Lampard Finally Speaks! Interview W/the Times

lostblue

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Nov 19, 2014
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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sport/article4319252.ece#
Too long to post the whole thing here, but here are the first few paragraphs:
Frank Lampard has something to say. Rather a lot to say, in fact. For a start, he wants to say that his heart will always be with Chelsea, that he is determined to make up for lost time when he finally joins New York City in July but that, until then, he will be fiercely committed to Manchester City.

He knows what some — in New York, in west London and elsewhere — are thinking. He has heard the accusations that he and City tried to deceive his past and future employers in using his pre-contract agreement with New York as a sleight-of-hand trick to engineer a transfer to one of Chelsea’s rivals.

He had intended just to keep his head down and let his football, along with a well-earned reputation for decency, do the talking, but that is no longer an option, which is why he has agreed to speak to The Times to try to clear things up.
.....
 
He gets a really bad rep for not coming across as being that bad of a guy.
Funny how he gets attributed with all sorts of negative stuff, but it's always misunderstandings and nonsense and lies. Poor SOB must have the worst luck in the world. Seems he spends an awful lot of time explaining himself and clearing his name. It's got to be tough.
 
Really interesting interview. I'm just gonna quote some of the greatest hits here.
So you signed for . . . ? “New York,” he says. Not New York with a view to signing for City? “No. It was 100 per cent New York. I had sat down with Ferran and it was all about New York. There was no mention of Man City. If they had wanted to speak to me on behalf of Man City, with New York in the pipeline beyond that, they could have done that, because I was a free agent, but that was never the question at all.
So how did Lampard’s pre-contract agreement with New York, which was due to run from January 1, end up superseded by a deal to join City? “This is one of the reasons why I wanted to do this interview, because I’ve heard and seen people say it must have been all contrived that I would join Man City,” he says. “It wasn’t. It was 100 per cent New York. But while all this discussion was going on about the next five or six months, Man City were in town for a pre-season game. I spoke with Manuel Pellegrini and he said he wanted me to come for the first half of the season — simple as that.”
“That is what has frustrated me, that people were sort of saying to me, ‘You knew what you were doing.’ I never would have done that. If I had wanted to come to Man City, then I would stand up and come to Man City. That wouldn’t have been a problem. And in terms of Man City being ‘sneaky’, they could have signed me on a free anyway if that’s what they and I had wanted to do. People mention Financial Fair Play, but what difference would that have made? No difference. It would have been a slippery move, a dodgy move, for nothing. The fact is I signed with New York, then I signed for Man City in the interim and now it has been extended.”
“What I want to say to the New York people is that, yes, my start is going to be delayed by two or three months,” he says. “But when I get there, I’m going to give everything, as I’ve given at Man City, as I’ve given at Chelsea before. I want to win. I’ve seen Stevie say the same, how much he wants to win medals there. He’s like me, I think. We’re both driven. We don’t go somewhere to put our feet up and relax. No matter what we’ve achieved in the past, we will always want more. I will certainly give that to New York.

Probably the least cagey PR coverup-ish thing that has been said about the whole situation from anyone inside. I actually feel a bit better about Lampard now. And surprise, surprise Pellegrini comes out of it still looking like the asshole in all this.
 
Really interesting interview. I'm just gonna quote some of the greatest hits here.





Probably the least cagey PR coverup-ish thing that has been said about the whole situation from anyone inside. I actually feel a bit better about Lampard now. And surprise, surprise Pellegrini comes out of it still looking like the asshole in all this.
Agreed, this interview makes me feel better about Lampard. Of course i'll probably get slammed for not hating his guts like some here do, but whatever.
 
The fact is I signed with New York, then I signed for Man City in the interim and now it has been extended.

Can this be the end of it?
 
So it sounds like while he's here in my sight seeing, he hangs out with Peligrini who convinces him to give man city a shot.

I completely believe that when he was introduced and asked what he would do until the MLS season that he didn't know the answer yet.

And yes, somehow after all of this, he comes across now, in my eyes, as the one person who should come out unscathed. I only hope that Drainyoo Drainyoo and Midas Mulligan Midas Mulligan will ease up on him some.
 
So it sounds like while he's here in my sight seeing, he hangs out with Peligrini who convinces him to give man city a shot.

I completely believe that when he was introduced and asked what he would do until the MLS season that he didn't know the answer yet.

And yes, somehow after all of this, he comes across now, in my eyes, as the one person who should come out unscathed. I only hope that Drainyoo Drainyoo and Midas Mulligan Midas Mulligan will ease up on him some.
Not gonna happen. You boys believe what you want. But it's hilarious to me how it's always the world and the media versus Frank. Never his fault about anything.
 
So it sounds like while he's here in my sight seeing, he hangs out with Peligrini who convinces him to give man city a shot.

I completely believe that when he was introduced and asked what he would do until the MLS season that he didn't know the answer yet.

And yes, somehow after all of this, he comes across now, in my eyes, as the one person who should come out unscathed. I only hope that Drainyoo Drainyoo and Midas Mulligan Midas Mulligan will ease up on him some.


