🚨Exclusive : Frank Lampard Reveals All on Coventry City's Promotion to the Premier League!

Time to welcome an absolute footballing legend, the man who's led Coventry City back to the big time after 25 years. It's a very good morning to Frank Lampard. Morning, Frank. Good morning, Frank. Good morning. Morning, lads. Look, Frank, first of all, congratulations. Look, competitive division, you're 11 points clear with a game to go. By my reckoning, you've had a net spend of sort of less than £3 million. So how have you done it? Yeah, a lot of work. I think to go back over the... We came in, I think, at the end of November, the year before last season, and I thought we had a great run in the second half of last season. Working with good lads, good players, went away for the summer. Having lost a playoff semi-final in those sort of circumstances is not easy. But we came back with a determination to try and go, well, did we expect to go and win the league in this manner? If I'm honest, I would say no. But that's probably testament probably to the work that we've done, what the players have done on the pitch. And to do it in the style that they've done it and to be able to relax in these last couple of games has been a great thing. We don't always get that moment where you can sit back and have probably about three celebrations already in terms of the games that we've played at the back end. So, yeah, really, really delighted. It's a massive thing for this football club because of the story of 25 years out of the top tier. So we're absolutely delighted, of course. Frank, I think that Coventry City, their fans have been through a lot, haven't they? Having to go and watch games at Birmingham City's ground and Northampton's ground. I see yours as well, your special connection with the fans. This promotion and the way you've done it, was it more for the fans as well? Yeah, I think so. I spoke on the pitch, Gabby, at the end of the game the other day and I was trying to be very honest and real on it. This club, I didn't probably understand the size of the fan base, maybe the passion. Every fan base has a big passion for their football club. But when you go through what they've been through, like you say, from going and seeing their team in different stadiums and seeing the team go down the leagues and then come up and have all this sort of jeopardy and troubles along the way, I think it's heightened the feeling for them. We've felt that in the city. We felt it in the stadium, selling out every week, travelling with us all over the place. So I think this feels relatively unique in a sense of our story and I felt how much it's meant to the fans so much this season. So we just do our work. As you do your job, I do my job. The players have all done their job. But when you see the CBS the other day and when you see them at Blackburn, then you really realise what this means to people. Young, middle, older, who are much younger, never maybe seen commentary in a top flight. Older fans that maybe have seen that, but it feels like a long, long time ago. To be able to give them that has been a special part of it. I watched your interview after the point at Blackburn that got your promotion, Frank. You were very emotional. It was lovely. It was fantastic to watch. Was it just because of the magnitude of what you'd achieved singing in? Yeah, I think so, Geoff. I'm definitely human and I have my moments. When my lip wobbles and I feel things, then I know that I can go. I just about managed to hold it together, I think. But I think probably a couple of things, and there's so many parts to this. The responsibility of being a manager, from being a player, there's so many more things to it. So certainly the fans, I mean, I've just said that about the fans. The outpouring at Blackburn caught me a little bit in the moment. Also, probably on a personal level, to do the work and to do it with the staff, and specifically Joe and Chris who came with me, but the staff that work here already, to know what goes on behind the scenes and the work that everybody's put in, it felt like a real achievement. Probably a bit on a personal level, if I'm honest, but also that I got caught by the fans outpouring, and then actually just the realisation that we'd done it. Because, as I say, earlier in the season, we were probably looking at, can we make the play-offs again this year? This league feels like it's getting tougher with the parachute teams, with the teams that have come up, the Rexhams and the Birminghams. You see that, I think, in how the points have been distributed this year in the league. Hopefully we're going to get to 95 points, but last year there were two teams on 100 points. It's harder to do, it's hard to keep consistency, and this team's managed to do that and play in a style that I'm really proud of. So, yeah, that probably just all came out in one moment on the pitch at Blackburn. Frank, I know Coventry were so unlucky last season when you lost to Sunderland at that last-minute goal. How did you galvanise the players, pre-season and throughout the season, to get over that disappointment? Did you have to go into your experience as a player and a manager to get them back on track? Yeah, a bit. I mean, I saw their faces in Sunderland. It was a really difficult night because of the nature of the last minute. Their faces were devastated after the game because these boys, not many have played in a Premier League. They were desperate to get there. And then we all kind of went back to the training ground and we all left at 3am in the morning and it was a bit surreal. It was about, ah, we're not going to see each other for a while. So, I think I probably lent on my experiences of being a player for many. I was very fortunate at Chelsea to have had this successful