants you to go back there –

would you?” I said, “Yes, I would.” That

was how it all started. The following day,

he phoned me, we had a meeting and

I agreed to go back.

What would you say was your biggest

achievement in football?

Fin Palfreyman, via Instagram

Probably winning the Division Three title

with Bournemouth. In 100 years, they

had never been out of Division Three or

Four, so to take them into Division Two

will always be special to me. That put

me on the ladder but I had great times

everywhere, like winning the FA Cup at

Portsmouth, winning the play-off final

with QPR when Bobby Zamora scored in

injury time, getting Portsmouth into the

Premier League in my first season, and

then keeping them up in 2006. Pompey

were almost certainly getting relegated

UPFROnT

Below Lampard: driven

Bottom “I wouldn’t start

on that nutter, Gennaro...”

Right Celebrating FA Cup

joy with Pompey in 2008