Football League World
·28 novembre 2024
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·28 novembre 2024
The Sky Blues have confirmed the appointment of the former Chelsea midfielder as their manager.
Senior figures at Coventry City questioned owner Doug King on whether he should pursue new manager Frank Lampard, according to Mail Sport.
Weeks after the decision was made to part with longstanding manager Mark Robins, Coventry have confirmed that his replacement will be the former Chelsea midfielder.
Reports on Wednesday suggested that a deal was very close to being done and announced. That confirmation then came this morning (Thursday, 28th November).
He has signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the Championship club and will take charge of his first game as the City head coach when they face Cardiff City at the CBS Arena on Saturday.
Lampard has arguably unfairly been tarred with the brilliant player, not so good manager/coach brush. In actuality, he took Derby County to the play-offs, had a decent spell in his first stint with Chelsea and was praised by those behind closed doors for the way he led operations at Everton.
However, his resume didn't convince everybody that he was certainly the right man, compared to other candidates. Mail Sport has reported that senior Coventry figures encouraged the club's owner, who was front and centre of the search for Robins' replacement, to look at other options than Lampard.
King wittled the candidates down to a three-man list after a couple of rounds of interviews, as per the national outlet, and Lampard is the one that he has decided to go with. He has led the charge with the former Derby boss, even keeping high-ranking members of the club "out of the loop" during the latter stages of talks with the new boss, according to Mail Sport.
The new head coach is expected to be the highest-paid person in his position in the Championship.
King said, in the announcement about Coventry's new head coach: "I am delighted that Frank Lampard has agreed to join our club as Head Coach. Frank cut his teeth in the Championship and knows what is needed in this League to be successful.
"His experiences thereafter at Chelsea and Everton will ensure he brings to our talented squad clear understanding of exactly what is needed to succeed at the very top level that we as a Club are striving to reach."
One of the big attractions of Lampard is his contact book. His connections at Chelsea and Manchester City open further recruiting avenues for Sky Blues - avenues which they may have to go down in January if they want to push themselves closer to the top six.
The league table isn't representative of the talent in City's team. They have a very strong side, and Lampard, in his tenure with Derby, proved that he can be successful in this league when he has good players to work with.
However, he is filling some very big boots by stepping into this role. Robins was loved by the Coventry faithful. Their reaction to his sacking was much stronger than the reaction to Lampard's appointment has been.
You never want to be the guy that follows the guy, as the saying goes. Though rules are meant to be broken, to quote another term, and that will be the aim of Lampard as he takes the next step in his coaching career.
It's hard to see this whole thing leading to a mundane departure or middling season. He'll either set the world alight or Coventry fans will burn him at the stake for even daring to try and be Robins' successor.