Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
One on One | Lampard on pushing for promotion and life in management
28 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What insights does Frank Lampard share about his management style?
Were you easy to manage? Would you have liked to have managed you?
Yeah, generally I was. I'm quite a resilient person from my long playing career. Every player, you know, you have tough moments, tough challenges. You have to be resilient. It's part of our game. If you aren't, it will knock you down too many times. Of course, now, we want to go up automatically because of where we sit. But I also know there's so many points to fight for.
So I try not to get drawn into your questions here. I'm like, what's the next game? What's the next game? What's the next game? Rather than the big picture. But we're in a good place. My job, unfortunately, brings constant tension because you're always reflecting on the last one if it wasn't great, but really concerned about getting it right for the next one. And that's the life I live.
Hello and welcome back to one on one from Sky Sports, the podcast where we chat with football's biggest names. I'm Joe Tomlinson.
And I'm Juliet Farrington. Joe, it's the first time we've been together in 2026. We're nearly at the end of January. It's been quite some month, hasn't it, for both of us?
Yeah, there's been quite a lot of breaking news to react to. Changes at Chelsea and Manchester United have given us the chance to put out more episodes than usual. So if you missed our chats with Lira Senior, Harry Maguire, Pedro Neto, amongst others, do go and check them out.
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Chapter 2: How did Coventry bounce back from last season's playoff heartbreak?
But Jules, today you've been to see one of England's golden generation.
Yeah, from years gone by. You don't really need to explain much about Frank Lampard, the player, one of England's brightest stars, won so much, everything with Chelsea. But I've got a quiz question for you, Joe. Who do you think he made his West Ham debut against almost to the day, the 31st of January, back in 1996? And I was thinking to myself, what was I doing in 1996?
But as a 17-year-old, who did Frank Lampard make his West Ham debut against?
Stab in the dark, I'm going Spurs.
Commentary, where he is now. Exactly, yes.
Simulation, we are living in a simulation.
It is, isn't it? Just things sometimes work out this way. You'll hear in the interview that he has a photo of him coming on in that game, hanging in his office where he is now as manager. So it was great to sit down with him and have a chat with him at the club that now he calls home. And over the course of our conversation, we talked about what it's like going from player to manager,
How he hopes the culture around the club at Coventry will see them over the line to promotion to the Premier League. What it's been like as an English coach, as a manager in football at the moment.
But we started with the disappointment of last season when Coventry lost to that late Sunderland header in the playoff semifinals and how they've managed to bounce back to sit at the top of the championship. So here is my conversation, my one-on-one with Frank Lampard.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Frank Lampard face as an English football manager?
The schedule is a little bit crazy, but can we just go back to that playoff semifinal defeat at Sunderland? And what did you do straight after that that's allowed you to have the season that you're having right now?
Well, there was a lot of disappointment straight after it because I think we managed to achieve in the second half of the season to make that big run into the playoffs.
I think to play really well over both games doesn't make it any easier playing well but in reflection you can be quite happy with the strides we've taken but obviously the disappointment was huge and I felt really a lot for the players, I really felt for them because they gave everything. And the fans and club, everything. So that burden is there when it's fresh.
But I've been in this game a long time. I understand successful moments. I understand difficult moments. And when you reflect and go to see what we did, it was more about how can we come back? How can we... Have another go. How can we try and improve in every way? So I think it was a good reflection time over the summer for me.
We didn't make huge changes to the squad over the summer, probably relative to what other teams did, more business, et cetera. But we kept a lot of the same group. And we just said, right, from preseason, let's work hard. I don't think we expected what we've got, but we were very determined to just go again.
But how many experienced playoff setback before that Sunderland game? Because you experienced it with Derby in the final itself.
Yeah.
Did you react in a similar way? Because the first time you had experienced it, it probably would have been harder than the second time you've experienced it.
I found them both tough. I mean, after Derby, I obviously left and went on to Chelsea from there. So I didn't go back as such. It was a similar feeling, if I'm honest, because this job, the biggest difference between player to manager is that you feel the burden of responsibility so much. So I had a really good relationship with the owner at Derby and similarly here at Coventry.
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Chapter 4: How does Frank Lampard reflect on his playing career and its impact on his coaching?
