'I started coaching Chelsea without a contract - they refused to pay me for my first week'

This former Chelsea star began working at the club as a first-team coach in 2019, but claims they never paid him for his first week in the role

Jody Morris claims Chelsea didn't pay him for his first eight days working as a first-team coach. The 47-year-old returned to the club in 2019 under manager Frank Lampard.

Morris spent seven years as a player at Stamford Bridge and also worked in their academy before becoming Lampard's assistant at Derby County in 2018. A year later, following a play-off final appearance with the Rams, the pair returned to west London to take the reins.

After guiding Chelsea to Champions League qualification and a fourth-place Premier League finish the previous campaign, Morris was dismissed in January 2021 alongside boss Lampard.

Thomas Tuchel subsequently took over. However, Morris claims that when he began working for the first team, he did so without a contract and wasn't paid for his first eight days of service.

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"There were a few things I wasn't too happy with," said Morris, speaking on In The Mixer brought to you by Sky Bet. "I worked for the first eight days without a contract.

"They didn't sort my deal out. Then, when I did sign, they wouldn't even backdate it. I'd missed eight days of pay. I'm like, 'Surely you're going to backdate. No one is working for free. I've been in Ireland on pre-season for eight days.' And they were like, 'No, no.'"

Football London has contacted Chelsea for comment.

Morris also claims he initially advised Lampard not to take the manager's role and remain at Derby. He continued: "There was a period before we went to Chelsea where they were not being as good and as welcoming as I think they should have been.

"So I said, 'Well let's not go then, let's stay at Derby.' There were maybe two or three days where I was like, 'No. If they don't want to treat us like any other manager...'

"They were going, 'We know Frank and Jody would definitely want to come back.' Then they underplayed the deal. But he [Frank] was like, 'No, no we have got to go.' Even then, it was a little bit like they thought they were doing us a favour.

"Listen, the whole time we were at Chelsea, when we went back, considering who Lamps is, he never had one conversation with Roman Abramovich.

"Marina [Granovskaia] was running the club. But you're talking about Frank Lampard. The manager of Chelsea. And he never had one conversation with Roman during that time as manager."

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