frank lampard started his footballing career at west ham united. lampard joined west ham, where his father was the assistant coach, as an apprentice in july 1994 as part of their youth system, and signed his professional forms a year later. he was loaned to division two team swansea city in october 1995, and debuted in a 2-0 win over bradford city. lampard made nine league appearances for swansea before returning to west ham in january 1996, with whom he played his first match at the end of the month against coventry city f.c., and spent the remainder of the season as a reserve.