Frank Lampard: Do Chelsea fans really want #LampardOut after pre-season game?

By Laura SavvasBBC Sport
Frank Lampard
Lampard was unveiled as Chelsea boss on 4 July

Wednesday marked Frank Lampard's first game in charge of Chelsea, six days after the club legend was appointed manager of the Premier League side.

His debut saw Chelsea draw 1-1 with Dublin-based Bohemians - and by Thursday morning, #LampardOut was the top trend on Twitter in the UK.

Yes, really.

So, why was it trending, and how does such a hashtag gain momentum? BBC Sport takes a look...

The first mentions

Cast your mind back to April, when Lamps was still manager at Pride Park.

The first time the hashtag #LampardOut was used was after Derby were charged by the Football Association for failing to control their players during a 3-3 draw with Brentford - on 12 April.

A little over two weeks later, the second mention came courtesy of a Chelsea fan who claimed giving Lampard the Blues job would "tarnish his legacy and everyone will be #LampardOut".

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Further mentions appeared on Twitter, with 199 tweets between the first use and the announcement of Lampard as Chelsea boss on 4 July.

One fan was optimistic with his six-month prediction; it only took six days for the hashtag to gain proper momentum.

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Others backed the appointment, adding they would "stand with Lampard" when the predictable tweets came...

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Wednesday's team announcement

There were 257 tweets using the hashtag between Chelsea's announcement at 09:00 BST on 4 July, and 19:25 BST on 10 July - when the team was announced for Chelsea's pre-season friendly against Bohemians.

A further 12 tweets appeared between the team announcement and kick-off, with a dozen supporters wading in on Lampard's team selection - although, given injuries to some of the Blues' young stars, clearly not all of them were intended seriously.

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After kick-off, up until 07:30 BST on Thursday morning, the total number of tweets mentioning #LampardOut had grown to more than 4,500.

Here's one for the stats fans: use of the hashtag between 06:30 BST on 10 July and 06:30 BST on 11 July was 27,800% higher than in the same time frame 24 hours earlier.

Confusion ensues

If its inception was clearly tongue-in-cheek, there there were still some fans who were genuinely perplexed by the top trend.

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The aftermath of a pre-season draw

Those who might not have seen the result of Wednesday night's pre-season friendly were genuinely confused as to why #LampardOut was all over their timelines.

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But some Chelsea fans appeared genuinely unimpressed about a 1-1 draw in Ireland...

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The playful trolling continued, with one fan even going to the lengths of creating a 'Lampard Out' Twitter accountexternal-link. Others suggested fans of rival clubs might have been wading in to help the hashtag trend.

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And one fan attempted to change the narrative, calling for a #LampardIn hashtag.

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No matter how well the new boss performs this season, it's likely that we've not seen the last of the hashtag.

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