'Can Take Us To PL & Move On!' Dean Atkinson OPEN To Lampard Using Coventry As 'Stepping Stone'

We are though going to talk Coventry now. Frank Lampard in advance talks to become the next Coventry City boss. That is according to us here at TalkSport. Of course the Sky Blues sat their long-serving boss Mark Robbins last week after a slow start to the season left the club 17th in the championship table. But TalkSport understands Chelsea legend Lampard the frontrunner to take the reins at the CBS Arena and will hold four further talks this week. Ruben Nistroi who left Manchester United last week has also applied for the job. Let's speak to Dean Atkinson, part of the TalkSport fan network, the podcast Sky Blues Extra host. How are you Dean? How's it going chaps? Good. Good evening. Thanks for having me. Good evening to you. For the last, what, week, 10 days, what's it been like being a Coventry City supporter? Well, it's never easy. It hasn't been easy for the last 10 years I would say, but yeah, it's been a bit chaotic. Obviously it was quite a surprise with Robbins leaving the club to most fans. I'm maybe a little bit different in that regard. I kind of thought the writing was on the wall at some point with the way things were sort of shaping up and some things that were happening. So yeah, I was kind of expecting it, maybe not the time that it happened, but yeah. And then since then it's obviously been well publicized as a, there's a big, big job offer available at the Sky Blues and yeah, we've had no shortage of big names apply. So yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's a little bit different feeling because obviously Robbins been with us since 2017. So we haven't felt like this for a while looking for a new manager, but yeah, it's a, it's exciting times in a way. What needs to change when a new manager comes in? Is it personnel? Is it style of play? What would you like to see a new manager bring in? Because obviously Mark Robbins has been pretty successful up until this season. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's probably difficult to put a finger on what's gone wrong really. Um, over the graphs, but maybe since the FA Cup semi-final hasn't really gone to plan since, since, since then. And Robbins has tinkered a lot since, since that time, it kind of hasn't worked out. I think for me personally, I think we need to have sort of a set style of play. You know, Robbins has tinkered and swapped and changed a lot this season. I think out of 17 matches we've played, we've had 15 different starting 11s. It's, it's not really the way to, to move forward. You need to have kind of a set of team. I understand we've got injuries, et cetera. Most teams have in this league, but we need to have some kind of settled, settled way of playing. And it hasn't, hasn't been that way this year. So hopefully when the new guy comes in, he'll find a formula that works quickly. Cause you're going to have to find it quickly. Um, you know, the fans are angry basically with, with what's happened and there'll be a lot of pressure on the new man coming in now. Your reaction to the news that Frank Lampard, the former Chelsea and Everton boss could possibly be your new manager. Surprised? I'm not surprised because I think there's a real lack of big managers out there that are going to take the job. Really. He's probably the biggest of, of who's available with experience in this, at this level. Um, to, to take the role, obviously rude is, is put his, uh, is, uh, his name in the frame as well. I understand from my, from people I've spoken to, he met the ownership at some point last week. Um, it hasn't really been pushed on from there. So Lampard obviously is now the front runner. Um, I'm excited. Obviously it's a, it's a, it's a big name as such, you know, Lampard is well-renowned in English football. Um, his managerial career hasn't no set the world alight. I think he's, he's done okay. Uh, so I'd be interested to see how he gets on. If he does take on this position. Surprised Danny, to see Frank Lampard possibly going to the championship? No, not really. I mean, uh, a lot of people look at his career, I think indifferently at times, you know, Chelsea job, obviously I think he did all right at Derby, you know, with what he had, you know, made some brave decisions, especially in that playoff, uh, semi-final against Leeds, you know, making changes before halftime and that worked, beat Leeds. And then obviously went on, got the Chelsea job, which was because of the transfer embargo and because of the situation as much as anything else. But he brought those young players on, he, you know, for the first season was magnificent. You look at the young players he brought through in the way that they played and the success that they had. Okay. Tailed off a little bit in the second season at Everton was always going to be a difficult job, was never going to be easy. You know, Sean Dyche, one of the most experienced managers in English football, still finding it hard at Everton because, you know, it's all managers can only do so much, you know, it does become very, very difficult. Um, you know, if you don't have the finances to go out and get better players and recruitment is always a huge part of that. But I think clearly he's got a reputation, uh, clearly he's got a point to prove as well. And he wants to do it. He's not doing it for the money. He doesn't need that. He's doing it because he loves the game and wants to do well. So good luck to him. I think Danny's right. All four roles he's taken on have been very difficult and all very different as well. I mean, I think he gets a bad flack for the, for that derby season, not getting them up. That was one of the also at Everton as well, you know, and have they kicked on sins? No, not really. You know, we would be the answer to that. So it's, I think you're right. I think he deserves another opportunity to show what he can do at that level. It's all about the right fit for these managers as well. I think actually with his experience and what he's done with young players, we've got a really, really good set of players at Cove and they've underperformed so far this year. If he can come in and get them playing, there's no doubt about it. We can rise up this division. We know what the championships like four or five games on the spin and you're back in the mix. We did it the year we went to the playoff final a couple of seasons ago. It was exactly the same. Then we were sort of languishing in this position and we found something that worked. So if Lampard can come in and do that, I see no reason why in this season of all seasons, but the championship being the way it is, I don't think it's as strong as it has been over the past four or five years. He can, he can make an impression. The only thing that I'd say, I think on Frank Lampard going to Coventry is there was a real commitment to the club from Mark Robbins. You'd love to see that replicated by Frank Lampard. Hopefully he doesn't see a Coventry City as a stepping stone to getting himself back into the Premier League or to a bigger club because he needs to rebuild his career still. It does matter. Why? Because if it's a stepping stone. It matters to Coventry City. Their managers shouldn't see them as a stepping stone. But it's only a stepping stone if he does well and that benefits Coventry. He's only going to go on to get a better job if he does well and if he does well, Coventry fans go, okay, he's done well. He's left us in a better place than when he came. That's going to be two or three years down the line, which is quite long for a manager, you know, in this day and age. So we all have aspirations to improve ourselves, you know, to be better. If he gets an opportunity at Coventry, even if he does want to go on to do bigger, who doesn't? What manager doesn't want to go on to bigger and better things? You made a good point in that you said two to three years. You know, I'm talking about a manager who comes in and says after a season, nine to 12 months, suddenly a job comes up and I'm off. That's what I mean. But he's only he's only going to get that opportunity if he does, if he does unbelievably well. So let's say he goes in now and gets Coventry promoted. Then, well, yeah, if that's a stepping stone, it's not a problem for Coventry fans. We're going to love it. Yeah. But that's what I mean. It was the biggest, biggest problem with that. I think with Ruud being interested and all the talk about him wanting to take a Premier League club at the first opportunity, I think that's where the worry is. I think with Lampard, it's a little bit different. He's basically trying to rebuild a little bit of reputation. He's been out the game, managerial game for 18 months now. So he has to sort of find a basis with a team and move forward with that team. And if that takes us to the Premier League, you know, in two years time and he moves on, then fair enough. It's fine. Like we, it doesn't matter to us. We just want to get to the Premier League and, you know, whatever it takes really to get there.