Vincent Kompany be warned. No matter how promisingly your managerial career may have started, all it takes is one stumble at a high-profile club for your reputation to come crashing down.
See Steven Gerrard; out of sight and out of mind in Saudi Arabia just three years after guiding Rangers to an unbeaten Scottish Premiership title, their only league triumph over a decade.
That disappointing yet not entirely disastrous stint at Aston Villa was enough to ruin his dreams of succeeding Jurgen Klopp at his beloved Liverpool.
Frank Lampard, too.
Lest we forget he lead Derby County to Wembley in his first season before taking Chelsea to the FA Cup final and a top four finish. Given how far the London giants have fallen since 2020, it’s a job that looks even more impressive in hindsight.
Lampard also saved Everton from relegation just two years ago. The fact that his potential return to management at Burnley has been met with such bemusement, then, feels slightly harsh even if the end of his time at Goodison Park and that brief, interim return to Chelsea certainly did not pan out in the way he’d have liked.
So if Kompany follows up relegation from the Premier League at Burnley with a difficult start to life at Bayern Munich, that title-winning Championship campaign will count for little in the wider public consciousness.
Frank Lampard may be open to Burnley job
According to The Athletic, Lampard is a candidate to take Kompany’s place at Turf Moor.
Despite not having appeared on the touchline since May 2023, the 45-year-old remains confident that a spell out of the game means he is now a better manager than he was when he bid farewell to Chelsea for a third time 13 months ago.
“Some opportunities have come my way. They didn’t feel right for the time,” Lampard tells talkSPORT (7 June, 11am). “But now I feel ready so we will see what opportunities come up. I’m certainly ready to work. I love doing what I do, so we will see.”
When asked specifically to comment on those Burnley links, the former England midfielder was keen to point out that he would merely not take the next job offered to him, but the right one.
Whether Burnley is that remains to be seen. But a Clarets side who cruised to the Championship title as recently as 2023 and look well placed to repeat the trick may be a pretty sensible destination for a man looking to rebuild his managerial reputation from the ashes.
Fresh start needed after Chelsea and Everton exits
“I have enjoyed having a year out. Its been good for me,” the former England international adds and one-time Champions League winner. “Sometimes, being out of the game gives you time to reflect and become a bit better. You’re watching the games, you’re always trying to develop.
“I am ready to work, when it feels like it’s the right opportunity from my end and when someone wants to give me that opportunity. I am well versed now in understanding what that is, because I have had difficult jobs.
“Probably, now, the time is right for me to find the right challenge with the right expectations and the right support around it. And I would be delighted to get that work.”
HITC reported in May that Burnley had expressed an interest in hiring former Switzerland international Raphael Wicky. The one-time Atletico Madrid ace is out of work after leaving Swiss champions BSC Young Boys a few months ago.
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