As the New Year was seen in, there were a fair few cheers from the blue half of Manchester and as the Daily Mail reports, they were entirely down to Frank Lampard who has extended his stay with the Premier League champions until the end of the season.

This of course means that his arrival to the MLS has been delayed and now the midfielder – who was a marquee signing in the summer – will miss a portion of the season for Manchester City’s sister club (or as we prefer to call them, feeder and Financial Fair Play avoider club) and that has not gone down too well.

Not only did the move dismay Chelsea fans but the New York City FC fans were outraged with an independent supporters group releasing a statement that claimed: “Many fans, including our members, decided to support the team, committed to season tickets, and bought merchandise under the impression that Frank Lampard would be playing for New York City Football Club, not Manchester City.

“Many of those fans are rightly outraged by this decision, and we support any course of action they take to voice their discontent over this decision.”

Manchester City will of course be without Yaya Toure as he heads off to the African Cup of Nations shortly and as one of our punters notes, it is hardly surprising that Manuel Pellegrini opted to keep a player who even at 36, has shown that when used correctly, can contribute a huge amount to a Premier League title chase.