James O’Brien: “The contention is as you know, in the newspapers
over the last couple of days is that you’re painted as a bit of a
rat. I'd just like to offer you the opportunity to defend
yourself first…”
Frank Lampard: ”I’m not sure about maybe being painted in the
papers as a bit or rat. The reason I’m calling in is my sister just
phoned me up and said she had been listening to the show and she
was slightly distressed particularly by your comments calling me
weak and scum. Is that right? I missed the show.
James O'Brien: "No I didn't call you scum. I suggested that
any man that could comfortably allow his children to live in
cirucmstances inferior to his own would deserve that description,
but of course what you have now is the opportunity to tell us why
you don't."
Frank Lampard. "First of all you’re incorrect to say that anyway,
my situation is where is I’ve split up as a lot of people do that
across the board, regardless what profession you are, whether
you're a footballer or whether you work in a bank or whatever.
Unfortunately I have split up with my girlfriend and my kids will
never ever live in inferior circumstances to me. I just caught the
end of your conversation with a gentlemen then and you said that,
about people that are working and about their kids and it should be
all about their kids. And that’s exactly how I live my live now,
everything do in my career in football terms, before I had kids it
was all for myself and since I’ve had kids, every penny I earn and
every ounce and every yard I run on the football pitch is for my
kids. Unfortunately I’ve split up with my girlfriend so they’re now
living in a temporary flat which is actually in Fulham Chelsea and
it’s not a bad flat at all I'll let you know and I’m actually
buying a house at the moment which is going to be of equal living
standard if not more to mine.”
James O’Brien: "I appreciate that it is a little uncomfortable
to have your personal life picked over, but that's the nature of
the world you live in.“But they’re not waking up in bedrooms that
they’ve known all their lives?”
Frank Lampard: “Unfortunately you’re wrong because you don’t
know the terms of my thing but when I split up with my girlfriend…
let me explain to you what happened she was actually out in a club
or a bar and someone came up and approached her and didn’t actually
say they was a journalist and actually got her talking after she’d
had a few drinks and caught her at the wrong time….Unfortunately
when you spilt up obviously you’re not going to carry on living in
the same place, that’s a fact of life. Unfortunately that means,
and it hurts me every day when I wake up and my kids are not there,
but when you split up, as anyone will tell you, you’re not going to
carry on living together. Luckily I have a relationship with my
ex-girlfriend where we have decided where we’re going to share
custody of them. So for three nights of the week, half the nights
of week, and I’m away probably two or three nights with my football
anyway, the kids wake up in my house. I look after my kids solely,
I have a nanny that comes but I spend all he time with my kids. I
wake up if my kids wake up at three in the morning, if they wake up
at six in the morning regardless of if I have a football match or
not. They wake up in the bedrooms I decorated for them and that’s
what they will always do.”
James O’Brien: “But not at the moment, but that’s the plan for
the immediate future?”
Frank Lampard: “No that’s what they’re doing at moment, I don’t
know what made you think that they’re not.”
James O’Brien: “I’m only going by what has been printed in the
newspapers.”
Frank Lampard: “Where did it say they’re not staying with me
anyway?
James O’Brien:(reads Elen’s quotes): “I’m in small flat waiting for
my own flat with our two daughters, he is in our house which he has
turned into a batchelor pad”.
Frank Lampard:“Where did it say they are not staying in our
house?”
James O’Brien: “If you describe something as a batchelor pad,
Frank, the general assumption is going to be is that it’s not a
family home.”
Frank Lampard: “That was her description when she was drunk,
yes, the problem is you read the papers now, if you’re going to be
a man that reads the papers and takes everything as gospel truth
and start calling people weak and scum that’s a sign of how you
are, that’s not a sign of the reality. Luckily enough the last
caller heard there shows there are some genuine people out
there.”
James O’Brien: “That is the nature of what I do, my phone lines are
wide open and people can call me an idiot people can call me what
ever they want and people like you can phone in and say why the
newspapers have got it wrong. You’ll accept that the 60 million
people in this country don’t have the privilege of phoning up Frank
Lampard for his side of the story, they’re going to read what they
see in the papers and draw up their own conclusions.”
Frank Lampard: “That doesn’t make it right that they can draw the
conclusion you are making, which is a completely negative one. You
are calling me weak and scum.”
James O’Brien: “I was asking questions to which you are providing
some answers. For me if you’ve got little girls and this is going
to sound awful, I have little girls of three and one, I can’t
conceive of any circumstances in which I wouldn’t fight tooth and
flipping nail to hold my family together.”
Frank Lampard: “Excuse me, what do you think I’ve been doing for
the last two years? Let me tell you something now, my mother died a
year ago today, which has been a huge impact on my life, my
family’s life and my sister’s life. And unfortunately that’s had a
huge impact on my relationship at home. And there is nothing, I
wish I could do a lot about that, but unfortunately I can’t do
nothing about that. So I find it insulting that you’re telling me
you would fight tooth and nail and insinuating that I wouldn’t
fight tooth and nail. That’s what I’ve spent time doing. You don’t
know anything about me and you’re insinuating I’m weak and scum
because I haven’t fought tooth and nail. The hardest part of this
whole break up for me is not waking up with my kids every day. So
before you start insinuating and calling people weak and scum on a
radio station, getting on a high horse which you are, cos I hope
one day that your wife or your girlfriend doesn’t come to you and
say I don’t want to be with you anymore and unfortunately that
means you wont see the kids for a few days a week. That will hurt
with you as well but you’d have to deal with it.”
