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The only team in England’s top four divisions yet to lose a game this season, Coventry City want to become unbeatable off the field as well as on it.
One of owner Doug King’s first moves after buying the CBS Arena from Mike Ashley was to slash the price of a pre-match pint to £3.60 – some of the cheapest anywhere in the country. By May, Sky Blues fans hope to be toasting their return to the Premier League for the first time since 2001.
They are in amazing form having won their last three games by combined cricket score, beating Sheffield Wednesday away 5-0, Millwall away 4-0 and Birmingham City at home 3-0.
Best known for beating Tottenham to lift the FA Cup in 1987, Coventry have had some journey since dropping out of the top flight. They have been all the way down to League Two, been kicked out of their stadium, bounced around two other teams' stadiums as temporary homes and battled huge financial difficulties.
But with King – a throwback to English football owners of old – in the boardroom and Premier League great Frank Lampard in the dugout, it feels like the good times are back at Coventry.
As Lampard’s team prepare to face Blackburn on Saturday in front of what is expected to be another full house at the CBS Arena, Daily Mail Sport takes a closer look at why it is all going so right for Coventry.
Frank Lampard's Coventry City are the only team in England's top four divisions not to lose a game this season
Coventry's Kaine Kesler Hayden celebrates scoring his side's fourth goal against Millwall earlier this month. His side are on a roll having won their last three games by a combined 12-0
THE LAMPARD EFFECT
After Lampard’s second spell at Chelsea, when the team won one of 11 games during his temporary stint, there was widespread scepticism when Coventry hired him, especially as he replaced a much-loved manager in Mark Robins. Yet Lampard’s effect has been spectacular, with 73 points from a 41 games during his reign.
Last term, he took Coventry from a relegation battle to the play-offs, where they were desperately unlucky to be beaten in the last second of the semi-finals by Sunderland. Thanks to his playing career, Lampard has the respect of his players and is approachable while keeping his distance enough to ensure his authority remains intact.
Lampard relies heavily on his coaching lieutenants, Joe Edwards and Chris Jones, for regular training sessions, but he has retained many of the staff who were here before him. Edwards sets up the sessions, with Lampard directing. When the players practise shooting and finishing after the session has ended, Lampard - who scored 305 goals in more than 1,000 appearances for club and country - will usually remain to observe and offer advice.
Those at the club admire Lampard’s calm demeanour, whether at the training ground, on the sidelines or when speaking publicly. They argue that his management record has been unfairly judged: he reached a play-off final with Derby in his first job, led Chelsea to the Champions League despite a transfer ban, and kept Everton up, though he was sacked the following year.
Training has been more detailed than under previous regimes, with players given extensive briefings before each fixture on the strengths and weaknesses of their direct opponents.
Though there have been more individual and collective meetings than under Robins, these have been shorter, with Lampard focusing on three or four key messages and drilling them repeatedly. He likes to hold separate group discussions with defenders, midfielders and forwards. At previous clubs, Lampard sometimes left his coaches to lead the sessions but he is heavily involved here, particularly in the tactical work towards the end of the week.
An attacking midfielder like his manager, Jack Rudoni has spent hours discussing his game with Lampard and Edwards, identifying areas for improvement, such as the timing of his runs into the penalty area.
With Coventry or not, Rudoni will be a Premier League player next season and will be valued at about £25million - about five times what the Sky Blues paid Huddersfield Town for him a year ago. For that alone, Lampard deserves huge credit.
Lampard has the respect of his players and is approachable while keeping his distance enough to ensure his authority remains intact
Attacking midfielder Jack Rudoni has spent hours discussing his game with Lampard, identifying areas for improvement, such as the timing of his runs into the penalty area
THE OLD-SCHOOL OWNER
Anyone with nostalgia for the club owners of the late 20th century should be desperate for Coventry to be promoted.
In an era of distant hedge funds and nation states owning clubs, King is a welcome antidote. He made his money in the food and agriculture industries and carries himself with an air of confidence. You cannot miss him on matchdays.
Whatever the issue, King fronts up. During a recent international break, King stood in front of the camera and answered questions fans had submitted. He is the ultimate hands-on owner, playing a key role in all transfer and contract negotiations, setting player valuations and being always prepared to walk away from a deal. He has a distinctive way of expressing himself and refers to the squad as ‘the deck’ - as in, of playing cards.
Yet it would be wrong to suggest this is a one-man show. King has an excellent relationship with key executives, including Lampard, head of recruitment Dean Austin and performance director Claire-Marie Roberts. King was also shrewd to spend substantially on improving the club’s training base at Ryton, a couple of miles outside the city in rural Warwickshire.
He has backed Austin’s judgement in the market: Victor Torp and Matt Grimes are arguably the best midfield pair in the Championship and while the £6.5m sale of captain Ben Sheaf to Wrexham raised eyebrows, there is a feeling that there is now greater leadership in the squad.
Another key hire has been chief business officer Nicola Ibbetson, who worked as chief commercial officer at Aston Villa before moving to European champions Paris Saint-Germain, where she was global partnerships director.
By buying the stadium from Mike Ashley, King has given the club far more room for manoeuvre. Against Blackburn, there will be an indoor fan zone in a space usually used for conferences. By cutting the price of a pint and improving the environment, Coventry hope fans will arrive earlier and stay later – boosting the club coffers as a result.
Results remain the best way of doing that. With fans engaged, close to 25,000 season tickets were sold for this campaign, in a stadium that holds just over 32,000 fans. There are certainly getting their money’s worth.
Coventry owner Doug King bought the stadium from Mike Ashley and has implemented an indoor fan zone, cut the price of a pint and improved the general environment
Victor Torp has been in fine form and with Matt Grimes forms probably the best midfield pair in the Championship
BEHIND THE SCENES
The heartbreaking conclusion to last season could have put Coventry on a downward spiral. There was interest in Rudoni, Milan van Ewijk and Haji Wright, and few could have blamed King had he accepted an offer for at least one of them.
By keeping them, it sent a message to the rest of the squad that Coventry meant business this season.
Many describe the current squad spirit as the best they have witnessed and players like Ben Wilson, Jake Bidwell and Joel Latibeaudiere deserve credit for that. Though the trio are not part of Lampard’s first-choice XI, they have rarely moped.
Instead, they encourage the regulars and ensure their standards remain high. Lampard’s decision to gather players in a hotel before some home matches is also thought to have brought the squad closer together.
Van Ewijk might have been sold and Coventry signed Kaine Kesler-Hayden from Aston Villa in case he was. Van Ewijk stayed, but Kesler-Hayden’s challenge has pushed him to become better.
Grimes’ arrival from Swansea has been transformative.
Before he joined, the club captain had his own parking space at the training ground. When Grimes learned of this, he asked immediately for it to be scrapped, arguing that players should park according to the time they arrive. It went down brilliantly with the rest of the squad.
Matt Grimes knits Coventry together so effectively that Lampard believes he is one of the best signings he has made as a manager
Milan van Ewijk, who can play midfield or at right back, might have been sold but he stayed at Coventry and has improved because of the competition brought in
On the pitch, Grimes knits Coventry together so effectively that Lampard believes he is one of the best signings he has made as a manager.
Another tick in the box for Austin, who has known Grimes since he was caretaker boss at Northampton Town in 2018, where Grimes spent time on loan.
Rudoni could have left and made himself richer in the summer, but he was in no rush. The Wimbledon academy graduate, 24, loves life at Coventry and is loved in return, which he knows is rare in football and should not be taken for granted.
If Lampard's team end the season in the top two, there will be plenty of love in the Coventry air. And every supporter would drink to that, regardless of the price of the tipple.
