Lampard acts fast to stamp out offensive Hammers song

Frank Lampard may not be everybody’s cup of tea but his clampdown on the songs from the terraces is to be applauded.

And the newly appointed Stamford Bridhge boss has also drawn praise from anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out after he condemned his club’s supporters for referring to West Ham as ‘pikeys’.

A section of the fans used the r

A section of the Blues fans use the term during the Sunday friendly against Reading and Lampard had no problem telling them to stop using it forthwith.

In fairness to him it’s a brave move by him so soon into his reign as boss and demonstrates a  no nonsense approach.

‘We are aware of the chant and contacted @ChelseaFC about the issue last week,’ Kick It Out said on Twitter.

‘We are pleased to see the club and Frank Lampard take such a clear stance in support of equality by condemning the song – ‘pikey’ is a discriminatory word and no football supporter should be using it.’

Lampard, who has a strong standing with Chelsea’s support after a glittering career at Stamford Bridge, had said on Sunday: ‘If there’s a song that has offensive words in it then of course I don’t want to hear that and that’s me saying that as a big Chelsea man who really appreciates the support I’ve had over the years.

‘We don’t want songs with offensive words so if the fans can sing other songs while still backing the team, which is more important than myself, then I’ll certainly back that.

‘We’re all aware the club are very strong with the work we do off the pitch in terms of anything that’s offensive or prejudice. We’ve made a big mark in recent years so we don’t want that.’