Frank Lampard x Tom Grennan - The Football Interview

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1:07That's O-D-O-O dot com. The Football Interview on the Football Daily Podcast. I'm Tom Grennan, musician by trade, but today I'm just a fan living his absolute dream. An entire generation of Sky Blues fans have never seen this club in the top flight until now. And I'm about to meet the man who broke the 25-year exile and brought magic back to this club. Coventry City, Frank Lampard. Hover! The Football Interview on the Football Daily Podcast. The boardroom. You need to change the carpets in here though. How are you? I'm alright, how are you? Good to see you. Good to see you. How's it going? Yeah, great.

1:57I'm in the interviewer chair today.

1:58Frank Lampard:I like it. It's alright, isn't it? Yeah. I feel like I belong here. Yeah. A little bit. Friendly face. Isn't it? Well, we first met in 2024 at Soccer Raids. You were my gaffer before all these lot. You were my gaffer. Yeah. And I remember speaking to you about maybe potentially coming here and I've still got the text message on my phone when you got the job. Do you remember what you said? It was early morning on the drive up, innit? Yeah. Did I swear? You did. Yeah, you did. It would have been something like up the Cobb or something like that. With an extra word in there. For me it was such a good feeling because I remember saying to you, if you do go to Cobb they're going to love you up here.

2:34Frank Lampard:Yeah. And a lot of people don't realise how big this club is. And then when you come here, you just see it and you go, wow. I didn't realise. Obviously Coventry when I was coming through as a player, they were always in the top division. Yeah. They always had respect for it as a club and then obviously looked from the far sort of difficulties they went through. Yeah. But you're right, we did Soccer A didn't we? And you were a stand-up player by the way, you were made of the match. I remember Harry telling me, because Harry Redknapp did it with us, and he was like Tom Grennan, he could have been a player, he could have been a player, and you played like that.

3:04Frank Lampard:But I remember the conversation, and I remember Coventry was obviously, I'd been out of work for a little while, Soccer A was like a nice break in the middle of that actually, which was great, feels like ages ago now. But then when the opportunity came up, you know, things like that were in my head, your conversation, I didn't realise until I got here, the size of the club. And it was a difficult moment, you know, managers left, Mark Robbins had left, so I think my first game was like 20 ,000, 22 ,000. You can feel that feeling. But then as momentum started to grow and it's all a nice history now, but this place was rocking and got full up.

3:36Frank Lampard:And I realised the city and the fan base and the history was a massive big deal. Yeah, man, you're a legend in commentary now, man. At the minute. You are, you'll always be. You had so much success as a player, but when automatic promotion was finally locked in, did that winning buzz feel different as a manager than being a player? Yeah, it did. Is it different, yeah? I even get a bit of goosebumps when you say it because people ask me that question a bit and they ask me as soon as we got promoted and it's hard to sort of balance out, you know, like winning the Champions League with Chelsea. I couldn't put those moments down at all.

4:06Frank Lampard:They're amazing. Winning in Munich was the best footballer night of my life as a player by far. Yeah. But then when you do something with a club that's been through what it's been through, when you work with a group of lads that are so great as a dressing room I've never experienced, especially as a coach to have such a good group and then the link between fans and players. And when you're the manager, the responsibility that you take on every day, for good and for bad, you take defeats badly, you take wins great. And then when it all happened and we got promoted against Blackburn, I had a rush of pure emotion and everything all came on top of me.

4:39Frank Lampard:So it certainly goes right up there in the things I managed to achieve in the game. I was here on the last game of the season when the cup was lifted. I remember just seeing you outside on the mic and I was so proud man. Like, what a feeling man. No thanks, that was a great day. I had my family, you know, my two youngest children were here with Christine. I was sat next to them. Yeah, yeah, so that was special. You know, I think the things in life and in football, and I'm definitely, I've failed at this sometimes, is taking in a moment, you know, as a player. I don't know if you feel it in what you do, sometimes you get used to it and you go, my next thing's coming.

5:15Yeah, my mum actually said this recently, like, to take in the moment. When I'm on stage, for example, just stand there, look out to what you have done and what your team have done and what my team have done. You have to do them things because -

5:31Frank Lampard:You definitely should, and you've got so much more ahead of you, but hopefully I have in my own way, but with a little bit of experience, you should take on your mum's words there because it's really easy to go, ah, the stresses of the show that you're doing or the stresses of that. That was a moment at the end of last season where I could actually go, wow, we've achieved something a lot here, personally as well, and stand there with the mic and sort of thank the fans and that. And it's surreal a little bit because 18 months before, I'm in a people carrier texting you, not knowing where this journey's going to go.

