Frank Lampard has opened up on the contrasting influences that have shaped his approach as a manager, describing himself as a blend of two of the most successful bosses he played under during his career: Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.
Speaking to musician and Coventry City supporter Tom Grennan for BBC One's The Football Interview, the Coventry manager reflected on his time as a player at Chelsea, where he won the Premier League and FA Cup under both Mourinho and Ancelotti. Now eight years into his own coaching career, Lampard says he draws from both men's contrasting styles when managing his squad.
"Jose and Carlo are like both sides of the coin," Lampard said. "Jose was very on you, he transmitted his self-confidence, but if you stepped out of line or did something wrong, you'd feel the strength of him, whereas Carlo was chilled and calm. When you look back, you go, 'that's a nice environment to work in'. It felt like he trusted you. So I try and take little snippets. I'm probably somewhere in the middle."
Lampard admitted that finding the right balance between discipline and empathy has become clearer to him with experience. "I start to sometimes go towards being Jose, sometimes I go and be a bit more Carlo," he explained. "I've learnt that young managers, you come in and feel like you have to criticise a bad performance or say something about an individual that turns up late. The more I've done this job, I realise that they're all humans. Sometimes a lad comes in late, you don't know the back story. And so trying to jump on him and being this hard man manager, you've got to be more Carlo. But then if you're a bit more relaxed sometimes and people are on the pitch, not doing their job, sometimes you've got a bit more Jose."
The 48-year-old also addressed the pressures of management in the modern game, insisting he refuses to be consumed by outside expectations after guiding Coventry back to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years. "The thing about modern-day football – you're brilliant one minute, you might not be brilliant the next and then everyone will let you know that," he told Grennan. "You've got to be careful trying to prove every doubter wrong, because it's not possible."
Lampard's managerial journey has featured highs and lows since he began his career at Derby County in 2018, where he led the club to the Championship play-off final before losing to Aston Villa. Stints at Chelsea and Everton followed, both ending in dismissal, before he took charge at Coventry in November 2024. Since then, he has transformed the club's fortunes, leading them to promotion from the Championship with 95 points last season.
Reflecting on his managerial achievements compared to his glittering playing career - which included three Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League triumph with Chelsea - Lampard said the emotional weight of promotion with Coventry ranks among his proudest moments. "When you get promoted, it's hard to balance against winning the Champions League with Chelsea," he said. "Winning in Munich was the best footballing night of my life as a player by far. But then when you do something with a club that's been through what it's been through, when you work with a group of lads that are so great as a dressing room - I've never experienced, especially as a coach, to have such a good group. When we got promoted against Blackburn, I had a rush of pure emotion, it all came on top of me. It certainly goes right up there in things I've managed to achieve."
Looking ahead to Coventry's return to the top flight, Lampard stressed the need for adaptation after last season's dominant Championship campaign. "We'd be fools to think that we'd just go and play like we did in the 'Champ' every week when we dominated a lot of games," he said, adding that he wants his players to embrace the challenge with confidence rather than fear.
Coventry began their Premier League campaign with a 3-0 defeat to champions Arsenal and will look to bounce back when they host fellow promoted side Hull City in their first home match of the season.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.