It should not take a great deal of imagination to dream up the reception in wait for Frank Lampard when he takes his new Coventry side to Millwall on Saturday.
As a Chelsea legend and former West Ham player, Lampard will be on enemy territory and the barracking he will cop from the locals promises to be relentless, unforgiving and deeply personal.
As Lampard prepares for his first game in sole charge of Coventry — he had just two days to prepare for last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Cardiff — it feels important to point out that the former England midfielder does not need to subject himself to an afternoon of abuse from Millwall fans.
Really, Lampard does not need to deal with any of it: the early starts, the long days at Coventry’s training ground, the travel, the compromises, the uncomfortable questions, the pressure from the club’s ambitious chairman, impatient supporters, moaning agents, unhappy players.
After two decades playing at the highest level of the game, Lampard has presumably not taken a job in England’s second tier for the money. If it is a payday he is seeking, he could have taken a route like his former international teammate Steven Gerrard and accepted a job in Saudi Arabia or similar.
Supposing he enjoys the spotlight, then he could easily join contemporaries Roy Keane and Gary Neville — both of whom quickly gave up on management — on the comfy Sky Sports sofas, still influential and breathing the rarefied air of the elite game, but untroubled by the pressures of management.
Alternatively, Lampard could spend his days strutting around Chelsea in an ambassadorial role, or take up a technical director role at any number of clubs, living the game’s day-to-day buzz but safely ensconced in the boardroom.
Lampard, though, has ignored the easy options and instead returned to the unforgiving arena of the Championship in search of something more admirable than money, influence or the limelight.
In joining Coventry, Lampard is seeking to rebuild his reputation as a coach and earn redemption after underwhelming spells at Derby, Chelsea and Everton, before his disastrous return to west London on an interim basis, which made for car-crash viewing.
Reputation rebuild
Lampard deserves respect for his commitment to cracking management, even if — like Wayne Rooney, who is now a relegation rival at Plymouth — he has earned another job at least in part on reputation, rather than his achievements in the dugout.
In succeeding the popular Mark Robins at Coventry, Lampard has effectively dropped to a lower point than where he started in management with Derby in 2018. The Rams were expected to push for the play-offs, whereas Lampard’s immediate aim is to steer the Sky Blues away from the drop zone.
Perhaps it is naive to suggest that Lampard is drinking in the last-chance saloon, with his final big shot of making it as a manager at a decent level. Maybe there will be another chairman or club attracted by the stardust and willing to take a punt on Lampard, even if his spell at Coventry is another short-lived affair.
Lampard can no longer be considered a young manager. He can scarcely afford to fail with another good opportunity
But — alarmingly for those of us who grew up watching him as a player — Lampard is now 46 and can no longer be considered an up-and-coming young manager. Nine of the 20 Premier League bosses are his junior, and to make it as a respected coach Lampard can scarcely afford to fail with another good opportunity.
Lampard was often held up as a player who was not the most naturally gifted but reached the top as much through graft as skill. As a coach, he is displaying the same dogged traits but is yet to taste sustained success, leaving his latest job feeling like a make-or-break shot at a career in the dugout.
