Jody Morris and Frank Lampard were teammates at Chelsea, before Morris would go on to work with the Chelsea youth team set-up for many years.

Morris was Lampard’s assistant at Derby County and Chelsea, but it was a surprise to many that Morris didn’t join Lampard at Everton.

Morris, speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at the launch of their 5-A-Side bet on Chelsea v Crystal Palace, revealed that he was keen on going on to become a manager rather than an assistant.  

He said: “When me and Frank [Lampard] first left Chelsea, I was approached by a Championship club with regard to being their number one and I called Lamps straight away to ask him what he thought. He told me to ‘absolutely go and talk to them’.

“It was a quality club, and I went through a three or four-week period where I’d actually got my head around the idea of being a manager, and not an assistant.

“I always knew I was going to be a manager one day anyway; I’d left my role managing the academy team at Chelsea to join Frank at Derby – I managed my own staff there, so I felt it was only going to be a matter of time until I was in a managerial role.”