Frank Lampard Seeks Jose Mourinho's Guidance for Coventry City

Frank Lampard still leans on Jose Mourinho. Not for nostalgia. For work.

The Coventry City manager has revealed he went back to his old mentor in the summer, seeking guidance on a transfer target. Mourinho, now back in charge at Real Madrid, responded with the same forensic eye Lampard once relied on as a player at Chelsea.

“Jose's always there,” Lampard told talkSPORT. “Between us now, I did message him the other day about another player – not a Real Madrid player – but a player that he worked with previously and he's always on call.

“It takes him a couple of days sometimes. I know he's a busy man. But he came back with a very, very detailed talk about a certain player we're talking about.”

That kind of relationship doesn’t fade easily. Mourinho’s influence still hangs over Lampard’s managerial journey, just as it did over his peak years in midfield at Stamford Bridge. The “Special One” remains the reference point, even as Lampard works hard to prove he is not just an echo of his old boss.

Lampard has watched the recent Mourinho documentary and admitted it stirred something deeper than simple reminiscence.

“I've watched the Mourinho documentary, obviously, and it was great memories, specifically the first one, because it was just the Chelsea story and it just brought back so many great things. I knew I loved Jose a long time ago, but seeing it all back was great.

“I worked with lots of great managers, but he was the one who had the greatest impact on my career when he came in because of the confidence he gave me.”

Plenty have tried to copy Mourinho’s persona. Lampard has no interest in that.

“I think many managers have tried to imitate Jose, to a degree, and I wouldn't or couldn't do that because I don't have his characteristics. I have my own.”

That insistence on individuality has been sharpened during his 18 months at Coventry. After turbulent spells at Derby County, Chelsea and Everton, Lampard believes he has finally found a calmer centre in the chaos of management.

He talks now about balance as much as tactics. About surviving the emotional swing of a job that can turn overnight.

“I'm trying to do management in my own way. What I've probably learned the most is to get my own balance right, in terms of: you can't win every game,” he said.

“You’re going to be tested in loads of ways. You can't search for perfection every day. You have to get your balance right off the pitch and on the pitch and prioritise the things that really matter. And hopefully, these 18 months of Coventry, I've been able to show that that's a little personal improvement for me.

“And it actually makes my life easier to get that balance right, because you get your time to rest, it's a stressful job that will tax you, but you have to understand when you're in it, that's what it is.”

Any lingering sense of comfort will vanish on Friday night.

Coventry’s return to the Premier League becomes brutally real at the Emirates Stadium, where they face champions Arsenal in their opening fixture. Twenty-five years out of the top flight, and the first assignment is a trip to a team that swept the league last season.

Lampard knows exactly what that means. He also knows he cannot let it crush his squad before a ball is kicked.

“I'm excited. I think we're excited,” he said. “I think our little story of 25 years out of the league, the year that we had last year with the boys, and how well they did to get us there.

“And then reality obviously kicks in. And when you see Arsenal away as a first game, it absolutely kicks in because they were, quite rightly, the champions. But we have to focus on ourselves. We have to take the challenge head-on that it is. You know, you play these best teams through the year away from home.”

Mourinho’s voice is still in his ear. The decisions, though, are Lampard’s alone now – starting under the floodlights in North London, against the champions, with a newly promoted side and no hiding place.