James O’Brien: “It would break my heart Frank.”
Frank Lampard:“Yeah and it’s breaking my heart, do you think I’m
happy?”
James O’Brien: “Of course I don’t think you’re happy that’s why
I’m delighted you've taken this opportunity to have your say.”
Frank Lampard:“Then you should stop insinuating…”
James O’Brien: “I’m not insinuating anything Frank, I’m merely
describing a news story my friend and I appreciate you...”
Frank Lampard:“You’re saying any man that let’s his kids life in
inferior circumstances to him is weak and scum.”
James O’Brien: “Yes I am saying that and you’re telling me
you’re not that man, so in a way you agree with me.”
Frank Lampard: “Yeh but you’re insinuating about me…”
James O’Brien: “So I was describing a news story. Let’s not
get…”
Frank Lampard: “Listen, at the time you were saying that
statement you were talking about me. Correct or not? The last phone
conversation I heard was about me. My sister has been listening for
the last half an hour and the conversation was about me.”
James O’Brien: “I’m not going to apologise to you for reading out a
story from a newspaper and drawing generalistic questions. For what
it’s worth, you have explained yourself absolutely
brilliantly.”
Frank Lampard:"What I’d like you to do in future is think when
it becomes the personal issues, about people’s families, about
people’s kids, and you’re degrading them as human beings.I grade
myself as a human being as how I bring up my kids.
I have to wake up and then listen to idiots like you say ‘I read
this and this is what he is doing’. And it is wrong. But I have to
put up with it and I keep my mouth shut.
But, today, the only reason I ring you is because my sister is
distressed and as I said to you earlier it is the anniversary of my
mum's death. Do you think my sister needs to hear idiots like you
saying it on the radio station?"
James O’Brien: "Of course I don’t, I was completely unaware of
your family anniversary."
Frank Lampard: "Sometimes you should think about things before
you speak about them because you are speaking about personal people
now. Next time I'll speak to you man to man, forget the radio show,
I’ll speak to you man to man about that."
James O’Brien:"I’d welcome that opportunity Frank and I will
apologise to your family for drawing up difficult domestic
situations on a day which was clearly of enormous emotional impact
already. I’ll offer that apology unreservedly. But you'll
understand that I'm not likely to have an anniversary like that in
my desktop diary. All I'll say to you is this, and you've made your
case brilliantly. You've given me pause for thought, but you
can not expect verbatim first hand quotes from the mother of your
children, when a man that enjoys the level of publicity and profile
that you enjoy to go unremarked by the general public. Noe you can
call me an idiot if you want, you can call me whatever you please,
that's your perogative as a caller to this radio station. But to
comment upon stories in the news is actually a very important and
intrinsic part not only of what we do as journalists but of
democracy and the public as a whole. So if the facts are wrong you
have more power at your finger tips to put the record straight more
than just about anybody else in Britain. It's astonishing that
you've chosen to do it this way rather than hiring an army of
lawyers, or an army of PRs. But anything that has been said on this
radio station this morning in response to comments that were
genuinely given by your former partner. There is no speculation
there.”
Frank Lampard:“I agree with you there completely, the
unfortunate thing about this is that my ex-girlfriend she didn’t
grow up in this life at all… Unfortunately I have to live that in
the public eye. Now someone has approached my ex-girlfriend,
pretending to be friendly, caught her at a moment where she is a
little bit drunk and down or whatever and got a load stuff out of
her. At the same time you’re saying that people have a right to
discuss that, unfortunately it’s probably what many other women
have done in a bar or a coffee house or in a club or anywhere when
they have split up with someone. Unfortunately mine gets splashed
across the papers and then leaves it open for people like you to
make accusations and innuendos and things about people, which is
very unfortunate right? My ex-girlfriend is very distressed about
the whole situation 'cause she didn’t want that to come out. She
can have her private thoughts about me and speak to her close
friends. Someone has conned her basically. She has been conned. And
by being conned and then comes out as a pure quote like she has
sold her story. She gave her story away in a moment of weakness.
That really is the statement of the culture of England and Britain
that someone would try to con a personal statement out of you to
then be broadcast everywhere for everyone to debate.”
James O’Brien: "I hear you. That’s an accurate description of
how modern media works. Rightly or wrongly."
Frank Lampard: "And you’re part of it. If you choose to earn
your living like that, then that’s fair enough."
James O’Brien:"Of course I am I don't dispute that. Well I’m not
as good at football as you or I’d probably rather be doing what
you’re doing. Is there no chance at all, Frank, of this
relationship being rescued?"
Frank Lampard: "Listen I’ve spoken much too much about my
private life today already – I didn’t expect to have a phone call
with you this morning. So I’ll leave it there thank you."
James O’Brien: "So you won’t give us a quick rundown on your
thoughts for the champions league semi final then."
Frank Lampard: "No, I certainly won’t."
James O’Brien: "Frank Lampard thank you very much, for well what
can I say, for being a man."
From www.bbc.co.uk