6:00Frank Lampard:And then you're standing there and going, this club's back in the Premier League. It was special. You've already managed at the very top with Chelsea and Everton, but rebuilding Coventry and bringing them back up feels like a totally new chapter. Stepping back into Premier League this season, do you feel like you have something to prove to the doubters outside the club? Always. It's the thing about modern day football, music, whatever. You're brilliant one minute and then you might not be brilliant the next and everyone will let you know that. So you've got to be careful trying to prove every doubter wrong because it's not possible.

6:29Frank Lampard:Have I got that inner drive to prove people wrong or show myself as my best, try and get better every day? Yeah, I always have that anyway. So I know the challenge is different and it's going to be difficult. One of the beauties of being here, we've been lucky. These boys have won a lot of games. It's great. come into work again on the Monday and it's great, go again lads. We're going to have different challenges this year. So my personal ambition to prove any doubt is wrong, it's sort of always there, but I try not to let that be my driver. I just go, I take everything as it comes, get the team ready.

6:57Frank Lampard:Day by day. Day by day, learn a bit from experiences at Chelsea and Everton. I've been in the Premier League as a player, I've been here as a manager, I understand the challenge of it. I can't get ahead of myself and I can't worry too much about the outside world because otherwise you succumb to it. you'll be making different decisions even because of it. How different will the football be from what you've played already in the Championship to where you're going into the Premier League? Yeah, that's a great question because we spent a lot of the summer analysing the Premier League. I watch the Premier League all the time, but when you're working in a Championship, there's so many games you get engulfed, you start loving the Champions, you just watch every bit of it and you're worried about your team.

7:35Frank Lampard:So this summer we've really looked quite deeply into the Premier League because it's evolving all the time without giving too much away. and things remain to be seen. We want to keep hold of the good things that we were last year, which was we could score any kind of goal. We could play really quickly through teams and counter attack. We could build and control a game and cross it and score like that. That's how modern day goals are scoring. A lot of transitions and things like that. So we have to keep those things. I think probably the biggest thing for us will be to adapt defensively in our sort of off the ball game because the level goes up a lot.

8:06Frank Lampard:The step is crazy. It's a big step. You've only got to look year in, year out the amount of teams that do go back down. And that just shows you the quality level that we're coming into. So we'd be fools not to think that we would just go and play like we did in the champ every week and we dominated a lot of games, especially here. It won't be like that. So we'd have to find different ways to win games, to stay in games, to fight, to suffer a little bit. And there's also a mentality thing to that for us as a management, as players and as fans, the football club, we've had it off for 18 months. Yeah.

8:36Frank Lampard:There's a lot of good feeling, a lot of good times. It's great, we're celebrating on the bus and all those things. This year will be a difficult moment, so we've got to be strong to be able to handle those things. You played with unbelievable players. If someone gave you a little magic wand and said, take a player from the players that you played with, who would you pick and why? Well, I mean, that's a really tough one because there's so many and I'm not putting my boys down, but yeah, the difference makes... Football at the top level is the difference, mate, because we talk a lot about There's the game in the middle of the park, which now is in the Premier League particularly, teams are trying to cancel each other out and you win and lose games in the boxes, it sounds really simple.

9:14Frank Lampard:So I'd probably be drawn to it over Didier Drogba. I was going to say Drogba. Yeah, because Didier had everything as a striker. He also had a massive personality who could bring people with him. And he scores goals and he's priceless. And when goals are a premium and they won't be easy to come by in certain types of games, Didier would always step up in those moments. An entire generation of Sky Blues fans have literally never seen this club at the top flight. Like, I haven't either. If you were sitting here in May looking back on the season, what has had to have happened for you to call it a total success?

9:48There's my dyslexia jumping in.

