Football management can be a stressful occupation at whatever level but Frank Lampard is in the enviable position of going into the last fives games of Coventry City’s season knowing that they are one win away from a return to the Premier League.
Unlike his opposite numbers at automatic promotion rivals Millwall, Middlesbrough and Ipswich, the Sky Blues boss knows that three points against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday lunchtime will all but see the club over the line, given their vastly superior goal difference at the top of the Championship where they are 12 points clear of the chasing trio.
Lampard is focused and driven and will not let his players take their foot off the gas, however tantalisingly close they are to securing their top flight status. Asked if the club’s current position means that his job is a little less stressful than usual, and whether he can afford to savour the moment, he said: “Yeah, I’m enjoying it.
“The games, call them stressful or whatever you want because it just naturally takes you there because you want to win so much. But I’m enjoying the job because I enjoy coming to work. I enjoy working with the people and I enjoy the feeling of winning. And when you’re doing that a lot, it makes it enjoyable.”
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He added: “Am I ready for the season to end in five games? Yes. Do I want to go on a holiday? Yes, for sure, absolutely do. I want to get some sun. We had one day of it this week and it was amazing I want to go away and have a bit of a break because I, and we, put a lot into this, and that’s the only way to do this job. And that’s every manager, by the way. I’m not special here, you have to give everything.
“And the only aim now is to try and get this job done, and we know what that is and we’ve got five games to do it. We don’t want to do it in five games, but you know what I mean.”
If third and fourth placed Boro and Millwall (both on 72) drop points this weekend and City win then they will be mathematically up. The timing of the fixtures, however, is far from ideal for post match celebrations at the CBS Arena where Coventry’s game against the Owls kicks off at 12.30pm.
The Lions play at West Brom tonight (Fri) and Boro host relegation strugglers Portsmouth at 3pm on Saturday, so if Millwall draw or lose and then the Sky Blues are victorious in their lunchtime game they’ll have to wait until around five o’clock to find out the result at the Riverside.
So in that event, is there a plan for him and the players to hang around and watch the Boro game before cracking open the Champagne?
“There’s no plan for that, no,” he said. “My plan is to go home and have a beer... or two.”
Asked if the players are planning anything, he added: “No, no. We find ourselves in this slightly sort of, not strange but good situation, right, where we may be waiting on things but I’m not. I think if we get the result we want to get, I’ll know where we’re at. So hence I’ll have my beer anyway.”
City’s 20+ goal difference gives the club a huge cushion on Middlesbrough and Millwall, with Lampard knowing that regardless of results elsewhere his side just need a win on Saturday.
“It’s nice and it’s the work, right?” he said. “It’s part of what you want to do, the goals that we’ve scored and the clean sheets that we’ve kept. And it gives us the extra buffer which we deserve at this point.
“Are we’re going to drop 20 goals goal difference? We’ll try not to.”
Asked if his choice of celebratory tipple is a beer or whether he’ll be popping the Champagne corks, he quipped: “I drink pretty much everything. Put it in front of me and I’ll drink it... In moderation, of course.”
As for whether he will allow the players a few drinks on Saturday afternoon, he said: “I’m always fine with that. These lads give so much that as long as it doesn’t affect what we’ve got coming up or whatever, absolutely. You can’t ask for absolute focus and work ethic without having moments to enjoy and this group, they’re good lads and at the right time they’ll have a beer or few.”
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