Frank Lampard has taken Coventry City on a “brilliant” run into the Championship play-off places – but still has a huge point to prove even if he does win promotion this season, it has been claimed.
The Chelsea legend arrived in late November to replace the sacked Mark Robins with the Sky Blues looking more like relegation candidates than promotion hopefuls.
However, just three months on and the team have taken an impressive 36 points from a possible 54 from 11 wins, three draws and just four defeats.
It is a remarkable turnaround, and has done much to ease the shock of Robins’ sudden dismissal after seven-and-a-half years and significant success at the club.
And ahead of Robins’ return to the CBS Arena this weekend with new club Stoke City, Lampard and the Sky Blues have been up for discussion by pundit Simon Jordan on TalkSport.
The former Crystal Palace owner told listeners: “There have been no questions about Frank Lampard managing at Championship level.
“He went into the Championship and managed Derby and did a decent job. He was able to access a lot of Chelsea’s younger players and got them to the play-offs.
“So there’s no doubt in my mind that Frank Lampard can manage at Championship level. He’s proven he can. The question about Frank was can he manage at elite level? So if Coventry go up, we’ll see if he can do it.
“We’ve seen him go into Chelsea, and he was okay for the first season. Then it became a challenge.
“I don’t think he was great at Everton, and however you cut and slice and dice it, I think they’d have got relegated if Frank had stayed that season. We’ll never know because it was Sean Dyche who kept them up and the rest is history.
“He went back to Chelsea, which I think was a bad move for him and he should never have done that. I think he should have protected his reputation a little bit by not going back in at that time, but there’s an allegiance there and I understand why he did.
“So I am not surprised that Frank Lampard has got into Coventry, but it is nonsense for the owner to suggest he wouldn’t have given him targets.”
Sky Blues owner Doug King had given an earlier interview to TalkSport in which he denied Lampard had been handed targets to achieve with Coventry, saying: “They’re just words, aren’t they? I didn’t really put any expectations out there.”
But Jordan responded by adding: “He might not have made them publicly, but I’m pretty damn sure… in a situation like that, you incentivise accordingly.”
Discussing Coventry’s run, Jordan said: “I’m not surprised. I mean, they’ve gone on a brilliant run – out of the last 10 games they’ve taken 24 points. They’ve now put themselves in the box seat of being in the play-offs. And I suspect they probably will (be there at the end of the season).
“But what it tells you is that the manager previously (Robins) had a good enough squad (to succeed) and wasn’t doing enough with it. And the guy coming in has been quite fortunate because they haven’t had to do much because very rarely do you get water turned into wine.
“So in this instance the players must have been good enough… and Frank Lampard has delivered and continues to deliver.
“Is there a doubt in my mind that Frank Lampard would do it at this level? No, because he’s done it before. Now the question is whether he can do it in the Premier League?”
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