team that every year if we came second or didn't win cups or whatever, I would sit in the dressing room, myself and John and Ashley and the group and we would be like, what's next? That's not good enough. We want more. So, I've naturally got that instinct of getting straight on to the next thing. So, I sent the boys a little message on the group the day or so after. I was like, lads, you've been brilliant. Bring your runners because we need pre-season to be. We need to be a physical machine and we need to take steps forward. That was my feeling. With the players, Gabby, we've got such a good group here. I knew we needed to keep the group together but I didn't feel the need to bring up Matt Grimes or bring up Bobby Thomas or Rudon. I knew that they would hurt a bit and go away and I knew that they would be together and I knew that there's a good part of this dressing room that leads itself. Jake Bidwell, Jamie Allens, these people, they're just used to going again and working. So, some of it took care of itself. We probably had an underlying determination for sure but at that point we didn't know what we'd be, as you say, but I think the lads came back. They were brilliant pre-season. They all worked. It was very physical. We got us to where we wanted to be and maybe, you know, the idea of fate, that some things are meant to be, to lose at something felt really tough but maybe that wasn't our time and now this team has developed over the year and now is our time. Yeah. I mean, the response was amazing, wasn't it? Unbeaten till October and you scored fours and fives and a seven against QPR. Later in the season, Frank, I mean, this is a game I watched. You were going through a bit of an indifferent spell, certainly by your standards anyway. You'd won two out of eight. You'd lost four of those eight and you played Middlesbrough and it was a Monday night and it was a fantastic match to watch and I just wonder whether that victory or how key that victory against Middlesbrough was. Yeah, Geoff. It was completely pivotal in our season and you're right. We'd had a sort of challenging little spell for us. I think there were some different things to that. Some of it was fatigue. Some of it was just a championship and we came off it slightly and then obviously people question you and then there's sort of the mentality thing becomes an issue. I tried to stay pretty calm through that because I understood it. I was kind of waiting for that moment but the Middlesbrough game specifically, I think we had a good long week's work training into it. We'd managed to sort of thicken up the squad. We'd spent a lot of the first half of the season with a smaller squad and we felt the tension of maybe a couple of injuries but going into Borough, we had sort of 25th first team players and we trained and we decided we wanted to really go in on Middlesbrough. They were playing brilliantly. Really good football team at that time and up and we went after them at the CBS and the crowd engaged with it. The boys did their stuff and I think then you just felt a confidence come through, back through everybody and we'd gone second for a week. We went back to the top of the table and then the rest of the lads, they took that bit of confidence. They took what they got from that game. I think they went and won seven out of eight or something straight after that and again we started to amass points so it was certainly a pivotal performance and I think the lads, if there was any belief that they'd faltered or worried about, they got through it with the work into that Middlesbrough game and how they approached the game against another top team in the league. Frank, your attacking players, Haji Wright, Thomas Asante, Sims and Mason Clarke, all in double figures this season, have been fantastic but there's one player that I love watching and I want to know, Redoni, he's got seven goals himself. What have you taught him about late runs into the box, which is your speciality? Yeah, I agree. The players you mentioned, I love all the players but Rudy does have a certain X factor for us as a player. I think I liked the look of him when I came into the job. He'd been moved around in some different positions and I think that wasn't clear at that point. I always felt he would be a number 10 for us or an eight, you know, literally an attacking midfield player but I could see the ability he had to make the box and the best thing, Gabby, and you'll know this from working with the best players, is that they just want more. He wants to train more, he wants to ask questions and, of course, with a player like him who plays in a similar position to me, you can be really engaging with it and he asked Gabby, he'll go, you know, what did you do in that game? He'd better watch something somewhere on YouTube or even when he's watching other teams, did you see that goal from Karl Palmer last night? So that part becomes easy because some of those things, when the raw talent's there, it's the simple things. It's like, how often are you making the box, Rudy? Are you going out to the saw? But when we're wide and we have Mason Clarke or we have Sakamoto wide, do you need to be out there joining them or can you be making the box? And some of the goals, when you see the work you talk about and then you see, it was a goal he scored against Sheffield United later in the season and he played it wide to Efron and he just bolted to the box. Stuff that we talk about and he got in the danger area and then the rest is up to him. He scores ahead of that game. So it's just the small things to work on on the training pitch. I'm a big believer in repetition and working and working so when the game comes, you're just ready to do it. But at the same time, there's a little bit of freedom with Rudy but he's