Doug King, the Coventry owner, has revealed that Frank Lampard is a contender to replace Mark Robins as the Championship club’s next manager.
King has said the former Chelsea, Derby County and Everton coach is among a large number of interested parties in the vacant post.
He told Sky Sports: “We’ve received a huge amount of CVs from high-quality people, of which Frank is one. We’ve done nothing on that process … but clearly we’re in the international break, we’ll be assessing everything. We’ll work out who’s going to make the shortlist and we’ll go from there.”
Robins was dismissed last week after seven years in charge of the club, with Rhys Carr handed the interim head coach role until a permanent successor is confirmed. Coventry are 17th in the Championship, a point above the relegation zone, after a 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday.
Lampard has been out of management since the end of his spell as Chelsea’s interim manager last year, his second stint at the London club where he made 648 appearances as a player.
Speaking later at a fans’ forum with fans at the club’s home ground, the Coventry Building Society Arena, King confirmed that he did not have a successor lined up when taking the decision to sack Robins. “That’s not the way I work,” he told supporters at the hour-long meeting.
“The next appointment is very important. I cannot have the risk of us getting relegated. Nobody thought Birmingham would get relegated and they did,” King said, as reported by BBC Coventry and Warwickshire (CWR).
“You can argue that this was a big mistake. But I had to do something,” King added. “Sometimes a tough decision has to be made. I like Mark Robins. And we’ve had good times together – but it had to be made.”
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King, who took over Coventry in January 2023, also claimed that the departure of Adi Viveash, Robins’ long-term assistant at the club, in July was the former manager’s decision, and not his. King added: “They [Robins and Viveash] worked well together. But marriages break up. They broke up, but I backed the manager.”
