Frank Lampard Leans on Jose Mourinho for Guidance at Coventry City
Frank Lampard still leans on Jose Mourinho. Not for nostalgia. For work.
The Coventry City manager has revealed he contacted his old Chelsea boss in the summer over a potential signing – a player Mourinho had previously coached, but not at Real Madrid. Even with Mourinho back in the glare of the Bernabéu spotlight, Lampard says the response he received underlined why their relationship endures.
“Jose's always there,” Lampard told talkSPORT. “Between us now, I did message him the other day about another player – not a Real Madrid player – but a player that he worked with previously and he's always on call.
“It takes him a couple of days sometimes. I know he's a busy man. But he came back with a very, very detailed talk about a certain player we're talking about.”
That level of detail is familiar. Mourinho’s shadow has followed Lampard from his days as a midfielder at Stamford Bridge to the technical area. Lampard has never hidden the fact that the “Special One” shaped him more than any other coach.
He has just watched the Mourinho documentary and admitted it stirred something deep.
“It was great memories, specifically the first one, because it was just the Chelsea story and it just brought back so many great things,” he said. “I knew I loved Jose a long time ago, but seeing it all back was great.
“I worked with lots of great managers, but he was the one who had the greatest impact on my career when he came in because of the confidence he gave me.”
Plenty have tried to copy Mourinho’s methods. Lampard is clear he will not be one of them.
“I think many managers have tried to imitate Jose, to a degree, and I wouldn't or couldn't do that because I don't have his characteristics. I have my own.”
That sense of identity has hardened over his 18 months at Coventry. After turbulent spells at Derby County, Chelsea and Everton, Lampard believes he has finally found a better equilibrium in a job that can chew managers up.
He talks now about balance more than brilliance.
“I'm trying to do management in my own way,” he said. “What I've probably learned the most is to get my own balance right, in terms of: you can't win every game. You're going to be tested in loads of ways. You can't search for perfection every day.
“You have to get your balance right off the pitch and on the pitch and prioritise the things that really matter. And hopefully, these 18 months of Coventry, I've been able to show that that's a little personal improvement for me.
“And it actually makes my life easier to get that balance right, because you get your time to rest, it's a stressful job that will tax you, but you have to understand when you're in it, that's what it is.”
From Mourinho’s classroom to Arsenal away
Coventry’s return to the Premier League after 25 years is about to collide with reality. Their opening fixture? Arsenal away. Champions. Friday night. No gentle reintroduction.
The romance of promotion has given way to the fixture list.
“I'm excited. I think we're excited,” Lampard said. “I think our little story of 25 years out of the league, the year that we had last year with the boys, and how well they did to get us there.
“And then reality obviously kicks in. And when you see Arsenal away as a first game, it absolutely kicks in because they were, quite rightly, the champions.
“But we have to focus on ourselves. We have to take the challenge head-on that it is. You know, you play these best teams through the year away from home.”
Lampard will walk into the Emirates with Mourinho’s lessons in his head but his own ideas in his notebook. The mentor is still on the other end of the phone. The test now is whether the student’s version can stand up to the champions.