played this season with his shoulder. He's had pain. He needed the operation. I don't think we've even seen the best of Rudy this season which he's just had done now. But he's a highly talented player and one you just love working with. Loads of messages, Frank. Inevitably, John and Logan are saying, Frank, Joe and Chris changed the course of Coventry after four weeks working with the lads. We could see that from the terraces. Mark Robins is a legend but the team needed new energy. And a Borough fan says, I just want to congratulate Frank and Coventry. Fully deserve to be champions. I thought we might pick them at one point but they just went into another gear. Brilliant to see a non-parachute team dominate the division. I think a lot of people would share those views. And you've still got Watford away of course at the weekend even though you're champions. Have you given the boys a bit of latitude this week or is it still full focus? Yeah, they've had some latitude. They need that. I said to them, we've had a few celebrations. I think I mentioned that but it's important that you do that. On Sunday, we had the families on the pitch and it was brilliant. It was absolutely brilliantly done and the engagement with everybody. They're special moments so they had a few days off off the back of that and they deserve that. They're fit now. They're fit so I gave them a little bit of freedom with that. We're back in today. We will focus on Watford because we want to get as many points as we can. We want the travelling fans to see the team that has won the league play a team like that. Will there be an opportunity to give some minutes to players that have been huge for us behind the scenes? I mentioned it before. One of our big, big strengths this season is players that aren't playing regularly. Still a good team mate. Still a good trainer. I'm talking about Jake Bidwell. I'm talking about Jamie Allen. I'm talking about people like Ben Wilson. Massively supportive characters so they will get an opportunity some of those at the weekend but it's still going to be a strong team. I never liked the idea of that sat on the beach kind of feel of a game. We have to give it one last pop and do the right thing. Some players will deserve some minutes and they'll get them. Frank, how good has Onyeka been? Because you got him on loan in February I think it was and he's signed a permanent now. Is that right? For next season? Yeah. Also, I want to ask you about the summer. You're obviously going to get a well-earned holiday but are you going to be able to relax in the pool? Are you going to be on your phone looking at players, calls? I'm good at multitasking. There will be moments where I'll have maybe a beer in my hand and my phone in my other one. Sometimes I have to apologise to Christine for that. The first part of that is that Frank has been brilliant, Frank Onyeka. He was a privilege that we needed in that moment and he's come in and given us everything we need which has really helped the balance of our midfield with what Grimesy does and whoever plays in our ten, how they play. The other thing he's offered is an incredible humility and work ethic. He's come in and just breezed into the squad and the dressing room and he's come down as a Premier League and an international player and he's so humble. I love that and it's good for some of our players to see what that looks like. In terms of the summer, there's a lot of work to be done. There's no doubt when you come up as a parachute team, as you keep saying, the players aren't that experienced. I know the gap well because I've played in it a lot. I've managed them in a team fighting for Champions League at Chelsea. I've managed in a relegation battle at Everton. I understand, I feel the levels. There's lots of conversations. I think the owner has been very keen on us all enjoying and celebrating these last couple of weeks and I agree with that. We can live in the moment but the next job for the football club is, okay, what do we need to do because we've risen quite quickly in these last 18 months. A lot of amazing groundwork by Mark Robbins, of course, but the differences that are coming upon the football club now and the step is big so it has to be done well so that will be the job. A lot of love for you from Evertonians, Frank. Paul says, I'm an Everton fan. One of the things I loved about Frank managing my club is that as a fan you really felt he got and understood the club, its size, its history and its fans and he's done the same with Coventry. Ben says, I'm an Everton fan. I'm delighted to see Frank get cobbed to the Premier League. I can't wait to welcome him back to the Hill of Dickinson. The Everton fans love Frank and appreciate what he's done for us and Dave says, looking forward to Frank coming to the Hill of Dickinson. Congratulations to him and his Coventry team. His work in keeping us up is part of the reason Everton are now in our new stadium as a Premier League team. Look, stay with us on TalkSport. Breakfast more from the Coventry City manager Frank Lampard coming next. Everybody absolutely loving what you've achieved there. Can I just ask you about when you initially took the job because somebody mentioned Mark Robbins. I think it was seven years at the club. Legend at Coventry. Did you have any doubts about taking over from Mark Robbins because he was such a legend? