BIOGRAPHY FRANK LAMPARD

Frank Lampard was born in Romford, Essex on the 20th of June 1978. He came from a very football orientated family, with his father, uncle and cousins all heavily involved within the game. He spent most of his early years playing football in his local park, garden and sea coast while on summer holiday’s with the rest of his family. Frank Lampard has always been seen as a very determined individual, and that characteristic was associated with him from an early age. It earned him a place in Heath Park’s youth team. Lampard then went on to have trials for Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham - Frank followed his heart and signed a youth contract with the Hammers in 1994.
He was at West Ham for a year before he made the difficult decision to go out on loan to Swansea in 1995. Frank Lampard was a very family orientated man, however, he was determined to improve himself as a footballer and that’s what this move did for him. Although the training facilities at Swansea were of a considerably lower standard, Frank built up his strength and came back to Upton Park ready to fight for a first team place. It wasn’t until the 1998-99 season where he finally established himself as a regular first team player for West Ham. Frank Lampard appeared in every match that season for West Ham and he significantly helped his team push for a fifth place finish in the league. This though, attracted many of the key West Ham players to bigger clubs, Rio Ferdinand was first to leave Upton Park in 2000-01 from West Ham’s promising batch of youngsters. This, along with the fact that his uncle and father had quit their jobs as manager and assistant respectively meant a transfer to Chelsea Football Club in 2001 for a reported fee of £11 million pounds.
Ranieri, the Chelsea manager at the time, was a keen fan of Lampard’s style and he was immediately drafted into first team action. He made his debut on the 19th of August against Newcastle United. Frank Lampard then went on to appear in every league match for the Blues that season, netting a total of 8 goals. He was starting to create a name for himself as a goal scoring midfielder andChelsea supporters were excited about the prospect of Frank Lampard playing in a blue shirt for seasons to come. Frank continued to steadily improve while playing for Chelsea, and for the first time in his career he finished the 2002-03 season with 10 goals to his name. By this time, Frank Lampard was already a regular in the England shirt and his scoring-form forChelsea also carried over to England as he netted his first goal for Engand on the 20th of August 2003 against Croatia.
It was in the summer of 2003, when one of the richest men in the world, Roman Abramovich, bought Chelsea Football Club. It meant Lampard could finally show his true potential. He was at a side filled with quality players, and from that moment, he’s never been given a chance to look back. In the 2004-05 season, Lampard scored 19 goals in all competitions, followed by hitting the 20 mark the season after. Lampard was at his peak, and was picking up many personal trophies to prove this: Runner up in the World Player of the Year 2005 to an unstoppable Ronaldinho and the FWA player of the year. Lampard continued to make great progress at club and international level and it was in the 2007-08 campaign where he reached a major goal scoring land mark forChelsea - 100 club goals. An extraordinary achievement for a central midfielder. He was given much world wide recognition for such an achievement.
Lampard has come along way from playing in his back garden with his father, and although now in his thirties, he still plays at the highest level of football and is recognised as one of the best midfielders in the world.