COVENTRY CITY APPOINT FRANK LAMPARD AS NEW HEAD COACH 🩵

Welcome Frank. Can we start please by getting your reaction to becoming the new head coach of Coventry City Football Club? Well, 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 had been very successful, but currently to be given the role as head coach here is a huge deal for me. To come in and try and help with the good work and foundations that I think have already been laid at the club, specifically in recent years with the work that Mark did himself and with the work that Doug King is now doing at the top of the club. It's an ambitious club that wants to move forward and I want to help as much as I can. Can you shed some light on some of the conversations you've had with the club over recent days and with the owner? Yeah, they've been good conversations. There's been a lot of speculation that's gone over a couple of weeks, but I think it's important to say from being in it that it was a very clear process of the club trying to find the right way forward. So I've had conversations with the owner, conversations with the important people at the club that are making the bigger decisions. And as I say, thankfully in the end we get to a place where hopefully we have got everything in place to move forward and we're here. So very open conversations. I've got my idea of how I want my teams to play, how I work, how I coach. I've experienced that over the last four or five years and I want to bring that here. The fans will be keen to see what style you do bring to Coventry in time. What can they expect to see? Well, in time I want to bring an exciting attacking team for them to see. A possession-based team that also wants to attack and attack quickly at times to excite the fans. I think that's certainly what I want to work towards. But of course we want to be an aggressive team as well that wants to win the ball high up the pitch. So there'll be some things that we want to move forward with and maybe change and understand in that process of a bit of change. We 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 on to the players and hopefully that will show through on the pitch. You bring with you Joe Edwards and Chris Jones, who obviously you've worked with before. But can you tell us a little bit about their roles and how you will work with them going forward? Well, I've worked with Joe and Chris. Joe is assistant head coach and Chris is a first team coach. Also, he's got a big history in performance so he covers a lot of bases for me. And Joe has obviously worked as an assistant head coach in the Premier League. I don't think I need to sing their successes and praises but it's a long record of good work and success. So we work well as a team. We're very inclusive and close to the players and the staff that are already here and already doing a good job. So we'll very quickly announce ourselves and we have in the last couple of hours in trying to make people get things moving because we've got the priority of the game coming on Saturday. We'll work absolutely hard, all of us, and bring all our skills hopefully together to try and bring success here. You'll take your first training session this afternoon. How excited are you to be back out there on the grass and get that whistle back in your hand again? I'm really excited. I like to coach as opposed to manage. I like to be on the pitch and all the things that come with it. I like to be close to the players to try and improve individuals and I think the profile of the squad and one of the reasons why I'm here is when I view the squad I can see that it's been a well put together squad, a nice balance to it. A lot of players at a younger age in their career that we hope will work towards uplift for them individually and collectively. And all those things start out on the training pitch for me. So we'll be very close with the players trying to help them all individually improve and then obviously collectively be successful for the club. I'm sure you're aware you made your Premier League debut against Coventry City 28 years ago. You've also played at the CBS back in 2008 in an FA Cup game. How much are you looking forward to experiencing the passion of the supporters yourself on Saturday? I'm very excited. So I think it's a good time to say I'm thankful to the owner of the club for the opportunities he's given me here. I'm very thankful. I look forward to meeting the fans. I'm thankful for hopefully their support and I know I need to work towards that as well by producing a team that they want to see. They can be 100% clear that I'll give absolutely everything to bring that. I very much look forward. It's a strange case of a moment of my debut many years ago walking on with Gordon Strachan at the time playing for West Ham against Coventry. Sometimes funny things in life come back round. So at this point that's a moment and hopefully I can create many more moments at this club.