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think it's an obvious thing. I think when you take a job you weigh up all parts of it. Obviously you look at the squad because that's the main thing you want to be able to affect with your work but the modern world we live in means that things like the Mark Robbins effect or facts within it is always, it's always there. It's always in your ear and you can, and you feel it. So, I did think about it respectfully and I think I've just tried to go about the job respecting that part, that part of the story and the good work that Mark did and got to work quickly on the job that was in hand. But yeah, I understood it. I don't know, some people didn't want Mark to leave or some people on the outside would have questioned the, my thought process of going and taking that job but when you normally take a job not everything is perfection. You're coming into something and when I look back on it now I'm just happy that I took it, took on the opportunity and we managed to work and again, when we've been able to achieve this you look back and say the lot of work that Mark's done from League 2 to League 1 and playoff finals and FA Cup semi-finals that's all part of the story. My part of the story was to come here and try and work hard and take a next step or whatever which fortunately we've managed to do. Frank, we've seen teams come into the Premier League get promoted and try and play the same football and find it very difficult and you know, they end up going down with not a great amount of points. Are you definitely open to changing maybe your style in certain games when you come into the Premier League next season? Because you have to adapt don't you? You know that more than anyone playing so many games in the Premier League. Yeah, for sure Gabby. We've all seen that story and I think in reality it will be as well. We've had a really good group who've got out of this league and you want the players to be able to compete at that level because the quality level is so high and the physicality all the things you have to be aware of. I think hopefully one of our strengths this season is that we've been an adaptable team. We don't have one way of playing where we're trying to you know, slowly push teams back and stay in their half and leave ourselves up to counter-attack. We can play forward and run forward and have variations in our game. So there are some things I think that we can work from in what we've done last season as a club if you think of it as an idea but there's also a lot of other challenges and that's part of the job. So yeah, I understand your point and that's all the work that's ahead. Yeah, you must be inspired as well and Coventry City fans probably will be too by the likes of what Sunderland have achieved this season in the Premier League and if you like going back a bit further to the Brentfords of this world who are now established Premier League clubs I mean, it is possible to make that step up. Yeah, it is and there's a lot to it. Sunderland have shown it. They obviously recruited heavily and took that route of doing it and I think the history has shown that now in the modern day if you look at the Premier League I know, again, it's slightly mirroring what I said about the Championship but the top teams have maybe not got so many points this year but you look at the strength of the league throughout teams that are financially spending and recruiting and are stronger midway or towards the bottom of the table even if you look at where Tottenham and West Ham are it's a real challenge of a league so I think all you can do there is get your own house in order be very clear with the strategy that what you want to do as early as you can possibly do it how you're going to want to approach it as a football club and work towards that but yeah there are stories of teams that have done it there are also many stories of teams that haven't I think a lot of that is for the owner he's we've got Doug who runs the club solely and he's very much hands on with lots of things which is a really good thing in a sense and of course he'll be at the front with that sort of idea what the strategy is because he's worked hard in these few years here to get the club here we've all worked together in this last 18 months to get us there but it needs to be really clear how we want to approach it and after what we will be having all those conversations Frank, I want to move on to a player that you give his debut for Chelsea Rhys James how important is he for Chelsea and also for the World Cup in the summer Yeah Rhys what an incredible player and incredible lad I've been really pleased with how he's taken to the captaincy there as well because I think from afar I feel like I've seen him grow into that position because he was always quite a quiet lad Rhys kept his thoughts to himself but when you did speak to him he was very articulate but the quality level Gabby I mean when I first went to Chelsea I had a good understanding of the academy because of the lads that were working with me but to see his talent levels I mean I've never seen someone who gets a 70 yard cross fielder and just brings it down in his chest and then can do whatever he wants to the ball it's a really incredible technique but his whole game that he's got now like pace and power and the quality levels so yeah massively important for Chelsea you see that when he's not playing he's managed to play more regularly this season which has been great but obviously out recently and yeah without picking Thomas's squad for him or his team I think Rhys James is one of the best right backs in the world without a doubt and yeah I want to see him fit and playing again because he's a special player So how do you rate our chances at the World Cup Frank? Well I think we've got a good chance but there's a lot of other good teams in it the age old question I get about why we didn't win World Cups as a group from my generation and part of the answer is because France, Spain, Germany we're all really really good too and you know so there are other teams that will be there competing going over to America with the conditions that they'll be but I think there's