Frank Lampard – a true gent with supreme work ethic and an eye for goal

It is a moment that is seared on to the consciousness of Frank Lampard and every Chelsea fan – particularly those who were there. Bolton Wanderers away; 30 April 2005. Lampard surges around one opponent, cuts inside another and thrashes a low shot into the net.

If Chelsea win, they win the league title. For the first time since 1955. And in their centenary year, too. Lampard has set them on their way and the celebrations that follow are frenzied. He is buried beneath a scrum of team-mates. Even some of the substitutes jump on.

Lampard is not finished. On a quick break, he finds himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He walks the ball around him to make it 2-0. Game over. Chelsea are the champions. Lampard is a champion. Not bad for a player who they said would not make it to the top.

He was not finished. It was the second major honour of his career, following on from the League Cup triumph in February of that year and Lampard would go on to claim 11 of them – all with his beloved Chelsea, the club he joined from West Ham United in 2001. The highlight, surely, was the Champions League final in 2012, when he captained Chelsea, in the absence of the suspended John Terry, to the penalty shootout victory against Bayern Munich.

Now, Lampard is finished. At the age of 38 and after 21 years in the professional game, he has decided to retire. He does so with three Premier League titles to his name; four FA Cups; two League Cups; the Champions League and the Europa League. In other words, the clean sweep at club level.

With England, it never went to plan, although he is hardly the only player who can say that. He was excellent at Euro 2004, scoring three times as England reached the quarter-finals but his subsequent tournament appearances at the World Cups of 2006, 2010 and 2014 were disappointments.

Lampard missed his penalty in the quarter-final shootout defeat against Portugal in 2006 and, four years later, his glorious shot in the last 16 against Germany bounced off the crossbar and over the line – except that the officials ruled it as no goal. It would have made the score 2-2. Instead, England slumped to a 4-1 defeat.

In many respects, it summed up how Lampard’s international career, which yielded 106 caps and 29 goals, came down on the wrong side of the margins. It was shaped by his relationship in central midfield with Steven Gerrard, or the lack of one. The Lampard-Gerrard conundrum was debated endlessly.

Nevertheless, Lampard goes down as a Premier League great and he owes it all to his phenomenal work ethic and mental toughness; the desire that he has always had to prove his worth – and others wrong.

“When Frank was a youngster, I can remember a lot of people saying: ‘What’s all the fuss? He’s a good player but he isn’t that good,” says Tony Carr, the former West Ham academy director, under whom Lampard developed. “He never got to play for England schoolboys and I can remember Harry Redknapp, the West Ham manager, asking me why Frank wasn’t playing for England youth, when he was a youth-team player at the club.

“Harry rang the England coach, who was Dave Burnside, and Dave said: ‘We know about him but we think we’ve got better.’ That sort of thing was a fantastic spur for Frank. With his bloody‑mindedness, his dedication, the way he constantly tried to improve himself – he made himself the ultimate pro. I’ve got nothing but complete admiration for him.”

As the tributes came in on Thursday, the one from Terry stood out. Lampard’s long-time Chelsea team‑mate described him as a gentleman and a leader. But Terry also made reference to how Lampard had wrung every last drop from his talent. “You were the best trainer by a million miles every single day, inspiring me and everyone at the club,” Terry wrote. “You stayed out [after training] working on your finishing – 20 goals a year wasn’t good enough for you; you wanted 25, 30 goals. I will miss you getting four cones and doing sprints after training – setting the example for the academy kids.”

Lampard is synonymous with consistency and durability; only Ryan Giggs and Gareth Barry have made more Premier League appearances than his 609 while his run of 164 consecutive matches remains a record for an outfield player. He read the game with intelligence – this is a man who recorded one of Britain’s highest Mensa scores – and it is questionable whether he got the credit he deserves for his exceptional short and long passing.

In the end, though, Lampard was defined by his goals; the timing of the runs, the technique and the power of the execution. He says the two at Bolton were his best with the one he scored for Chelsea at Aston Villa in 2013, which took him past Bobby Tambling’s all-time record for the club, not far behind.

When Lampard left Chelsea in 2014 to finish his career at Manchester City and New York City, he did so with 211 goals from 649 appearances for them. It is doubtful whether the mark will be overhauled. In terms of the Premier League, only Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole have scored more than his 177 goals and they, of course, are strikers.

His numbers are mind‑boggling and Terry, Tambling and others have described him as Chelsea’s greatest player. His next move looks likely to be into coaching. Whatever he does, Lampard will give it his all.