EFL Pundit Sam Parkin Reacts To Big Frank Lampard’s Coventry City Appointment

EFL pundit Sam Parkin believes that Frank Lampard would be a good appointment in time at Coventry City.

According to the Mirror, the former Everton and Chelsea manager is closing in on the vacant position at the CBS Arena.

Lampard will be replacing Mark Robins, should he take on the role, who held the position for seven years, and became a real fan favourite during that time.

Robins oversaw promotions in League Two and League One, as well as guiding the club to a Championship play-off final in 2023, as well as the FA Cup semi-final in 2024.

However, a disappointing start to this campaign played a role in his dismissal, leading to speculation over a potential move for Lampard.

Parkin delivers Lampard to Coventry verdict

Parkin has claimed that anyone stepping into the CBS Arena at the minute will struggle to get the fans on board due to the situation surrounding Robins’ departure.

However, he feels that the 46-year-old could be a good fit for the role long-term, and that he could win over the supporters in time.

“Well he’s been linked with Roma as well in the last couple of weeks, which I’ve heard is possibly down to the last few for that job,” said Parkin, via Benjamin Bloom’s YouTube channel.

“If you take the Mark Robins situation out of the way, or put it aside for a moment, let’s say there was another manager that went in and did six months now before Lampard, I think it’s a really good landing spot for Lampard.

“Right now he’d probably struggle to get back into the Premier League maybe, so in terms of a club with a great potential, great history.

“He may need some encouragement, some time to get his head around it, to drop into the lower half of the Championship, as it is at the moment, to rebuild once more.

“I know there’s loads of anger, rightly so, at the moment, but I think once the dust settles, the fans will probably embrace it, when you consider what he did for Derby, making them competitive in that season he was there, although he had brilliant loanees.

“But I wouldn’t say that there’s a vast difference in the quality that maybe was at Derby that season and what he’d be inheriting at Coventry.

“I think it would probably be met with approval, is my gut feeling.

“I’m quite au fait with some of his backroom staff that would potentially go as well, obviously with that Chelsea link, good people, hard-working and some of his backroom staff have picked up good roles while they’ve been away from first gigs.

“I would think in time it would probably be a decent appointment, but I think you could appoint Jurgen Klopp today and it would be met with a few disenchanted supporters because of the last week.”

Frank Lampard’s managerial career

Lampard began his managerial career with Derby County, taking over the Rams for the 2018/19 campaign, leading them to the play-off final.

However, he made the switch to Chelsea after just 12 months in charge, where he lasted for a season-and-a-half before being dismissed after a run of poor form.

He returned to Chelsea on an interim basis in 2023 after a 12-month stint at Everton from January 2022 to January 2023.

Lampard has been out of work since May 2023, spending the entirety of last season without a club.

Lampard appointment would be a big risk

Lampard’s track record in the Championship is good on paper, bringing Derby to within one game of the Premier League.

However, his coaching career has been underwhelming in many ways, with the role at Chelsea being offered to him due to very specific circumstances rather than because he was an excellent coach.

His tactical acumen isn’t up to scratch for the highest level of the game, but there’s every chance he’s worked on these things with the time off he’s had from the game.

It would be a risk to bring him in, but his record in the Championship is solid, and perhaps by accepting the step down to the second tier he’s made the necessary admission that he needs to work to improve himself as a coach at a lower level in order to get back to the top.