You want to win matches and have success. But, you know, the Derby won, we come up against a really strong Aston Villa team and the differences in the final were that and that loses you the game.
And this one, it just felt like, because we'd only been in since probably sort of like early December, the strides that we'd taken, I quite quickly felt a sense of pride in the work done from the group to get that close. And I know we were very unlucky in that semi-final. So it's my job to not be too despondent. I'm the first one that has to react and react hopefully positively.
So by the time we come back to pre-season, it was OK, let's go again. Where can we improve? What can we do? And me, staff, players, and we have improved.
Definitely. And you don't really want to go through the playoffs again as a manager, as a coach, would you? Because of what you've experienced, you know, you want to get there straight away this time.
Well, now I do. If I had to set out the sights at the start of the season, this league is very difficult. Let's be really brutally honest about it. Parachute teams come down with a huge, huge advantage over others financially. And now this year we probably have four parachute teams because Sheffield United remained in the league.
We also have maybe two teams that came up from League One that are acting like, not parachute teams, but, you know, so they're having the right go. The Hollywood teams. Yeah, they are. And fair play. This is great. This is part of the Championship story. It's exciting for everyone watching. But for us, we knew that it would be a challenge to try and get into playoff positions again.
So what we've done in the first half of the season has been great because it's work coming together and we've got ourselves in this position. And of course now we want to go up automatically because of where we sit. But I also know there's so many points to fight for. So there's a long way. So I try not to get drawn into your questions here. I'm like, what's the next game? What's the next game?
What's the next game?
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Chapter 5: What factors contribute to Coventry's current success in the Championship?
Rather than the big picture. But we're in a good place.
No, I know that. But when you think the big picture is it's been 25 years since Coventry were last in the Premier League, you would have played against them. Do you remember any of those moments?
Well, I remember making my debut against Coventry at West Ham. I came on with Gordon Strachan and he was 35 or so and I was 17.
And I've got the picture in my office. Of course, I remember growing up watching Coventry win the FA Cup final.
It was one of my first FA Cup finals in my memory. Playing against Coventry and just having an understanding that they were an old League One, you know, Premier League team, as we call it now, but Division One. So I followed the story from the outside, but also now I'm doing this job, more importantly, I feel the desire, I feel the tension, the fans, I want to get back there, quite rightly.
And we're probably fed into that by having this start of the season. So everyone's getting excited and we just have to stay very focused.
It's been through a lot though, hasn't it? This club has been through a lot and I was thinking of 2019 and it didn't seem to be that long ago, but it is considering what's happened in the world since 2019. League One, ground sharing, eventually come back, lockdown and you've been through a lot as well.
So it's like as if some things just align, don't they, at the right time for different reasons, but it gives you the perfect opportunity.
yeah and i i haven't lived that commentary story but i'm fully aware of it and you can feel it and it's in in parts of it are a great story you know the disappointment the sadness of the situation to come down i didn't live that but some people who work here are fans and they lived it so and now i'm in touch with the fans so i understand how they feel
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Chapter 6: How does Frank Lampard view the competition in the Championship this season?
So my story is different. And you learn from good and you learn from things that don't go your way. But I don't feel like I've got a big...
uh handbrake on me or you know shackles on me because of any i've been long enough as a football player i've had lots of success fortunate to be part of great good teams but i also remember the things that didn't go right but i part them now all i think about what i do out there every day with these players what's my messaging what's the training and how can i be a leader that hopefully takes us to where we want to get to and i don't i don't reflect too much on too much other stuff maybe not reflect them but have you become more resilient
I'm quite a resilient person. From my long playing career, there are many, many things. Every player, you know, you have tough moments, tough challenges, and you have to be resilient. It's part of our game. If you aren't, it will knock you down too many times. I kind of like that stuff. I have a kind of a... Always a real core of wanting to not just prove people wrong.
That sounds too cynical, but in this world with so many opinions around that I actually want to just focus on my job, do a job that I'm confident that I'm pretty good at and hopefully get success. So, yeah, I'm a resilient man, I would say.
I remember what you were like as a player. People remember what you were like as a player. Good player. But were you easy to manage? Would you have liked to have managed you? Yeah.
