They may have sealed promotion nearly two weeks ago, but Coventry’s Premier League party is still in full swing.
Since ending a 25-year absence from the top flight, the Sky Blues have lifted the Championship trophy and on Monday they will take an open-bus tour through the city to celebrate with supporters.
Yet as many clubs who reach the top division discover, the hangover can kick in pretty quickly.
Pundits and bookies predict immediate relegation. Agents arrive demanding new contracts. No manager wants relegation on his CV and so he demands a huge upgrade on the squad. Frank Lampard is no different.
Lampard has done an outstanding job at Coventry, leading them to the title ahead of clubs who receive Premier League parachute payments. Though he has continued to live in London, the 47-year-old has fallen in love with the club and its supporters. When next season starts, though, Lampard wants to feel he has a fighting chance of keeping Coventry up.
While owner Doug King would like that too, he must also examine the bigger picture. King wants to establish Coventry in the top flight but will not compromise their financial stability to do so. This century, Coventry have played home games at Birmingham and Northampton and been in League Two. They do not want to live through that again.
Here is the sticking point. Lampard’s work has caught the eye of Premier League clubs including Fulham and Crystal Palace. His priority is to lead a competitive Coventry side next season and that is why the talks between owner, manager and recruitment chief Dean Austin next week will be so important.
Frank Lampard has done an outstanding job at Coventry, leading them to the title ahead of clubs who receive Premier League parachute payments
Though he has continued to live in London, the 47-year-old has fallen in love with the club and its supporters
Lampard’s contract
The former England midfielder has 12 months left on his current deal and it seems inconceivable that he would not be offered a new one. Until he is, other clubs will be on alert.
Daily Mail Sport understands Lampard has a significant compensation clause in the contract, which could deter Coventry’s rivals. With managers like Oliver Glasner, Thomas Frank, Andoni Iraola, Sean Dyche and possibly Marco Silva all free agents this summer, many clubs will think twice before paying compensation for a different coach.
Palace are in the market for a new boss, with Glasner departing at the end of the campaign. Fulham could find themselves in the same boat as Silva is out of contract and yet to sign a new one.
The consensus in top-flight boardrooms is that Lampard is a much better coach now than during his last Premier League experience, a bruising short-term spell at Chelsea at the end of the 2022-23 campaign. After Saturday’s season finale at Watford, he will have taken charge of 278 games and has learned from his mistakes.
Asked about his future, Lampard has been cautious. ‘I am an ambitious man and an ambitious manager and I do know what the competitive levels are,’ he said. ‘We have to get the squad strengthened in the right areas.
‘Do we want to go there and compete and challenge and try to stay in the league? We have to have that mindset so there is action to be done.’
‘Do we want to go there and compete and challenge and try to stay in the league? We have to have that mindset so there is action to be done’
King’s stance
Speaking on The Football Boardroom podcast, King made the surprising admission that he had ‘not yet read’ Austin’s recruitment plan for 2026-27, sent to him this week. This is slightly disingenuous: of course he has the outline of a plan, which he intends to solidify within a fortnight. Will Lampard be happy with it?
Daily Mail Sport revealed earlier this month that Coventry – whose current top earners are paid about £25,000 a week – are reluctant to pay much more than £50,000 per week next season. They want to sign on-loan goalkeeper Carl Rushworth from Brighton and believe Milan van Ewijk, Jack Rudoni, Haji Wright, Bobby Thomas and Matt Grimes can make the step up.
Who else? Frank Onyeka’s loan move from Brentford will become permanent and after that, Coventry are likely to look closely in undervalued markets, where they have had success with players like Van Ewijk, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Victor Torp and former midfielder Gustavo Hamer in the past.
They are also expected to look at the best players who have failed to win promotion from the Championship, such as midfielder Hayden Hackney should Middlesbrough miss out.
King has no desire to hurry – and that is the sort of attitude that makes managers anxious. A ferocious negotiator, King is playing smarter these days after a couple of difficult experiences in the market soon after he bought the club in 2023.
But has he swung too far the other way to be successful in the top flight? ‘If I get to the Premier League and I’m making a loss in the Premier League, what is the point of anything?’ King argued. ‘The businesses I run have to be more sustainable and I don’t want to win glory at any cost. I want to win it by doing it differently and being as successful as I can in a sustainable manner.’
King is thought to be open to additional investment in the medium term. To emulate clubs like Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth, he may need it.
Owner Doug King is thought be open to additional investment in the medium term. To emulate clubs like Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth, he may need it
So what happens next?
King has not made more than £300m without being an extremely savvy businessman. And after leading Coventry to the Premier League in less than three years, he deserves to feel confident.
He will still be shocked by what awaits him. King may believe he can keep his best players, like Rudoni, because the Sky Blues have turned him into a Premier League player. It does not always work like that.
Southampton tried to sign Rudoni, who has two years left on his contract, last summer and top-flight clubs will certainly be looking during the close-season. They have ways of making sure Rudoni finds out he could probably double his wages by moving.
So what does King do then? Break the wage structure to keep Rudoni and team-mates’ agents will be queuing outside King’s door. Cash in on him and you have a grumpy manager on your hands, not to mention unhappy fans.
Quite reasonably, King may believe that the minimum £110million broadcast money Coventry will receive should not be spent mainly on pay rises for players. Unfortunately, he will learn that other clubs are prepared to take advantage of this.
Lampard knows all this. During his 13-year career with Chelsea, he was one of the highest-paid players in the Premier League.
King may believe he can keep his best players, like Jack Rudoni, because the Sky Blues have turned him into a Premier League player. It does not always work like that
As a manager, he has dealt with wealthy players and agents and knows how they operate. He understands that Coventry cannot survive in the Premier League on the cheap.
Lampard may love Coventry but he has a reputation to protect. If he looks at Coventry’s summer plan and concludes that even the best bosses in history could not keep them up, he would become disillusioned. And that feeling would spread quickly to the squad.
If a promoted club starts the season united, they might still struggle to stay up. If they begin it fractured, they have virtually no chance.
King wants to take his time to map out the way forward. Unfortunately, life comes at you fast in the Premier League. Coventry need to act quickly. Enjoy the celebrations, sure. But whatever you do, don’t get left behind.
