Former West Ham Aacademy chief Tony Carr has been recalling Frank Lampard’s Hammers years as the former midfielder heads off to manage Chelsea.
And he believes his former protegee gained considerable mental strength from his Upton Park experiences with a group of critical fans.
He sees a mental strength in the guy which came from the reaction to him being included in the team managed by his uncle Harry Redknapp as the son of a former legend Frank snr.
He said: “The fans at that time were very unfair to him and I think a lot of young players would have gone under after that,” Carr remembers.
“He grew strength from it, believed in his talent and proved them wrong. And he did it in bucket loads when he came back to West Ham and scored against them.”
Carr – recalling Lmpard’s early days – told Sun Sport @ https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9392781/frank-lampard-chelsea-manager-tony-carr/ : “Young Frank wasn’t a loud boy or up front, he was quite shy and just got on with his work and what he had to do.” “He wasn’t the sort of leader of the gang, he just quietly got on with training with his dad trying to push him and improve him.”
“Frank struck up a friendship with Rio Ferdinand very quickly at West Ham and they were together quite often
“Rio was the joker in the pack, a bouncy lad, and Frank would rub off on that but not as loud as Rio.