we've got lots of good talent in our squad as well so I think absolutely we have a really good chance of doing it it will be about momentum it will be about the best players being fit and ready at the right time and the balance that Thomas will try and strike with the team but there's obviously been lots of good signs along the way so yeah as an Englishman who go there I go there with confidence so we've got a really good chance there When you went to World Cups Frank what was the pressure like? Because there'll be some of these players that have been to World Cups as well and I know the pressure from the media from the fans and also the conditions you talked about the conditions there I think you would have went to World Cups wouldn't you where the conditions were hard to play in would that affect the players? Yeah they'll have to overcome that and we never quite did so I remember playing in the World Cup in Germany I think we played Ecuador as one of the games and it was really really hard in Germany it's Europe but those conditions and you could straight away feel that it didn't suit us as much as it suited the South American players and we didn't quite broach that and I think we won that game but it wasn't great and I felt that I went to Brazil I didn't play it was back into my career I played one of the games but again I don't think we quite maybe I'm taking that as a responsibility of us as players as well so there will be that there'll be a lot of work I know now with the staff making sure that everything is done to get the players ready to cover that acclimatisation thing of the trickiness of that but I also to go back to your sorry the first part of your question there I had something for you you were talking about the pressure the pressure is really heightened it's really heightened when you get to the major tournaments you feel it in the camp you feel it build up and that's something again that maybe we didn't quite overcome I never felt sort of put down by it but when I look back you do understand that it really rises so you will need the bigger players within the group the ones that have been there Harry Kanes and Declan Rice and more that have been there have been through tournaments before to be really commanded in terms of helping the players through that bit but when there's talent in the squad I think you understand when you wear the shirt for your country pressure is a thing it's going to come so it's how the players deal with that will be relative to how they get on in that tournament but they need to be ready for it Would you like to be in that buy-in against PSG match the other night by the way Frank? Honestly Gail I love watching that game I love watching it because you know when I watch it and the speed and the quality of things done highly skilled things done at a top level two teams going at each other we do talk a lot and I know I've been listening to the shows a bit over the last couple of days about the Premier League and how some games have become a bit of a chess match and teams sort of stopping each other that's fine our job as coaches is to try and find out whatever your way is but to see two coaches to see that talent across the pitch to see them going head to head and I heard the stuff about that defending in the game of course there was some defending which you might question because when you take risks you leave yourself one on one but as a as a product there's something to watch one of the best games I've ever seen in football I absolutely loved it I think it was incredible as well wasn't it Frank when it was 5-2 to PSG most teams maybe ok going to be on the centre half we're going to shut up shop here try and stay in the tie Bayern Munich are still flying forward at any opportunity so you get two quick goals and easily could have got an equaliser yeah I like I think that's testament you know people say it's easy when you work with top level players and of course there's a degree but Vinny Company for instance or Luis Enrique but I know Vinny a bit he deserves to be in that job because of the work that he's done so then you get those players but I like when he said after the game about like what do you want he was talking about the bad defending necessarily the game or what the game looked like what do you want do you want to watch something like that where players are actually pushed and they're all in he said you have to be all in and I think in commentary this season I'm not comparing us by the way to Bayern Munich or PSG now but we've been all in in our way of what we know we want to be and I've always felt confident that we could come back into the game even when we were losing games and we've done it and you saw that done at the highest level the other day a team that know what they're doing believe in what they're doing and just go at it and what a great thing it was to watch Frank we're out of time which means I won't have time to ask you about the 12 different clubs that you're being linked with at the moment I just want to read one final that's good yeah yeah I know just one final text and I think it reflects what a lot of people have been saying here this is from Musa he says I just wanted to say I started supporting Chelsea in 2004 Frank Lampard made me fall in love with the club what a man great role model in football and life generally deserves what he's achieved as a family man player and now manager God bless Super Frank so fantastic mate brilliant Frank thanks so much for taking the time to join us this morning good luck mate and I'll stop pestering you now I'll leave you alone any time thanks very much it was a really nice speech and thanks to all the fans there you said that I really appreciate that different clubs and different people thanks and nice words everybody