Sideways Sammy

Coventry City have now officially replaced Mark Robins with Frank Lampard, kicking off a new era that it is hoped will deliver the team away from the current danger they are in and eventually into the Premier League. There is a lot to be said about the pros and cons of Frank Lampard’s coaching record but the bigger questions really surround what the process that has brought him to the club has entailed and what that says about its ability to achieve its stated aim of returning to the top-flight.

This is Doug King’s big gambit as owner of Coventry City. The easy decision would have been to stick with Mark Robins and then make a decision, if needed, based on where the team finished at the end of the season. However, the recent Fans Forum highlighted that King thought that Robins, without Adi Viveash alongside him or an adequate replacement, had become exposed as a tactician and the the club’s Championship status was in jeopardy. King’s words armed him with some form of defence for the indefensible move of sacking a club legend, but it may have come at the cost of the impression that the owner has a clear strategy for reaching the Premier League.

Most notably, Doug King made clear that the ‘board’ that was mentioned in the official statement following Mark Robins’ sacking referred solely to himself. Additionally, the ‘structure’ the new head coach is expected to work within that was referred to in the statement has proven to be a rather nebulous concept based on what King said during that Fans Forum and what has become clear following the appointment of Frank Lampard.

Most had assumed that the term ‘structure’ referred to the new coaching appointments that had been made over the summer following Adi Viveash’s departure from the club. However, Doug King made clear that the appointments and structure of those coaches had been set out by Mark Robins himself. That Frank Lampard has subsequently made coaching appointments of his own indicates that the coaching set-up isn’t what was meant by ‘structure’.

Most likely, it was a reference to the head coach being expected to work with the Head of Recruitment, Dean Austin, and Head of Performance, Dr Claire-Marie Roberts. While this seems to be backed up by reports that the two were part of the interview panel for the head coach position, that the decision to shortlist and appoint Frank Lampard seems to have been made solely by Doug King himself indicates that the voice of the subject-matter experts at the club are minimal versus the owner’s line of thought.

In the same way that the term ‘board’ was subsequently revealed by Doug King to refer to himself, it looks like ‘structure’ refers to himself too. With the appointment of Frank Lampard, Coventry City have moved away from an era where Mark Robins called all the shots to one where Doug King does.

As much as Doug King is entitled to make all of the big calls at the football club that he owns, the worry is that he is allowing himself to wield a lot of power over footballing decisions for someone who openly admits that he is new to being even a fan of the sport. Appointing a head coach, in Frank Lampard, who more famous for his playing days, rather than for what he has achieved in his coaching career thus far, seems to embody that naivety on King’s part.

Of course, there are no guarantees when it comes to appointing managers (or, head coaches). Anyone who has been a fan of Coventry City for the past twenty years or so will have seen the likes of Peter Reid, Iain Dowie and Aidy Boothroyd been appointed having won promotions at other clubs who failed to come close to that with the Sky Blues. Conversely, Mark Robins achieved great success despite arriving having failed at Huddersfield Town and Scunthorpe United.

What a coach has done at one club doesn’t necessarily determine what they do at another, Frank Lampard deserves the chance to prove he is capable of the task he’s been assigned at Coventry City. The context is far more deterministic of success. Reid, Dowie and Boothroyd failed at Coventry because the club was a mess off-the-pitch, it may have been similar for Robins, but he proved to be a character who thrived in difficult circumstances and was afforded the time and freedom by the owners to run the club as he saw fit.

Just how the current circumstances favour or go against Frank Lampard will only become apparent over time. He is arriving at a club with big ambitions from both fans and its owner, which places him under pressure, on top of replacing a hugely popular predecessor. While Lampard is getting an owner, in Doug King, who has shown he is willing to invest in both the squad and off-field facilities, the challenge will be working under someone who wants to be heavily involved in all aspects of the football club.

The past couple of weeks have taught Coventry City fans much more about what Doug King is like as both a person and an owner than the previous two years that had preceded it have. He is someone who is clearly not afraid of making big decisions, the concern is that those decisions are being made on gut instinct rather than on measurable evidence.

The Frank Lampard era is now a crucial test of Doug King’s ownership of the club, most likely one that will define his time at Coventry City. If it’s a success, King will have decisively proven his credentials as a football club owner. If it’s a failure, King will have to completely re-think his decision-making process and may never be able to win back the fans. The difference between those two extremes are Premier League football at one end and League One at the other.