Coventry owner not worried by Lampard links with ChelseaImage source, ShutterstockImage caption, Doug King brought Frank Lampard to Coventry in November 2024, replacing Mark RobinsByAlex HoadBBC Sport journalistPublished40 minutes agoCoventry chairman Doug King says Sky Blues fans shouldn’t worry about “what may or may not happen” after head coach Frank Lampard was linked with a return to former club Chelsea.Lampard steered the Sky Blues to a top-flight return in August for the first time in more than 25 years after sealing the Championship title with a 5-1 win over Portsmouth on Tuesday night, having earned the point which guaranteed promotion at Blackburn four days earlier.However the former Blues midfielder has been linked with a third stint in charge at Stamford Bridge following the sacking of Liam Rosenior on Wednesday evening.
Lampard’s stock has risen after guiding Coventry to the title in his first full season in charge and King admitted it was inevitable he would be linked in the “merry-go-round” of football.
He told BBC CWR: “He’s done a fantastic job, it’s been an incredible 18 months for us and for him. I am sure he’s in reflective mode. I mentioned to him ‘do not underestimate how difficult what you’ve just achieved is to do’.
“He’s done huge things in his playing career but to get out of this league as champions without a parachute payment, from where we’ve come from, is a huge achievement nobody can take away from him.
“Everybody is going to get linked with everything, it’s a merry-go-round. It’s a bit disappointing clubs are appointing three or four managers a season.
“We don’t want to be in those positions, that means something has gone a little bit astray.”
King claimed Lampard was in “a happy place” at Coventry and added: “You can see how emotionally connected (Lampard) is with the city, you can see what it meant to him to get promotion and then the title and I think he’s found a happy place at the moment.
“It doesn’t mean there’s not going to be some staggering bid for him in the summer and he’ll have to make his choices, because he’s shown his credentials as a high quality head coach, but I’m not going to comment on that, I can’t control it.
“I just think he’s happy, I’m happy, everybody’s happy, we’ve just got smiles on our faces and we don’t worry about what may or may not happen for the head coach.”
King also revealed Coventry have been planning for the Premier League for a while but says simply throwing money at the challenge “would be a mistake”.
He mentioned: “We’ve been top of the league since October and were quite a way ahead. We’ve been having due analysis of what we’d like to do for quite a period of time.
“Everybody wants to know everything immediately – I’ve been clear – let it sink in.
“We’re trying to work out a philosophy. Ultimately we will decide on what our strategy is going to be and then we will tell no one and will try and quietly, stealthily get on with it to try and give us any and every advantage to be successful in the top league.”
Asked about the prospects of avoiding relegation in their first top-flight season since 2000-01, King mentioned: “It’s taken a long time to get there. Obviously we have beaten two teams who will join us so we have only got to beat one more, if we can beat them again next year, right? If you put it like that.
“I’m embracing it, the team’s embracing it, it’s exciting, it’s a challenge. We had a challenge to get out of the Championship and we’ve achieved that in a spectacular way and now the next one is to challenge ourselves to see what we can do in the top league.”
King mentioned simply throwing “zillions” at signing new players was not the way to approach the Premier League, adding: “People spend money very badly at times, I would say what we do is we look for value.
“A very expensive footballer might still be value, there are lot of footballers who are very expensive but who are not value.
“We will do what we’ve got to do, but don’t associate staying in the league and being very successful just with how much money you throw out of the door, I think that would be a mistake.”