Generally, I was. Yeah, generally. I was quite low maintenance. I was fortunate in a way because the big parts of my career at Chelsea, I played very, very regularly. All players want to play. I know that even more now. So I was good with that. But what I did, I just trained hard. I didn't like to go into manager's office too much.
And I think I was, I would like to think most of my managers would say that I was pretty easy, most, not all. But now I understand it as well and I'm on this side and I think the game has changed. There's modern players, there's different demands, there's different situations, there's agents around players and family and expectations and it's all slightly changed for my era.
And I'm not being a dinosaur saying my era was great and we were different.
Has it become harder?
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Chapter 7: What role does team culture play in Coventry's performance?
Do you think Coventry suits you and you suit Coventry? Can a personality match a club 100%?
Well, at this moment, it feels yes, because I'm very happy here and hopefully the club are happy with me because of where we sit.
But where you sit is at the top of the championship.
We do. So and I'm very aware of that. And it's important to be positive in life. And I'm absolutely positive because I know the work we did when we came in here. It was challenging. There was a lack of confidence, you know, maybe in terms of Mark Robbins has done an incredible job here. Incredible guy, done in history as one of, if not the greatest managers of this club.
I've got no problem with that. But when we came in, you could feel that it was a difficult moment. And we've worked and I'm not taking this all for me for sure, because the staff that I came in with, with Chris and Joe coming in together and the players and everyone in the building who has stepped up and seen this sort of curve that we've been on.
everybody deserves credit for that but I also have to understand that the minute we drop or we get sort of too confident oh I love Coventry and Coventry loves me that's not that's not a good situation at my job unfortunately brings constant tension because you're always reflecting on the last one if it wasn't great but really concerned about getting it right for the next one and that's the life I live said that I am happy I'm very happy at this club and I'm to answer your first question the balance of it feels pretty good and hopefully at this point we sue each other
Just on Mark Robbins, because as you say, he's held in such high regard and he was here for so long, I don't think anybody expected him to leave. So he goes to Stoke and you come in and you've come up against each other since then. What kind of conversations do you have with him? Because he's a good guy.
Yeah, he's a good guy and that's football and... We all know, you live the manager's life, football manager's life. You understand that you're probably not going to stay in your job forever. Unfortunately, that's a reality. Normally, it's not your decision to leave. So in my short years, I'm already fine with that. I've got no problem managing.
When we speak, we spoke after all the games that we played. I think we played them three times in the league twice and in the FA Cup now. And we have good conversations. It's fine. I wish him very well.
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Chapter 8: What does Frank Lampard believe is necessary for an English manager to succeed in the Premier League?
Just focus on what you've got in front of you.
But it is such a hard job to get. There's only 92. I was talking to your press officer about it. And once you lose your job, it's hard to get back onto it again, isn't it? That cycle.
Yeah, it can be. It can be because that's the life that we choose to live. And reaction in the modern day is so harsh. You know, Xabi Alonso is the best coach in the world six months ago, and now he's out of his job, so he can't be any good. You know, that's nonsense. There's good coaches doing good work, sometimes good work.
It maybe doesn't come through in results, and in this modern world, we're very quick to make changes and all those things. So that is an unfortunate part. We're privileged to do this job, but that has come to the territory, and... What I'm happy about being here is that I enjoy coming to work so I've got some really good people around me and a good group of players.
I love working with these players because they make me laugh every day. They've got them really well and they work really hard out there and they want to do well for this club. It's kind of all you can ask for in a way.
In what way do they make you laugh?
Because they have such a good laugh together down in the dressing room. I hear them all the time. I walk around this building. We're not the biggest training ground. So I can hear them pretty much from everywhere. They're either a bit sunny. It's not today. They're out there playing cricket out the front after training. They do it in the dressing room. They mess around.
Some people I don't think understand it. They're like, shouldn't we all be really formal and just think about work and training? No. Have good times. Enjoy coming to work. And then the minute they get on the training pitch, any information we give or demand, they're really good. They want to do it. And that's a pleasure to work with.
Is that something then you've created or have tried to create and you've done in the jobs that you've had so far? Or is that just summing up the culture and the environment that we're in right now?
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