UK Edition
Frank Lampard and Chelsea have time on their side - there is no need to rush into this appointment
Another year, another change at the top at Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri says the lure of home is too great to keep him at Stamford Bridge - if they wanted him to stay at all, that is.
His stint in London has been played out against a backdrop of dissent. After a positive start to life in England, Sarri-ball was swiftly disregarded by the fans as not suitable to the fast-paced Premier League.
They are a tough bunch, the Chelsea supporters, and it wasn't the first time they have turned on a manager.
The Chelsea hierarchy are notoriously difficult to please, too. Avram Grant was sacked after less than a season in charge despite ending the season as runners-up in the Premier League, Champions League and League Cup with a team that had started to crumble under Jose Mourinho.
Carlo Ancelotti was dismissed two hours after the final game of the 2010/11 season, a year after doing the double and possessing what was then the third-best managerial win percentage in Premier League history. Roberto Di Matteo lasted only a few months beyond winning the Champions League.
Neither fans nor board ever seem to stay happy. In a season when Sarri was implementing new ideas, integrating new players and competing with two of the best teams of the Premier League era, Chelsea finished third, made the League Cup final and won a European trophy. Yet still his departure has remained inevitable, in no small part because he has been made to feel so unwelcome by the supporters.
The question remains as to what exactly they are looking for? Short-termism has been a recurring theme of the Roman Abramovich era, and something with which many Chelsea fans have grown tired.
But if it is longer-term planning they want, then surely patience with Sarri's ideas is the solution, not complaints and groans every time Jorginho passes the ball sideways and opts against a quick ball over the top?
The relationship has broken down, though, and barring a huge U-turn, Sarri will head back to Italy this summer and Chelsea will need a new manager, with Frank Lampard the favourite to take over.
The idea here is that Lampard, as someone that 'knows the club' can bring back the good times.
'Knowing' a club or league is a vastly overrated attribute for any manager. Alan Shearer certainly knew Newcastle when he took them down in 2009, Alan Pardew knew the Premier League when he failed miserably in his attempt to save West Brom a couple of seasons ago and Glenn Hoddle couldn't produce anything like the same magic as Tottenham manager as he produced as their star player. Ancelotti, meanwhile, for example, knew neither club nor league when he was appointed at Chelsea.
For all the success Lampard had as a Chelsea player, the last few years have hardly been lacking in silverware. In the five years since Lampard's departure, Chelsea have won the league twice and each of the league cup, FA Cup and Europa League once.
So, why the desperation to change tack? My colleague Jason Burt reported earlier this month that the powers that be were unsure about pursuing Max Allegri due to a concern over employing a third successive Italian following Antonio Conte and Sarri. That's Conte who won the league and the FA Cup in two seasons in London, and Sarri who won the Europa League, not to mention the success of Di Matteo and Ancelotti. It all begs the question: what's wrong with another Italian?
The idea, it seems, is that both club and fans will cut Lampard a little more slack than they would an 'outsider', and he might therefore be given a little more time to settle into his new role.
What is to say that is how things will pan out, though? The evidence of Lampard's impressive single season at Derby is not sufficient to conclude he will succeed anywhere else, and as we have seen in recent times at Chelsea - including on at least a few occasions during Lampard's time there - things can quickly turn sour for any manager if results aren't going their way. Will things really be all that different for him?
It is said Lampard 'knows the club' better than any of the other likely candidates to take over at Stamford Bridge, but do the fans really mean 'we know him' better than the rest? The familiarity of a club legend is understandably reassuring, but it is too big a leap for a rookie manager to be making.
Everybody knows the job will be his if he wants it at any point in the future, so why not let him carry on his fine work at Derby and see how things pan out over the next year or two, and let him learn his trade there rather than at the peak of the game? He is still only 40 years old, and there is plenty of time for him to further boost his status at Chelsea. There's no need to rush into anything just yet.