'That is their path' - Frank Lampard sends classy message to Brighton amid comparison with Chelsea

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Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard hailed Brighton & Hove Albion as a ‘fantastic model’ for how to run a Premier League club – but admitted the two teams’ projects were incomparable.

The Blues have endured a chaotic season since the arrival of their new American owner Todd Boehly in June.

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Chelsea spent more than £250m in a record-breaking summer transfer window. The Blues’ outlay was the highest spend of the 2022-23 Premier League campaign and the British record for spending in one transfer window.

Boehly then gave Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League-winning manager Thomas Tuchel 100 days before firing him on September 7.

Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard hailed Brighton & Hove Albion as a ‘fantastic model’ for how to run a Premier League club – but admitted the two teams’ projects were incomparable. Picture by Alex Pantling/Getty ImagesChelsea interim manager Frank Lampard hailed Brighton & Hove Albion as a ‘fantastic model’ for how to run a Premier League club – but admitted the two teams’ projects were incomparable. Picture by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard hailed Brighton & Hove Albion as a ‘fantastic model’ for how to run a Premier League club – but admitted the two teams’ projects were incomparable. Picture by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

The German was replaced by ex-Albion head coach Graham Potter, who signed a five-year contract at Stamford Bridge, just a day later.

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The Blues spent a further £320m in the January window – breaking the spending records they had set in the summer – before parting ways with Potter after just 31 games at the start of April.

Brighton, meanwhile, have spent just over £49m on transfers this season according to transfermarkt.com.

The Seagulls – who are challenging for Europe and have an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to next weekend – are four places and seven points clear of 11th-placed Chelsea, and have two games in hand on the west London outfit.

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Lampard, who was named interim Blues boss on April 6, praised how Albion were run but stressed Chelsea’s past successes meant the Blues’ project was on a different ‘path’ to the Seagulls’.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s home Premier League clash with Brighton, Lampard said: "They've had a fantastic model. They've come up, stabilised their Premier League status and moved up over the past six or seven years.

"That is their path; Chelsea's is a different one. This is a club that has been successful over a long period of time.

"We have to understand when you're in a process and a project that you'll have to dig in and not focus on too much opinion."