Ahead of our first pre-season game of the summer, we bring you the information on our new head coach Frank Lampard’s backroom staff who will be assisting him at Stamford Bridge.
As outlined in Lampard's press conference at Stamford Bridge last week, Jody Morris has returned to the club alongside Lampard after working as his assistant at Derby County, while both Eddie Newton and Joe Edwards are promoted to the men’s senior setup.
Morris takes the role of assistant head coach having worked with his former midfield team-mate at Pride Park last term. The 40-year-old made 173 appearances for the Blues between 1996 and 2003, having progressed through the Academy ranks at the club. He remains the youngest ever player to feature for us in the Premier League after making his debut at the age of 17 years and 43 days and was also hugely successful as coach of our Under-18s, winning seven trophies in two seasons in charge.
Newton returns to the role of assistant coach having previously worked in the position alongside Guus Hiddink and, most notably, Roberto Di Matteo during our Champions League-winning 2011/12 season. He first joined Chelsea as a 13-year-old and came through the ranks to make 214 appearances for the club. His most memorable playing moment came in 1997 when he scored the second goal in our 2-0 FA Cup final victory over Middlesbrough. For the past three years, he has worked as loan player technical coach, in charge of our players out on loan.
Edwards, who has most recently been our development squad coach, will also act as assistant coach to Lampard. A former Chelsea schoolboy player, he has been part of the Academy coaching staff since 2004, winning the FA Youth Cup in 2015 and 2016.
Chris Jones also returns in an assistant coach role. He had previously worked with us as fitness coach for nine years before joining the Rams last summer. Hilario completed the backroom staff in the role of goalkeeper coach. The former Portugal international made 39 Chelsea appearances before hanging up his gloves in 2014 and returned as a coach two years later.