Jody Morris has sent an emotional message to Derby County supporters on social media, after his decision to leave the club to join Chelsea with manager Frank Lampard.
Derby confirmed today that Lampard has left the club to become the next manager at Stamford Bridge, following weeks of speculation.
Lampard was able to guide Derby to the Championship play-off final in his first season as a manager last term and had been the favourite to take charge of Chelsea for weeks.
Derby assistant manager Morris has decided to join Lampard's coaching staff at Stamford Bridge, along with first-team coach Chris Jones.
After the news was announced, Morris posted this photo on his personal
/?hl=en">Instagram
Morris made over 150 appearances for Chelsea as a player and left his role as a youth coach at Stamford Bridge to assist Lampard at Pride Park, were the pair were able to guide Derby to within touching distance of promotion to the Premier League.
Derby finished sixth in the Championship last season, securing their place in the play-offs on the final day of the campaign, but would eventually miss out on promotion after losing to Aston Villa in the final at Wembley.
The Verdict
I'm sure it would have been a tough decision for Morris to leave Derby, but he was always likely to follow Lampard to Chelsea.
I'm sure Derby fans will appreciate this touching message from Morris and wish him all the best at Chelsea, where he will be hoping to achieve more success alongside Lampard.
Lampard did a brilliant job with Derby last season but I'm not convinced he's experienced enough to manage a club like Chelsea at this stage of his career and perhaps he should have stayed at Pride Park for a few more seasons.
With that said, these opportunities don't come around very often in football and I completely understand his reasons for taking the job, especially given his personal links with Chelsea.