Manager of the season
Coventry win promotion with ease – Lampard returns to the top-flight with point to prove
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Few would have been surprised when Frank Lampard was unveiled as the EFL Championship Manager of the Season on Sunday night. The former Chelsea midfielder has undoubtedly worked wonders at Coventry City in the English second-tier, guiding the Sky Blues back to the Premier League in his first full season at the club, despite the club only winning promotion to the Championship six seasons ago. In no uncertain terms, Lampard had exceeded expectations.
Staff
F. Lampard
Age: 47
Coventry City
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25
11
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"I was emotional the other night because it dawned on me in that moment what we had achieved,” said Lampard, upon accepting the award. "A club that I walked into 16 months ago that had gone to the depths and back up, and football is always about people and always about supporters and I'd missed it. You have to credit Mark Robins for what he did at the club, the owner Doug King and appreciate the moment, and I'm working with a great group of players…It's an incredible story and I'm please to be a part of it."
While Coventry City fans will undoubtedly be ecstatic about their return to the Premier League for the first time since 2001, football fans around the world will perhaps take even more interest in Lampard’s success at the West Midlands club. Despite being a relatively young head coach, the former England international has had a turbulent managerial career to date, but has perhaps finally found his feet at Coventry City and is ready to show his worth in England’s top flight as a talented tactician.
Indeed, when we take a look at Lampard’s career to date on the sidelines, it underlines the many ups and downs Lampard has had as a manager in the last seven years. After initial success in the Championship with Derby, where Lampard took the club to the play-offs with an impressive average of 1.57 points per game, he was then tempted by his former club and made the move to Chelsea to become the Stamford Bridge side’s first English manager in over two decades.
Staff
F. Lampard
Age: 47
Chelsea FC
95
45
17
33
The former midfielder initially did well at Chelsea, taking the club to a fourth-place finish and averaging 1.74 points per game in all competitions, while promoting several gifted young players from the club’s academy to the first team. However, things quickly fell apart in the second season, when Lampard reportedly butted heads with the club’s decision makers over transfer targets and wholesale changes to the squad. As such, the English manager saw his points-per-game average in the Premier League plummet by 12 percent down to just 1.53, and by the time he was relieved of his duties in late January, the club was sitting ninth in the league table.
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Unfortunately, Lampard’s reputation as a Premier League manager then took an even bigger hit with a somewhat ill-advised move to Merseyside club Everton. Although he did take over for the unpopular former Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez and steered the club away from fatal relegation, his record of 1.11 points per game in his first season at Everton was somewhat underwhelming and got even worse in his second season, when Lampard averaged just 0.75 points per game in the Premier League. He was then, once again, sacked in late January, only for a short spell as Chelsea caretaker manager before the end of the league campaign to offer even less success.
Staff
F. Lampard
Age: 47
Coventry City
79
43
16
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As such, Lampard arrived at Coventry City in much need of a rebound in his managerial fortunes. In his first season at the club, taking over in late November, he quickly improved the club’s fortunes and guided them to the play-offs thanks to a fifth-place finish. In return, Lampard’s points-per-game average in league competitions hit what was then his second-best return of 1.71. Just three clubs in the Championship picked up more points than Coventry after Lampard took over the club last season. And that was undoubtedly improved upon this time around, as Lampard guided the Sky Blues to promotion glory with relative ease, winning promotion at the weekend with a comfortable 10-point gap over second-placed Ipswich Town.
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Now with a return to the top-flight to look forward to, Lampard will find himself in an intriguing position. Linked with a return to Chelsea as the club inevitably looks to make a new managerial change in the summer, the former midfielder could be tempted to take a third swing at success at Stamford Bridge. Or, perhaps, the 47-year-old head coach may instead look to once again prove his worth in the Premier League with steady ground beneath his feet and with the squad that helped him return to the English top-flight. Either way, Lampard will have a point to prove as one of England’s most promising young managers next season.
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