Lampard: I respect Jose, but I won’t call him boss

FRANK LAMPARD, who won two Premier League titles at Chelsea with Jose Mourinho as manager, says he will no longer be calling him ‘boss’ when they meet ahead of the London derby. ‘I’ll always have big respect for all my managers,’ said Lampard, who is in his first season as manager at Chelsea. ‘If I was to text or ring a manager, I’d always call them boss or gaffer. Now I am an ex-player, on this side of the fence, I won’t be calling him boss. But that doesn’t take away from the respect I have for him.’ A sign of that respect was Lampard’s refusal to stir things up when asked about Mourinho’s likely reception from Chelsea fans. It will be the first time the rival clubs have met since Mourinho took over at Spurs, where he once said he could never work when he was Chelsea manager. ‘If you go to the fiercest rivals, the fans will give the answer,’ Lampard said. ‘That doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten the history or don’t respect it.’ For his part, at 56, Mourinho finds himself surrounded by rookie managers. ‘I think now it is not about how much you won, it is about the matches we didn’t lose,’ Mourinho said. ‘Years ago, the best managers were the guys with more victories. Now the best is the guy with less defeats.’ Mourinho was speaking moments before Arsenal confirmed Mikel Arteta as their new manager. At Manchester United last year, Mourinho was replaced by the raw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Mourinho is battling for a top-four place against coaches still cutting their teeth. Between them, Solskjaer, Lampard and Arteta have managed 73 Premier League matches. Mourinho has racked up 309.