Chelsea legend confirmed as shock candidate for Coventry City job | OneFootball

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has thrown his hat into the ring to become Coventry City's next permanent manager, the Championship club have confirmed.

Lampard hasn't held a full-time managerial role in almost two years, having been sacked by Everton in January 2023. His most recent job was as Chelsea interim boss for a few weeks in April and May of the same year, while his previous Chelsea stint had ended with the sack in January 2021.

But the 46-year-old is seemingly keen to get back into football, spying an opportunity when Coventry cut ties with long-serving boss Mark Robins earlier this month.

Lampard was quickly linked with the job and Coventry owner Doug King has now confirmed that his application is indeed among the many that have arrived on the club's doorstep.

"We've received a huge amount of CVs from high quality people, of which Frank is one," King revealed to Sky Sports.

"We've done nothing on that process. Clearly, we're in the international break. We'll be assessing everything. We'll work out who's going to make the shortlist and we'll go from there."

Lampard wants to return to football / Visionhaus/GettyImages

Having retired from playing at the start of 2017 after a spell with New York City, Lampard began his managerial career with Derby County the following year.

He took a Rams side featuring ex-Chelsea and England teammate Ashley Cole, as well as on-loan youngsters Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, to the 2019 Championship play-off final. It ended in defeat to Aston Villa, but Lampard was quickly handed the opportunity to take over at Chelsea.

Coventry got within a penalty shootout of last season's FA Cup final, while play-off final penalty heartbreak at Wembley also cost them a long-awaited return to the Premier League in 2023. A poor start to this season has seen the Sky Blues slip to 18th in the Championship, which was enough for Robins to lose his job after seven years and bringing the club back from the depths of League Two.