Frank Lampard appointed Coventry head coach

The 46-year-old will take charge of the Sky Blues for the first time this Saturday when his new side face Cardiff at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Lampard will be joined by coaches Joe Edwards and Chris Jones.

The former Everton and Chelsea boss told Coventry’s in-house media: “I’m absolutely delighted to be here, a club that I’ve got huge respect for in terms of its history and tradition.

“I grew up in eras where Coventry have been very successful. To be given the role of head coach is a huge deal for me, to come in and try and help with the good work and foundations I think have already been laid at the club.

“It’s an ambitious club that wants to move forward and I want to help as much as I can.

“I want to bring an exciting attacking team for (fans) to see, a possession-based team that also wants to attack quickly at times.

“But of course we want to be an aggressive team as well that wants to win the ball high up the pitch.

“There’s some things that we will want to move forward with and (some) that will maybe change, and understanding that in that process we will have to get a lot of work in to get the results we want.

“But I’m certainly very ready to put that work in and pass the message into the players, and hopefully that will show through on the pitch.”

Lampard has been out of work since ending his second spell at Stamford Bridge in May 2023.

Mark Robins was surprisingly sacked earlier this month, after a seven-year spell where he led the Sky Blues from League Two to a Championship play-off final and FA Cup semi-final.

Coventry owner and executive chairman Doug King said: “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.”

Lampard retired as a player in 2017 and in May 2018 took on his first managerial role at Derby, who he led to the Championship play-off final in his first season.

Derby lost to Aston Villa at Wembley before Lampard returned to Stamford Bridge, where he had spent 13 years as a player, signing a three-year deal to replace Maurizio Sarri as manager.

Lampard guided Chelsea to fourth in the Premier League and the FA Cup final, which they lost 2-1 to Arsenal, but after a poor run the following season saw them drop to ninth in the table, he was sacked in January 2021.

After a year out of the game, Lampard was announced as Everton’s new manager in 2022 but was sacked after less than a year in charge.

Everton had escaped relegation on the penultimate day the previous season but, after nine defeats in their first 12 Premier League games in the following campaign, Lampard was replaced by Sean Dyche.

Chelsea reappointed Lampard as their caretaker manager until the end of the season in April 2023 after they had sacked Graham Potter, but the former England midfielder won only one of his 11 games in charge.

Lampard, who had a 21-year playing career, is Chelsea’s record scorer with 211 goals in 648 appearances in total and his 106 England caps place him joint-seventh alongside Sir Bobby Charlton on the all-time list.