Coventry boss Frank Lampard wins Championship manager of the season
Coventry City boss Frank Lampard has been named Championship manager of the season after guiding the club to Premier League promotion.
The 47-year-old orchestrated a remarkable campaign, securing a top-flight return for the Sky Blues with three games to spare.
The Midlands outfit currently sit on 86 points and remain strong favourites to seal the league title.
His individual accolade was officially confirmed at the EFL awards ceremony on Sunday evening.
Coventry dominate team of the season
The former Chelsea midfielder was not the only member of the Coventry setup to be recognised for an outstanding year.
Four instrumental players from his promotion-winning squad were selected in the Championship team of the season.
Goalkeeper Carl Rushworth was joined in the prestigious XI by Milan van Ewijk, Matt Grimes and forward Haji Wright.
An emotional achievement
The ex-England international expressed immense pride in the resilience shown by the club’s supporters over recent years.
“It’s amazing. I’ve talked before about the fan base, what they’ve gone through and all the disappointments, and they’ve stuck with the club and all the stories.”
“And then now they get this moment. It’s a serious, serious football club. I didn’t even realise.”
Acknowledging the foundations laid by predecessor Mark Robins, the manager highlighted the scale of the task upon his arrival 15 months ago.
“We came in 15 months ago, 17th in the league. Mark Robins has done an incredible job to get them back up where they were.”
Closing in on the title
Securing automatic promotion without the financial safety net of parachute payments makes the collective achievement particularly notable.
“Those boys there, how they’ve listened and trained and everything they’ve done every day. It makes me feel emotional because they’re so great to work with, and they deserve every second of celebrating.”
“This league is hard. It’s getting harder because even the teams that are fighting for relegation, teams that have got players and squads.”
“These boys have managed to achieve something pretty unique and absolutely special and incredible.”
Coventry can take a significant step towards securing the league trophy when they host Portsmouth at the CBS Arena in midweek.
The newly promoted side will then conclude their historic campaign with fixtures against Wrexham and Watford.
