Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:03 pmI nearly left for free - Lampard
Chelsea star player Frank Lampard admitted he was almost released by Chelsea for free after the 2002-03 season. The club had to beat Liverpool to qualify for the champions league.
Lampard wrote: "Chelsea's final game of the 2002-03 season against Liverpool had been labelled The £10million Knockout because the winners would qualify for the Champions League.
"But in our hotel the night before the game, we found there was much more on the line than that. We had our team dinner as usual but were told we had to go to a room where someone wanted to give us a talk.
"This was quite unusual and everyone was silent when the chief executive. Trevor Birch, came into the room.
"He said: 'I'm not going to kid you. The club are in severe financial difficulty.
"'In fact, we have reached a point of financial crisis. In order to ensure that Chelsea FC will still exist next season you have to make the Champions League. In short, if you fail to beat Liverpool then the club will go out of business.'
"Claudio Ranieri obviously knew what was going on behind the scenes but wanted us focused on football.
"We were determined to get the win and thankfully we won 2-1. But I look back now and wonder what would have happened had we lost. I later learned that when Birch had taken over at the start of that season he'd reviewed all the players' contracts.
"He had looked at mine - which was considerable and still had four years to run - and proposed that it might be better to release me for nothing and save on my wages.
"Funny how the world changes ..."
Houllier has a lot to answer for!
Chelsea star player Frank Lampard admitted he was almost released by Chelsea for free after the 2002-03 season. The club had to beat Liverpool to qualify for the champions league.
Lampard wrote: "Chelsea's final game of the 2002-03 season against Liverpool had been labelled The £10million Knockout because the winners would qualify for the Champions League.
"But in our hotel the night before the game, we found there was much more on the line than that. We had our team dinner as usual but were told we had to go to a room where someone wanted to give us a talk.
"This was quite unusual and everyone was silent when the chief executive. Trevor Birch, came into the room.
"He said: 'I'm not going to kid you. The club are in severe financial difficulty.
"'In fact, we have reached a point of financial crisis. In order to ensure that Chelsea FC will still exist next season you have to make the Champions League. In short, if you fail to beat Liverpool then the club will go out of business.'
"Claudio Ranieri obviously knew what was going on behind the scenes but wanted us focused on football.
"We were determined to get the win and thankfully we won 2-1. But I look back now and wonder what would have happened had we lost. I later learned that when Birch had taken over at the start of that season he'd reviewed all the players' contracts.
"He had looked at mine - which was considerable and still had four years to run - and proposed that it might be better to release me for nothing and save on my wages.
"Funny how the world changes ..."
Houllier has a lot to answer for!