'Let's be brave about being in the Premier League' – Lampard
Published5 hours ago
The Football Interview will be available on BBC One at 12:45 every Saturday during the Premier League season, as well as on BBC iPlayer, BBC Football YouTube and the BBC Sport website and app.
In the second episode of the new season, available on Saturday, 29 August, musician Tom Grennan sits down with Coventry City manager Frank Lampard.
As a player, Frank Lampard worked under some of the biggest managers in the game, including Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Guus Hiddink and Rafael Benitez – not to mention his uncle Harry Redknapp.
Eight years into his own managerial career, the Coventry City boss cited Mourinho and Ancelotti as the main influences on his style.
"Jose and Carlo are like both sides of the coin," the 48-year-old told BBC Sport.
"Jose was very on you, he transmitted his self-confidence, but if you stepped out of line or did something wrong, you'd feel the strength of him, whereas Carlo was chilled and calm. When you look back, you go, 'that's a nice environment to work in'. It felt like he trusted you. So I try and take little snippets. I'm probably somewhere in the middle."
Lampard played under Mourinho and Ancelotti at Chelsea and won the Premier League and FA Cup with them both.
He said it is important to strike a balance between the pair as he targets more success with Coventry.
"I start to sometimes go towards being Jose, sometimes I go and be a bit more Carlo," he added.
"I've learnt that young managers, you come in and feel like you have to to criticise a bad performance or say something about an individual that turns up late. The more I've done this job, I realise that they're all humans.
"Sometimes a lad comes in late, you don't know the back story. And so trying to jump on him and being this hard man manager, you've got to be more Carlo. But then if you're a bit more relaxed sometimes and people are on the pitch, not doing their job, sometimes you've got a bit more Jose."
What Lampard learned from Jose and Carlo
'You've got to be careful trying to prove every doubter wrong'
Lampard said he is not driven by trying to convince the sceptics after leading Coventry back to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years.
"The thing about modern-day football – you're brilliant one minute, you might not be brilliant the next and then everyone will let you know that," he told musician and Sky Blues fan Tom Grennan.
"You've got to be careful trying to prove every doubter wrong, because it's not possible."
Lampard guided Coventry to win the Championship with 95 points last season after taking over at the club in November 2024.
Prior to that, his managerial experience could be described as a mixed bag. After taking over at Derby in 2018, the former Chelsea midfielder led them to the Championship play-off final, where they lost to Aston Villa.
Following that, he had abortive spells in the Premier League with Chelsea and Everton, lasting 18 months at Stamford Bridge before being sacked in January 2021, and lasting less than a year at Goodison Park before being sacked in January 2023.
"My personal ambition to prove any doubters wrong is sort of always there, but I try not to let that be my driver," Lampard explained.
"I've been in the Premier League as a player, I've been as a manager, I understand the challenge of it. I can't get ahead of myself and I can't worry too much about the outside world because otherwise you succumb to it, you'd be making different decisions."
Coventry finished 11 points clear of second-placed Ipswich last season
As a player, Lampard won three Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2012. He also won four FA Cups, two League Cups and the Europa League.
He described last season's promotion with Coventry as being on par with some of those achievements.
"When you get promoted, it's hard to balance against winning the Champions League with Chelsea," Lampard said.
"Winning in Munich was the best footballing night of my life as a player by far. But then when you do something with a club that's been through what it's been through, when you work with a group of lads that are so great as a dressing room – I've never experienced, especially as a coach, to have such a good group.
"When we got promoted against Blackburn, I had a rush of pure emotion, it all came on top of me. It certainly goes right up there in things I've managed to achieve."
Lampard said that his side will have to adapt to the different challenge this season after entering the top flight, especially defensively.
"We want to keep hold of the good things from last year," he added.
"We'd be fools to think that we'd just go and play like we did in the 'Champ' every week when we dominated a lot of games."
In terms of ambitions for the season, he wants his players to be brave.
"Everyone's going to ask me, 'staying in the league, is that your target?'," Lampard said.
"Of course it would be success, because it's such a big challenge for us, but in the beginning, we'll go into it and go, 'let's stick our chests out and let's be brave about it'.
"These boys have earned where they've got to, so go in with that attitude. There's a lot to lose, but go and show yourselves."
Coventry lost 3-0 to champions Arsenal in the opening match of the season. They will host fellow promoted side Hull City on Saturday, in their first home game of the campaign.
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