Chelsea great Frank Lampard returns to Stamford Bridge as head coach

Chelsea have announced the appointment of Frank Lampard as their new head coach on a three-year contract.

The 41-year-old former Blues midfielder is the club’s record goalscorer and won three Premier League titles as well as the Champions League during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Here, PA remembers five other key players who went on to manage their former clubs.

Sir Kenny Dalglish

‘King Kenny’, one of Liverpool’s most celebrated players, became player-manager in 1985 and promptly led the Reds to the Double. The Scot returned to the hot seat in 2011 and won the League Cup before reaching the FA Cup final, but Liverpool could only finish eighth in the Premier League and Dalglish left in May 2012.

Kevin Keegan

Keegan only spent two seasons as a player at Newcastle but gained hero status after scoring 48 goals and helping them to promotion. His popularity was enhanced when he returned as manager in 1992, saving them from relegation to the third tier and then achieving promotion the following season and putting together the swashbuckling side which so nearly won the title in 1996. Keegan returned again in 2008, but resigned after eight months.

Alan Shearer

Shearer, Newcastle’s record goalscorer, answered the club’s plea to try to save them from the drop in 2009 when he was parachuted in with eight games remaining and the team two points from safety. But they won just one of those matches, climbing briefly out of the bottom three after beating Middlesbrough, and were eventually relegated by a point.

Glenn Hoddle

Tottenham’s Hoddle was widely regarded as one of the most gifted midfielders of his generation. Hoddle had managed Swindon, Chelsea, Southampton and England before finally pitching up at White Hart Lane in 2001. But Spurs could only finish ninth and 10th, losing a League Cup final to Blackburn, before Hoddle moved on in September 2003.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Norwegian Solskjaer had been a hugely popular player at Manchester United, the ‘baby-faced assassin’ earning a place in fans’ hearts after coming off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final. Initially appointed to replace Jose Mourinho as caretaker manager in December 2018, Solskjaer opened up with eight straight wins in all competitions. The calls for him to get the job permanently grew after United knocked Paris St Germain out of the Champions League and at the end of March 2019, he was handed a three-year contract. United, though, failed to get past Barcelona and finished sixth in the Premier league.