Fantastic atmosphere in the Yankee Stadium. Come on @NYCFC #NYCFC!!! pic.twitter.com/bSHlhRaRwU
â Christine Bleakley (@clbleakley) March 28, 2015
Frank Lampard used the international break to fly to New York and watch NYCFC, the team he pretended to sign for last summer before going on a fake loan with Man City that was later extended until the end of the Premier League season. The 36-year-old midfielder, who has been playing less after an impressive start to the season in Manchester, took in NYCFC’s match against Sporting Kansas City at Yankee Stadium with his partner, Christine Bleakley.
It was an interesting move for Lampard to show his face in New York while wearing street clothes instead of an NYCFC kit after what many fans considered to be a broken promise to be with the from the start of the MLS season rather than join up with them in July, as he currently plans to do.
The #nycfc fans who made these #whereslampard jerseys will wear them at every game until Frank Lampard arrives #MLS pic.twitter.com/CyJgeeHM6x
â Bob Williams (@WilliamsBob75) March 16, 2015
But this seems to be part of a concerted effort to get back in New Yorkers’ good graces as Man City’s trophy hopes rapidly crumble. Earlier in week, he did a bit of brown-nosing and tried to sell some tickets for his first American head-to-head against Steven Gerrard, the date of which he presumably learned minutes earlier.
From the Telegraph:
[I]n an interview with the Press Association, Lampard said: “I am very excited. I am very fortunate about this part of my career, coming to City. It was something I never saw coming.
“At 36 I got asked to come to the champions and a club with this pedigree. I am delighted that happened as it has done, and I am delighted about the future and the opportunity to go and play in New York – to try and make the best of it individually, to help there and also be part of a new football club in one of the best cities in the world. I am fortunate.”
[…]
Lampard added that he already has a date in his diary when he will face long-time international team-mate and club rival Steven Gerrard, who is joining LA Galaxy this summer.
“Aug 23!” Lampard said, without hesitation, when asked if he knew when the two clubs were due to meet. “It’s at their place.”
NYCFC lost 1-0 to Sporting KC, their first in MLS. Clearly Lampard’s presence was a curse.