If you’re looking for FA Cup tradition in the modern game, there are few better places to start than Frank Lampard and Coventry City.
Lampard won the trophy four times as a player, scoring the winner in the 2009 final and leading Chelsea to Wembley as manager in 2009. His father, Frank snr, was part of the West Ham side that defeated Arsenal in the final 45 years ago defeated. .
Coventry defeated Tottenham in a classic final in 1987 and were just a cruel VAR call away from one of the great comebacks in last season’s semi-final against Manchester United.
Now Lampard and Coventry are looking to write more FA Cup storylines together. The former Chelsea and England midfielder will oversee his tenth game when the Sky Blues play Sheffield Wednesday in the third round on Saturday.
Never accuse Lampard of shying away from a challenge. After a promising start to his career as a manager, at Derby and during his first spell at Chelsea, Lampard found things difficult at Everton. Things were even more difficult during his second spell at Stamford Bridge, a temporary spell following the sacking of Graham Potter.
It is to his credit that he has decided to return to the Championship to rebuild. This is a complicated club, one whose owner, Doug King, is unwilling to sit back and let the manager do his job. King has invested much of his personal fortune in trying to reach the Premier League, but it is unlikely that will happen until next season at the earliest.
Frank Lampard will take charge of his tenth game in Coventry on Saturday when they entertain Sheffield Wednesday
The former Chelsea midfielder won the FA Cup four times during his illustrious career
Coventry supporters were outraged when Mark Robins, one of the best managers in their history, was sacked last November and things have been slow for Lampard so far. He has three wins, three draws and three defeats to his name, the last of which was an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Norwich in which both of the home side’s goals came in stoppage time.
Still, the team’s response was generally positive. Instead of reading out the riot act after the Norwich game, Lampard is said to have simply told the team he felt devastated. There would have been little point in berating a group of players whose morale was already at stake.
Training sessions have been more detailed, with players receiving detailed briefings on the strengths and weaknesses of their direct opponents before each match.
While there have been more individual and collective meetings than under Robins, these have been shorter, with Lampard focusing on three or four key messages and repeating them repeatedly. At previous clubs, Lampard sometimes left his coaches to lead the sessions, but he is heavily involved here, especially in the tactical work towards the end of the week.
Lampard was keen to build a sense of togetherness among his players and before the lunchtime match at home to Hull on December 14, he gathered them at a hotel the night before so the players could have breakfast together the next morning. Coventry put in a strong performance to secure a 2-1 victory.
Although some of the club’s younger players grew up idolizing Lampard, they would find him approachable. In his first meetings, Lampard made it clear to the team that his door is always open and so far he has stuck to that.
Lampard watched last season’s semi-final on television, when Coventry recovered from 3-0 down to take United to extra time, and Victor Torp thought he had scored the winner with virtually the last kick. The goal was disallowed by VAR for the tightest of offside calls and United won the penalty shoot-out.
Midfielder Josh Eccles admitted that it had taken the side around a month to recover from that defeat and it is suspected that the memory still lingers today, perhaps partly responsible for a slow first half of the season in the league.
Coventry suffered a heartbreaking semi-final defeat to eventual winners Manchester United last season
Midfielder Josh Eccles admitted that the team needed about a month to recover from the loss
The best way to eradicate this is to perform well again in the Cup and even though Coventry are lower in the table, just six points above the bottom three, the league will never be an afterthought for Lampard.
“We are very lucky to be able to do this work and if you don’t understand the magic of the cup and what it means, you will find out tomorrow,” he said. “You can see it in our fans and the number of Wednesday fans who travel.
‘There is always an extra edge to the tires. This is not an everyday cup. It has much more history and tradition than similar competitions around the world. Whether you’re 21 or 46, you treat it with the same respect.
“I may have different feelings about it since I grew up with it – that’s normal – but the players coming through it now will have respect for it too.
‘There is so much football and I respect managers who prioritize different competitions. When I was manager at Derby we had good runs in the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup. It created a good feeling and good attention and we eventually reached the play-off final of the championship that season.
‘I don’t know to what extent they went hand in hand, but when you go to Old Trafford and win, players grow, whether they are young or experienced. I don’t see any negatives to a good Cup run.
‘We must celebrate the history and tradition of this club in the FA Cup. No one needs to tell me its importance.”