9:51Frank Lampard:I think it's who's written it is the problem. As I said before, I think it's hard to stay in this league. It's been shown time and time again. There's some examples of a Sunderland and Leeds last year. I think a big difference for us is that a lot of our boys haven't played in the Premier League. We've got really minimal caps, like appearances, sorry, in the Premier League. So we need to learn quickly. I need to do my job and myself and the staff as well as we can to prepare the players. We've still got some time in this window to try and bring in some players to help the squad. Maybe some experience of playing, the quality to bridge that gap.

10:23Frank Lampard:But I've got a lot of faith in these boys that they'll give it everything. I think they will too. Yeah, I know they always do that. They're going to war, isn't it? Yeah, and they always do that. And I feel a real hunger and a feeling from them that people will say you lack Premier League experience. I'll say, yeah, maybe we do and we'll try and maybe sort that out in terms of the market. But I also think there's something about a hunger group that are going into something that haven't been there yet. That sort of beautifulness, that energy to go, come on, let's take that on. That's what you need as well.

10:48Frank Lampard:Yeah, and for us to stay in the league, you look at teams, I think you want to bring in players to help the squad. You want to bring in quality. But also, we had an incredible spirit. if we keep that spirit and can add quality then maybe by May when we can say we're staying in the league and that would be a huge step for us it's a hard one now, I know everyone's going to ask me it might be on this question like will just staying in the league be like your target is that success, for me I don't think of it that way of course it will be success because it's such a big challenge for us but in the beginning we go into it and go let's stick our chests out and let's be brave about it these boys have earned where they've got to so go in with that attitude not saying nothing to lose of course there's a lot to lose but also go and show yourselves but what an opportunity to be in the Premier League for the boys they deserve it so we're going to take it head on One more question are there specific things Jose Mourinho or Carla Ancelotti have taught you that you take into your management role?

11:45Frank Lampard:Yeah that they have they're the two generally I talk about people go all the managers you work with who's the best and I speak about them a lot sometimes I feel bad leaving out big influences as well like Harry Rendap My uncle gave me my opportunity, different managers, Gus Hedding. But with Jose, Jose and Carlo is a good example because they're like both sides of the coin. Jose was very on you, very sort of like he transmitted his self-confidence. But if you felt you stepped out of line or did something wrong, you'd feel the strength of him. Whereas Carlo was like chilled and calm. And when you look back, you go, that's a nice environment to work in as well because it felt like he trusted you.

12:19Frank Lampard:So I try and take little snippets. I'm probably somewhere in the middle. and if I start to sort of sometimes go towards being Jose, sometimes I go be a bit more Carlo, you know, and I've learned that. Young managers, I've found in my experience, you come in and feel like you have to do things, like you have to, like, criticise a bad performance or say something about an individual who turns up late or all these things. The more I've done this job, I realise that we're all humans and sometimes a leg comes in late, you don't know the backstory and so trying to jump on them and be this hard man manager, you've got to be a bit more Carlo.

12:48Frank Lampard:But then if you're a bit more relaxed sometimes and people are on the pitch not doing their job, sometimes you'll be more Jose. So I try and take those moments. I feel like this place is going to be like the Coliseum. People don't know about the Coventry City fans. I think the first game here is going to be electric and excited. My friends have come up to games through last year, especially when we got on the run. They want to come. Now they all want to come. I bet they do. I'm like, no, no, you didn't come last year. You didn't come to like whoever, like Oxford at home last year. Now you want to come to...

13:15Frank Lampard:But I tell them when they come that you don't realise. I've played in, you know, Stamford Bridge is like home to me for so many years. I've played in these amazing stadiums, you go to Anfield and stuff. This place has got something special, I'm not just saying it, and away fans as well, but they really did something last year because they support the individual players as well as the team. Every player's got a song almost, you know. That'll be tested this year because it'll be tough, but when this place gets rocking, I think you're right, we'll have to use it. We'll have to use it as a weapon for us, and we certainly appreciate how the fans are here.

13:44Frank Lampard:Frank, good luck, man. Glad to see you. Thanks, great speaking to you. And I'll be up here and I'll be cheering. You're always welcome. Thank you, mate. Brilliant.

13:53This goes beyond what the KGB did back in the days. Conspiracy theories and the Football World Cup. Is there ever one without the other? Well, I've been digging into one of the very best back in 1994. The guy from Iraq gets a red card for a dubious tackle. I'm James Montague. And from BBC Five Live, this is Sports Strangers Crimes Presents Shadows on the Pitch. Listen on BBC Sounds.

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