Like many of the England soccer stars such as Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard used to be a player for the West Ham United Academy team. He has been promoted to the senior team and began his professional career after a short spell in the reserves. Since then, he has been involved in the starting XI regularly. But as his uncle / head coach of West Ham United got sacked in 1999, Frank Lampard decided to move on and join Chelsea FC.