Lampard delights Coventry fans

Former coach and midfielder Frank Lampard led Coventry FC to qualify for the English Premier League in football for the first time in 25 years, after the team secured its promotion yesterday, Friday, with a 1-1 draw against Blackburn in the second level, “Championship.”

Lampard succeeded in leading Coventry to end a wait that had lasted since 2001 to return to the Premier League, in which he had spent 34 consecutive years before then.

Coventry occupies first place in the Championship with 86 points, 11 points behind Ipswich Town in second place, and 13 behind Millwall in third place, and three rounds before the end of the season.

The 1987 FA Cup champion was relegated to the fourth level in 2017, and remained without a stadium for three seasons due to a legal conflict over ownership of its stadium.

Lampard said after the final whistle of the match while shedding tears, in response to his critics, "Everything I did in my career was with the aim of proving something, frankly. This feeling has been inside me since I was a young player. You are always in a state of conflict with something."

Lampard (47 years old) was appointed to head Coventry in November 2024, in a move that was criticized by the club's fans after the setbacks that befell his coaching career.

In contrast to his career as a player, which was full of successes, including 11 major titles in addition to scoring 211 goals, which is a record in the history of the “Blues”, his training stations were not successful at all.

After failing to lead Derby to qualify for the Premier League in the 2019 play-off final in his first season as coach, he took over Chelsea in the same summer and finished the season in fourth place.

However, the former England international was dismissed in 2021 after failing to win any title.

He returned to take charge of Everton and saved it from relegation the following year, but that was not enough to avoid dismissal 12 months after taking charge.

He returned to Chelsea to lead them temporarily in 2023, but lost eight of his 11 matches.