Darren Gough claimed he would prefer Derby County manager Frank Lampard to manage his club rather than Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa as he simply liked him more.
The retired cricketer revealed his preference on talkSPORT with him and Adrian Durham also probing fans on Twitter who they would rather have at their club out of Lampard and Bielsa.
With the news that Marcelo Bielsa is staying at Leeds, who would you rather have in charge of your club?
— Adrian Durham (@TheAdrianDurham) May 28, 2019
“Well if you asked me it’s Lampard, even though Bielsa is an absolute footballing genius, I totally get that, why it’s gone into meltdown (fans being happy he is staying),” said Gough on talkSPORT (Tuesday, May 28th, 17:36).
“If you’re asking me, because I’ve got that kind of…I like Lampard a lot and he is a wonderful ambassador for football.”
Durham couldn’t believe Gough’s answer and pointed out how he thought Bielsa getting Leeds into third position was more impressive than Lampard guiding Derby to the play-off final.
This prompted Gough to add further details to his answer and deliver his verdict on Bielsa staying at Elland Road, which was confirmed by the official club website, by sharing he was glad the manager wasn’t leaving.
“Look you’ve asked me who I prefer, and I agree with you on Bielsa and I’ve praised him all season for what he has done on an incredible budget and I’m glad he is staying at Leeds and I’m sure the fans are,” said Gough.
“But if you’re asking me who I’d rather have as a football ambassador at a club then it’s Lampard.
OPINION
Choosing between Lampard and Bielsa may prove hard if you just base it on the 2018/19 campaign, but if you take their whole careers into account, clearly Bielsa is the manager people should be preferring. The experienced manager has a long and impressive CV and has managed impressive international teams like Argentina and Chile. Lampard on the other hand, has had an illustrious playing career, but has only ever managed Derby. The former Chelsea player also only took over the Rams last season, so you can’t rate him above Bielsa on any level based on just one season. Also Gough simply saying he likes Lampard better is silly especially as he then highlights that he likes the Rams boss as he is a wonderful football ambassador. Bielsa is equally as good an ambassador for football as after all, he was the one who allowed Aston Villa to score a goal against his side after he believed his side had wrongly benefited from one of their players being down injured.