Is it the end of the Super Franky Lampard show?

Lampard has always had fight on his hands. When he came to Chelsea for £11m in 2001, even we were all surprised at the hefty sum paid for a West Ham boy who could pass, take long range shots but rarely score!

However, Ranieri (who I believe still to be our best manager in Roman's era) clearly spotted something the rest of us hadn't and in 2003/4 Frank Lampard was starting to turn in performances that made the £11m Ken Bate's splashed on him look like a meagre pittance compared to Roman's lavish purchases such as Crespo and Veron.

It has to be said that whilst Mourinho made Lampard more ruthlessly efficient; in his last season with Ranieri, where he came second to Ronaldinho in World Player of the Year, Frank was pure and utter dynamite.

As for the England team, the 'can Lampard and Gerrard play together' debate has to be the longest running football debate in football history and yet the jury is still out. Unfortunately for Frank, Gerrard has always been the peoples' choice as his stunning goals and visually imposing play was always hard to overlook.

Mourinho had fine tuned Lampard into a modestly efficient but ultra effective midfielder so Frank was always going to come second best to Stevie G. However, Frank always had the comfort of knowing that he was the biggest star in a title winning side, and that was something Gerrard could never match.

Five years later and Super Frank's future is in serious doubt. 10 goals and 4 assists in 24 league appearances is still a great tally for any midfielder but it may not be enough for Lampard to keep his job.

The stats look good on paper but when only 6 goals are from open play it's suddenly does not meet the high expectations we have for our most attacking midfielder.

Frank has seen enough managers and knows better than anyone the ruthlessness of new Chelsea; he will know that his role in the first team will be closely examined in the summer.

Watching on as man-of-the-match Ashley Young replaced Frank in the England/Swizerland Qualifier after another subdued and uninspiring performance, you wonder whether that may have sealed his fate for Chelsea.

These days Stamford Bridge is not so comforting anymore for Frank as for the first time in years Chelsea are repeatedly linked with younger, better players in Frank's position. Fabregas, Pastore, Modric and now Sneijder.

Certainly only a player's of that ilk could replace Lampard's influence in the team and Frank knows it. However, there are players that deserve to see out their careers at a club and Frank is one of them. I hope he stays and helps Chelsea transit into a new era because he's a fantastic servant and role model.

If all our young aspiring players follow the work ethic and drive shown by Frank in the past 10 years at the Bridge, in players like McEachran, Torres, Kakuta, Ramires, Luiz and Patrick Van Aanholt we will undoubtedly have world beaters on our hands.

As For Frank, he's now got a long much needed holiday to enjoy. Along with his D&G swimming shorts he will be packing away pairs of dark designer shades to help cover his concern as he reads speculation linking us to more World Class attacking midfielders.

He's a fighter and will be up for the challenge, reminiscent of when the 'great' Veron tried to tread on his turf. Whatever the outcome, Frank will rest assured knowing that whoever comes in will have their own fight on their hands if they intend to sit alongside him with greats such as Osgood, Wise and Zola.