Frank Lampard has revealed that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola played a key role in his success at Coventry City.
The former England and Chelsea star had the opportunity to sit down with Guardiola and talk tactics, just a month before he took up his new managerial role.
Before taking the Coventry job, Lampard had a rare chance to sit down with Guardiola for 45 minutes during a visit to Manchester.
“About a month before this job came up, I went up to Manchester City to do an interview with Rodri and I got the opportunity to sit down for 45 minutes with Pep, which was amazing,” Lampard said to The Athletic.
This wasn’t the first time he had observed Guardiola’s methods. “Before I even started coaching, I had a couple of days at City and I was just amazed by his engagement on the training ground with the players.
“That’s exactly what I want to be, something like that. What’s my version of being in there next to a player, going through everything?”
For Lampard, it wasn’t just about Guardiola’s tactical genius, though undoubtedly that left an impression too, but his relentless energy and connection with players.
“I think it’s definitely the tactical ideas and concepts, but everyone has their own version of that,” Lampard explained.
“What I also came away buzzing about was the energy. This was early in the season, and Pep has been there for a long time, and you could just feel this bundle of energy and interaction and love for the game.”
Lampard took up the Coventry role just a few weeks later, with him taking over from Mark Robins.
Robins had, at the time, become the longest-standing Championship boss after a seven-year stint.
The former midfielder had previously taken managerial roles at Derby County, Chelsea, and Everton.
Despite his former less successful spells, at Coventry, they have risen from near the relegation zone to fifth after their recent 3-2 win at Oxford United.
Under Lampard, they have won 11 of his first 18 league games in charge.
After collecting just 12 points from the first nine games, he has since doubled that in the most recent nine. He has now taken 24 points in the last nine games, with the Lampard effect in full force in the Midlands.
Lampard also called out the ‘lazy’ view of England’s Golden Generation as poor managers.
It’s a commonality amongst English clubs that some of the greatest players in history have ended up being some of the worst managers.
Steven Gerrard was poor at Aston Villa before recently parting with Saudi Arabian side Al Ettifaq where he coached the likes of Moussa Dembele and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Wayne Rooney won just two out 15 Championship games at Birmingham City and four in 23 at Plymouth Argyle.
Gary Neville had a torrid time at Valencia, Sol Campbell at Southend United and Paul Scholes at Oldham Athletic are all further examples.
Lampard said: “There’s such a highlight on it. I think some of it’s lazy and broad, just to view ‘the golden generation’, as it’s put, without digging a bit deeper into the job in hand for those managers and the challenges in question.
“I always feel that anyone who goes into this job as an ex-player who’s had a highly regarded career, that in itself should get a lot of credit because you understand then that there’s a bigger fall for you.
“There’s a bigger level of interest in you: ‘Maybe he’ll succeed, but what if he fails?’ That’s a bit of a cultural thing. I think we can be guilty of that in this country.
“But it’s one of those where the longer you do it, the more you learn. You work and you use some of the skills you learn as a player, but more importantly you use the skills that you learn from the first day you walk into management, which I did at Derby. You learn every day from then on.”
