Coventry City boss Frank Lampard urged to show "sense" and avoid West Ham job - it's a "poisoned chalice" | OneFootball

FLW's Sky Blues Fan Pundit reveals his thoughts on Lampard leaving for the London Stadium

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Coventry City's Frank Lampard is apparently the subject of interest for West Ham United if they decide to part ways with their manager Graham Potter.

Reported by Football Insider, they state Lampard has emerged as one of the main contenders for the Hammers job - it's a club he used to play for back in his on-field career before securing his move to Chelsea in 2001.

The speculation comes at a time when Potter finds himself under a lot of pressure at the London Stadium, despite thrashing Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the City Ground last weekend.

West Ham made their worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign after conceding eight goals in their opening two matches, and Potter's win percentage now stands at just 26 per cent with the east London outfit.

Coventry City "concern" issued over West Ham's reported interest in Frank Lampard

FLW's Sky Blues Fan Pundit, Chris Deez, isn't feeling so good about West Ham's reported interest in Lampard, given his history with the club.

"I am of course, a little bit concerned, with Frank having that emotional connection and history with West Ham, with it being his first professional club and he came up through the ranks there," Deez told FLW.

"I’d like to think that he’s sort of aware of the situation of West Ham and how poorly they’re being run, how much the fans despise their ownership.

"I would hope he’s smart enough to know that going there, even as a club legend or whatever he might be, doesn’t guarantee him time."

Since taking over from Mark Robins last November, Lampard has certainly turned the fortunes of the Sky Blues around.

After reaching the Championship play-off semi-finals last season, City find themselves in the top six at the early stage of four games into the 2025-26 campaign, with serious promotion aspirations being thought about at the CBS Arena.

Frank Lampard can't guarantee West Ham "instant success" if he moved from Coventry City

Deez pointed to David Moyes' dismissal despite winning the Conference League as evidence of the club's impatience.

"It doesn’t guarantee the faith of the board. West Ham are a big club, amazing facilities, some all-time greats have played for them but they seem to be one of those clubs now that want instant success and they sacked David Moyes who had brought them European glory," Chris added.

"Yeah, it’s a bit of a poisoned chalice, I feel the West Ham managers job, so I'd like to think Frank has got a bit more sense about him and he won’t just go for the money."

Derby County fans know the feeling of Lampard leaving all too well, after a "compensation package" was agreed for the former England international to be the new head coach of Chelsea in 2019, mere months after he'd lost the play-off final at Wembley as the Rams boss.

However, Deez believes Lampard genuinely cares about the project at Coventry, telling FLW, "We’ve got a project going on here - I hate that cliche - hear it thrown around all the time in football, but there’s a very clear project going on at Coventry and I think he cares about it.

"When any manager speaks about their club they speak with passion and they appeal to the fans, but I get a genuine feeling he loves being here, and he loves the squad of players that he’s got to work with."

Overall, after 39 matches in charge of the Sky Blues, Lampard has won 20 of them, meaning his current win percentage is 51 per cent.

Looking ahead, Deez identified January's transfer window as a big moment that could determine Lampard's long-term commitment to the club.

"A big test for Frank will be in January, to see how our transfer window goes," Chris said.

"The summer window didn’t go to plan, it wasn’t great - we let more players leave than what we brought in, if we need reinforcements in January and he doesn’t really get them, then I wouldn’t blame him for leaving, either in January or at the end of the season depending on what we do.

"If we get promoted, why would he leave? If we stay in the Championship, I wouldn’t begrudge him leaving at all, as he’d have been here for over a year and that’s a long time in management. Not a lot of managers last that long anymore."

As the speculation will probably continue for some time, Coventry fans will surely be watching nervously to see whether their manager's head can be turned by a club he represented as a player - just like what happened at Derby.