Frank Lampard says it is his sheer, enduring love of football and hard work that lured him back to the dugout as the new head coach of Coventry City.
The former Chelsea and England midfielder, 46, was appointed as the Sky Blues’ new boss on Thursday morning.
“I had a long career,” Lampard told BBC Sport at his CBS Arena unveiling later the same day.
“Certain people maybe think I don’t need to work, I guess financially. But I wanted to get back in because it’s what I love doing.
“I love coaching players. I love working with players on the training ground.”
Lampard has taken a tough job in two respects – firstly, trying to lift the Sky Blues from 17th in the Championship, just two points above the relegation zone.
And, secondly, trying to step into the shoes of predecessor Mark Robins, who became a club legend in his largely successful seven and a half years in charge.
Lampard also has the challenge of improving on his first four spells in management, which brought comparative success in taking Derby to the Championship play-offs, creating an exciting young side at Chelsea and keeping Everton up, but which also twice led to the sack when owners’ and fans’ time and patience both ran out.
“It’s a very consuming business,” said Lampard. “But I’ve had a nice spell out of the game – valuable family time and time to see things from the outside.
“It’s easy to sit at home and play golf, but I like to work.
“I’m driven. I like to prove people wrong. I did in my playing career.”
Lampard wants ‘adulation for my players – not me’
Lampard saw it from both sides in his playing career – in his early days at West Ham, he initially struggled, perhaps weighed down by the sense of increased expectation from fans fuelled by his uncle (Harry Redknapp) and his dad (Frank Lampard Snr) being in charge.
But he turned that all round with Chelsea and England – and now he admits his new challenge is helping to develop the next Lampards, Gerrards and Rooneys and allow them to enjoy their own moments of acclaim, hopefully in a Coventry shirt.
“Adulation was more important to me in my 20s than it is in my 40s,” he added. “It’s always an amazing feeling hearing people sing your name but, as you get older, you realise it’s more a case of ‘this is my job’.
“I want to make the fans happy but I’d much rather they sang the name of a 20-year-old to make him feel as happy as I used to feel.
“I worked with youngsters at Derby, and at Chelsea.
“I got to a play-off final and fell at the last hurdle but that was only good experience. And keeping Everton up too, I’ve had some good moments and done some good work. And, although I was lucky to play as much as I did in the Premier League, I love being in the Championship.
“It’s hard to compare the two clubs directly but I do get the same feeling of warmth as I did stepping into Derby for the first time.”
As for how he manages to replicate the love Coventry fans feel for Robins, Lampard is well aware of what he has been asked to step into by ambitious Sky Blues owner Doug King.
“You come in off the back of someone who’s laid some foundations,” said Lampard. “All I can do is work hard to get the best for the club and bring more success.
“I have complete respect for the job that Mark did here. To be here such a long time and have the success he did was a huge thing.
“I can see the quality in this squad. It has a good age balance. Can I pick up on the good work he did in his own way?”
But, while the owner and some more optimistic Sky Blues fans might already be looking at the 10 points that separate City from the play-off places – knowing they have been very much a second-half-of-the-season side for the past two years – at 46, Lampard is very much an old-school thinker on the game.
“We are where we are in the table for a reason,” he said. “I need to make it better as quickly as I can. But one step in front of another, one at a time.
“I don’t have crazy targets far away. It’s just one game at a time for me.”
