An emotional Frank Lampard said winning promotion to the Premier League as Coventry manager was “right around the corner” as one of the greatest achievements of his illustrious career.
Bobby Thomas’ late equalizer earned Coventry a 1-1 draw with Blackburn, clinching promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years.
Lampard has achieved promotion for the first time in his career as a manager, which he believes is comparable to winning the Premier League and Champions League titles as a player.
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackburn Rovers and Coventry City
“I’m proud,” he told Sky Sports. “Sometimes all the managers talk about the players, but I’m proud and I’m proud of myself, my staff and the players.
“We headed there 15 months ago in a personnel carrier, and just like going into a job, we were entering a bit of an unknown place.
“We were obsessed with the players, their reaction, the fan base and the reaction.
“So what I was able to achieve is just for me. I was lucky to be in a great Chelsea team. Winning the Champions League and winning the league was great. I also had Didier Drogba and John Terry to thank for that.”
“Achieving this now, in these circumstances, with this club, is too much for me. I’m not disrespecting the players there. They have raised their level through sheer effort, and I’m very proud to be that manager.”
Lampard gets emotional after promotion
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Coventry fans were in disbelief at full time after their team secured promotion to the Premier League
The former England international was close to tears during an interview amidst the jubilation at Ewood Park.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I’ve spoken before about the fan base, what they’ve been through and all the disappointments. And they’ve stuck with the club and all the stories. And now they’ve got this moment. It’s a serious, serious football club. I didn’t even realize it.”
“I knew the history, I knew Coventry growing up. Coventry were a Premier League, First Division team. But I also knew this amazing fan base and what it meant to the city and what these players had achieved.
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Bobby Thomas scores the equalizer against Blackburn Rovers to give Coventry a point and seal their return to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years.
“We came in 17th in the league 15 months ago and Mark Robins has done a great job getting them back into position, but we’ve got automatic promotion as a non-parachute team with three games to go. The boys there, how they’ve listened, trained and what they’ve done every day. I’m emotional because they’re so great to work with. They deserve to celebrate and get through every second.”
“This league is difficult. Even teams that are fighting relegation and teams that have the players and the squad, it’s getting harder and harder. People think it’s easy but it’s not. It’s much more difficult. And these boys were able to achieve something that’s pretty unique and absolutely special and unbelievable. I’m delighted.”
“Automatic promotion this season was not in our plans.”
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Coventry owner Doug King covered in champagne at jubilant dressing room celebration after promotion
Coventry last played top-flight football in 2001, when they were relegated from the Premier League, a position they had held since their inception in 1992.
The Sky Blues’ low period came in 2017 when they dropped to League Two, but they fought back and after losing to Luton in the play-off final in 2023 and a heartbreaking defeat to Sunderland in the play-off semi-final last season, they swept the Championship this season under Lampard and secured a return to the Premier League with three games to spare.
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Manager Frank Lampard said it was natural for Coventry players to have a beer after clinching promotion, but they still wanted to win the Championship.
The 47-year-old said: “They went up from 17th to fifth last year and Sunderland beat us, but we were very unlucky in that semi-final so we needed the resilience to be able to come back and push again and do something consistent.”
“Automatic promotion was not in our plans. In the summer we sat down and talked about how perfect we could be for the season, thinking about who we are, what we can do and everything else. And could we get into the play-offs? Maybe third or fourth and play for a home tie for second? We didn’t do that last year, but now they’ve done that and are standing up with three games left.”
“I felt it a little bit, but last year there was always stress and panic. We got into the play-offs at the last minute, but at Everton we hung on with two games left and Chelsea got into the Champions League in the last game. Thankfully we don’t have to do that this year.”
“We want to go for the win, but don’t get me wrong, it feels really good for the guys to get over the line at this point.”