Then they would of lost their souls
 
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Not gonna happen. You boys believe what you want. But it's hilarious to me how it's always the world and the media versus Frank. Never his fault about anything.
I am no expert at this whole soccer thing.... But one thing I learned pretty quickly is how complete bullshit so much of the soccer media is. So telling me its always the media vs him doesn't exactly prove a lot to me. That said, I am sure he is at fault for some of the things that have went down. That also being said, you need to forgive and forget at some point versus hating the mans guts over things that we truly don't know the whole story to. Believe what you want however, just my two cents.
 
Maybe most sportswriters have it in for Frankie. This particular interviewer was clearly chosen because he was known to like Frankie and would give him a sympathetic write-up. Frankie does come off well here. I think it's possible he didn't realize was he was getting into, that he got played, and that he's still coming to NY with little idea what's in store. I'm not convinced of that but it 's possible.
But for all the disclaimers about Frankie not being a lawyer/businessman, any competent interviewer had to ask one question: what was your understanding of why you signed with CFG instead of directly with NYCFC, and who gave you that understanding?
The question wasn't asked and the rest is fluff.
 
Maybe most sportswriters have it in for Frankie. This particular interviewer was clearly chosen because he was known to like Frankie and would give him a sympathetic write-up. Frankie does come off well here. I think it's possible he didn't realize was he was getting into, that he got played, and that he's still coming to NY with little idea what's in store. I'm not convinced of that but it 's possible.
But for all the disclaimers about Frankie not being a lawyer/businessman, any competent interviewer had to ask one question: what was your understanding of why you signed with CFG instead of directly with NYCFC, and who gave you that understanding?
The question wasn't asked and the rest is fluff.

What if (and I know this is getting a bit tin-foil-hat-ish) CFG knew from the beginning that they wanted to get Frank on the MCFC squad and see if he still had some in the tank, so they tell him that he can't sign an official contract until January. Then MP happens to casually ask if he'd like to play for Manchester to keep his fitness up. Conveniently he's only on a pre-contract agreement so they can just write up a short term deal with MCFC. Frank plays well and MP says "How'd you like to stick around. It's really just a happy coincidence, but the way we happened to write this contract would make it really easy to extend you to the end of the season. You're playing well here after all." All the while Frank's being strung along.

I don't know if I buy it, but it would be really interesting to know exactly how much the various parties knew about the potential for this situation and at what time.
 
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Maybe most sportswriters have it in for Frankie. This particular interviewer was clearly chosen because he was known to like Frankie and would give him a sympathetic write-up. Frankie does come off well here. I think it's possible he didn't realize was he was getting into, that he got played, and that he's still coming to NY with little idea what's in store. I'm not convinced of that but it 's possible.
But for all the disclaimers about Frankie not being a lawyer/businessman, any competent interviewer had to ask one question: what was your understanding of why you signed with CFG instead of directly with NYCFC, and who gave you that understanding?
The question wasn't asked and the rest is fluff.
The terminology used in the interview answers sounds a lot like what I heard my rep tell me.

What that means to anyone is up to them. Eta: guess that means that this is the "truth" according to the CFG family, and that we can like it or not. For me, I still don't like it. I'm not quitting on the club . I am just going to be exactly the sort of loud mouth, malcontent, entitled ***** that gets a customized away shirt with "never forget 12/31" on the back. Never forget.

And I'll make no bones about the fact that Lampard was never a favorite of mine anyway. But when you have an opinion about someone based upon years of reporting regarding the outstanding character of a guy and his best mate John Terry, then you decide to reconsider based upon him signing for your team, and then you get gobsmacked with this scenario, it's going to be hard to forgive and forget.

Once bitten and all...

That a grown ass man could be as naive as he portrays himself in this interview can only be described one way, "SHOCKING MATE".
 
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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sport/article4319252.ece#
Too long to post the whole thing here, but here are the first few paragraphs:

He doesn't clarify a thing in this article, and the journalist is just an EPL loving quack who's making Lampard out to be the victim. Not once did Lampard apologize for all this mess, and he doesn't even explain why he decided to stay with MCFC and not join the team that he supposedly made the initial agreement with. Nothing. He would rather be with them. PERIOD!

This interview just makes me like him even less. I've highlighted some comments of his that just don't make any sense, and seem like clear BS.


I didn’t want to play for another Premier League club after Chelsea. I really didn’t.

But he did, and he still is, and he left us all hanging out to dry in the process.

Lampard flew across the Atlantic to sign a pre-contract agreement with City Football Group. “No. It was 100 per cent New York. I had sat down with Ferran and it was all about New York. There was no mention of Man City. If they had wanted to speak to me on behalf of Man City, with New York in the pipeline beyond that, they could have done that, because I was a free agent, but that was never the question at all."

Why sign a pre-contract agreement, and not just a full contract starting at that moment? If he was committed to NYCFC, and MCFC wasn't in the picture yet, why not sign a full contract? I just don't get this.


"I was really excited about it. I’m excited now, just talking about it.”

If it is, then why is he in England and not here?


“It wasn’t. It was 100 per cent New York. But while all this discussion was going on about the next five or six months, Man City were in town for a pre-season game. I spoke with Manuel Pellegrini and he said he wanted me to come for the first half of the season — simple as that.”

What a bunch of baloney. I don't believe this for a second. If this were true, he would have signed a full contract with NYCFC right from the start.


“I have signed for New York,”

No he hasn't. We already know this. EPL, MCFC and MLS have all said that he didn't sign with NYCFC.