Frank Lampard has opened up about the abuse he received from West Ham United fans throughout his career.
Everyone knows the history between West Ham United and Frank Lampard junior.
There has been no love lost between West Ham fans and the Academy of Football graduate turned Chelsea legend over the years.
Hammers fans have taken a great deal of stick over their treatment of Lampard since his move to Stamford Bridge.
But the saga has been misunderstood and misconstrued over time.
Frank Lampard, antagonised and antagonist
While suggestions of nepotism when Lampard was an emerging talent were regrettable, Lampard was no saint in the bitter relationship.
The retired former England star was a massive West Ham fan as a kid, watching his dad, Frank Senior, carve out legend status at the club.
But the relationship between Lampard and the then Upton Park faithful turned sour when he was sold to London rivals Chelsea and claimed he was not liked by supporters.
Lampard went on to criticise the club and its fans on numerous occasions and received abuse from the terraces whenever the two clubs met.
The fact he would invariably kiss the Chelsea badge to antagonise them further when he inevitably scored against his old side did not help matters, nor did the proclamation that he is Chelsea’s biggest fan.
Lampard matures in management
They say time is a great healer.
And that seems to have been the case, certainly on his part.
Hammers fans continue to sing their song about Lampard. But to his credit Lampard the manager resisted a cynical line of questioning before and after West Ham’s London derby win over Chelsea earlier this season as the media baited him to try and get the Blues boss to take a pop at his old club.
Lampard also paid credit to West Ham and players like Mark Noble, Declan Rice and David Martin after that game, showing some class (The Sun).
Now Lampard has opened up on the abuse he received from West Ham fans as a player.
Speaking to The Daily Mail Lampard was assessing how his midfielder Ross Barkley would react to abuse he will inevitably receive again from Everton fans when the two sides meet today.
Lampard frank over West Ham abuse
And Lampard admitted he used to get very emotional about the treatment from West Ham fans.
But he eventually started to enjoy the challenge.
“I’m not coming down on the fans here,” Lampard said (Daily Mail).
“There is abuse and there is typical behaviour of a fan who might give some light-hearted sort of reaction to a player who played for them. I get that.
“In the early years, playing West Ham fired me up too much but after a couple of years, when I’d settled down, it was just something that fired me up in a good way and made me pretty determined.
“I actually liked getting fired up and the challenge of going up against them. Your personality dictates that quite a bit and I’m pretty confident that Ross will handle it a very good way.”
The fact Lampard got so emotional tells you everything. He clearly still had strong feelings for his boyhood club and was hurting, just like Hammers fans were that he had left for one of their rivals.
Yes he has antagonised supporters over the years.
But Lampard has acted with class when discussing the situation since becoming a manager.
So perhaps it is time to let bygones be bygones.
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