Take it from us, 300 goals is a whole lot.
Here at NYCFC, we’ve been burning those midnight oils with our abacuses, calculators and tellers on hand, checking and cross-checking Frank Lampard’s goalscoring tally from his long and storied careers.
What have we learned from our calculations? Well, we are delighted to confirm that Frank has joined an elite band of footballing greats in the 300 Club, following his strike against Columbus Crew last weekend.
To celebrate, join us on a globetrotting voyage through Lampard’s 21-year professional career as we highlight on some of the most important strikes, as well as the key milestones, taking us from the South of Wales, to London and, of course, right here in NYC.
After all, he probably won’t be on 300 for long…
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Off and Running
Goal no.1 of 300 came in the third tier of the English footballing pyramid for Swansea City – a strike against Brighton and Hove Albion back in the 1995/96 season when Frank was on loan from West Ham United.
A fresh-faced 17-year old - referred to exclusively as Frank Lampard Jr at that time - the youngster went on to emulate his father and namesake in becoming an Upton Park faithful but not before learning some important footballing and life lessons in Wales.
“It was a great learning curve for me” Frank reflected recently, “It was a real boy chucked into a man’s world scenario. It was about a stage of growing up.”
Happy Hammer
Lampard returned to London in January 1996 and immediately set about making himself a first-team regular at West Ham, coming through the young ranks along with fellow future England internationals Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick.
A broken leg slowed Frank’s progress, meaning he had to wait until 1997 for his first top-flight goal which arrived at Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium, scored just a minute after he entered from the substitutes’ bench.
That was one of ten he netted in the 1997/98 campaign as West Ham finished in eighth place in the Premier League – a figure which included his first career hat-trick scored against Walsall.
As we well know, it would not be his last.
Three Lions
Lampard spent three more seasons at Upton Park, becoming a regular name on the scoresheet for the Londoners and firing them to a club-high fifth-place Premier League finish in 1998/99.
Following his incredible form for England’s under-21 selection, a call-up to the senior national team was inevitable and on October 10, 1999 against Belgium, he finally made his international bow.
His first international goal wouldn’t be far away…
Early days at Chelsea
Following seven years at West Ham, Frank found Claudio Ranieri’s offer for Frank to come and join him at Chelsea too good to pass up.
Lampard certainly didn’t take long to bring his form across the English capital with him and he had his first league goal in a Chelsea shirt when the Blues beat Bolton on December 23, 2001 – one of seven he scored in 53 appearances.
It’s fair to say his game-to-goal ratio would improve substantially in his next 12 years at Stamford Bridge…
International record
Lampard scored his first England goal on August 20, 2003 in a 3-1 win over Croatia and he’d go on to bag 28 more in 106 games for his nation, becoming just the eighth man in history to represent the Three Lions on more than 100 occasions.
He was named England Player of the Year for two successive years, in 2004 and 2005 and was named in the official UEFA Team of Euro 2004.
Come see Frank go for 301 against the LA Galaxy!
First title
Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2004 ushered in a golden age in the history of Chelsea Football Club – a golden age Frank Lampard was right at the heart of.
Lampard hit double figures in a season for the first time during Ranieri’s final year in charge before going on to win the Premier League title for the first time in Mourinho’s first season in 2004/05, with Frank’s 19 goals, as well as a league-high 16 assists instrumental to the cause.
A crucial strike against Barcelona in the Champions League, a brace in the quarterfinal of the same competition against Bayern Munich and a goal in the final of the League Cup: it was truly a season to remember for Lampard as he announced himself on the world stage.
Building on success
Incredibly, Lampard built on this return and, from the 2005/06 season right through to 2009/10, he scored at least 20 goals a season – a phenomenal achievement for a midfielder in one of Europe’s toughest leagues.
Chelsea retained the league in 2005/06 – a notoriously tough task – and he would go on to win it again, as well as four FA Cups and a Europa League.
Oh, and he captained them to the Champions League title in 2011/12.
Frank’s best-ever goalscoring season came in 2009/10 when he scored 27 times in 51 games – a ratio one of the league’s top strikers would have been proud of, never mind a midfielder!
Record Breaker
Lampard broke Bobby Tambling’s long-standing club goalscoring record at Chelsea with his 203rd goal in a match-winning performance against Aston Villa in May 2013, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Timing has always been one of his strong points…
Saying goodbye
Frank finally bid an emotional farewell to Chelsea in 2014 and spent a season at Manchester City, where he rolled back the years and proved he very much still had “it” with eight goals in 32 appearances, including an inevitable equaliser against his former employers.
Super Frank
Frank arrived at NYCFC last year, determined to make a big impact in Major League Soccer and, although he suffered a string of niggling muscle injuries which slowed his progress, he still hinted at what was to come when he helped end a three-game losing streak with a goal in a win against Toronto in his debut season.
However, there’s no doubt that we’re seeing the very best of Lampard in 2016, with Frank hitting the back of the net nine times in 13 games, so far…
Hat-trick hero
Frank made NYCFC history when he became the first player to ever score a hat-trick for the club in a 5-1 win over the Colorado Rapids on July 30, 2016.
Current form
Galaxy, beware! Frank is looking in peak condition for this weekend’s game… you really wouldn’t wager against him making it 301 at Yankee Stadium to continue this incredible goalscoring journey and to strengthen NYCFC’s hold on the Eastern Conference top spot.
