Frank Lampard has given a fascinating insight into his working relationship with Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia, and also delved into his 'respect' for Roman Abramovich, less than a year after being sacked by the club.
Lampard, 42, won countless trophies - including three Premier League titles and the Champions League - during his time as a player at Stamford Bridge, and was handed the job after just one season managing at Derby.
But his reign came crashing down just 18 months in, despite a promising first campaign which led to a top-four finish and an FA Cup final appearance, and Lampard has now opened up on his time spent under the Blues' hierarchy.
Asked by Gary Neville on the Overlap YouTube channel whether he felt cut off, Lampard said: 'I wasn't left completely, I would have conversations with Marina. She would be my port of call, regularly enough - it could be messages.
'I went out of my way to have that, I wanted to have that relationship with her. I thought it was important. I probably had the benefit of Petr (Cech) coming in.
'Me and Pete were close as players, as friends, he then got into the office opposite me. That was a nice in between ground for me.
'I certainly didn't feel like I was absolutely alone.'
Lampard also revealed that he rarely spoke to Abramovich, despite the owner's hands-on role at the very top of the club.
'I didn't really (speak), I didn't need to,' he added. 'It wasn't like that. I felt the support of the club. I'm thankful they gave me the job and I felt the support upwards.'
The legendary former midfielder departed his boyhood club when they were languishing in ninth in the Premier League, and off the back of a torrid run of just one victory in their previous five league fixtures.
Thomas Tuchel was quickly chosen as his successor, and he memorably steered Chelsea to Champions League glory against Manchester City in Porto.
Lifting the lid on how the decisions to hire and fire managers at the club is made, Lampard said: 'You don't always get it direct but yeah, the owner (makes the choice).
'You respect that. I've always respected him. I wouldn't be sitting in the comfortable position I'm in now without him in the first place. He makes that decision. To be fair, if you look back over the period, he's made some good decisions.'
Jokingly, Neville asked whether the phone calls from Granovskaia gradually stopped, to which Lampard replied: 'I think it does naturally, and I get that.'
As part of the same sit down, Lampard also laid bare all the details for how the final moments of his job as Chelsea boss played out. The next day after an FA Cup victory over Luton, he received a message from Bruce Buck, the club's chairman.
'Well, we’d beaten Luton in the FA Cup fourth round or whatever it was,' Lampard recalled.
'Then the next morning I got a message from Bruce Buck, the chairman, saying "can you move training and come and meet us in the boardroom?"
'That first message as well, you kind of wake up and think "let’s have a flick through Instagram."
'I’m joking but once the club makes that decision to be fair there’s no nice way to do it.'
Delving into the text from Buck, Lampard revealed it said: "'Can you come and meet us in the boardroom at Stamford Bridge?" I knew straight away.
'As I say there is no nice way to do that and there may be different ways of etiquette to do it but at the end of the day the result is the same.
'When I met Bruce and Marina and it was very cordial. I knew what was coming then as well. Not at the time but you're thankful for the period.
'It is what it is. They are going to move on and there's nothing you can do there.
'I've never been in that position before so it was a bit surreal at the time but when you take the job you understand that that call could come.
'At Chelsea it probably will come unless you go and win back to back titles and that was never going to happen.'
The Overlap is a YouTube channel from Gary Neville in partnership with Sky Bet.