Frank Lampard overcome by emotion as England legend achieves promotion with Coventry City

Lewis Henderson
Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:32:46 +0000

Frank Lampard had to fight back tears after his Coventry City side achieved promotion to the Premier League.

The Sky Blues only needed a point heading into their match against Blackburn and went 1-0 down nine minutes into the second half after Ryoya Morishita found the net.

Six minutes from stoppage time, Coventry's Bobby Thomas wrote his name in Sky Blues folklore with a brilliant header past Balazs Toth to secure promotion at Ewood Park.

Speaking in his post-match interview, Lampard was overcome by emotion as he secured his first promotion as a manager.

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"It's amazing. The fanbase, what they've gone through, the disappointments, the moments," the former Chelsea and England star told Sky Sports.

Retaining his composure, he continued: "To get a promotion with a non-parachute club, to see the boys there, it makes me emotional. They're so great to work with. They deserve every moment of celebrating.

"I'm proud. I'm proud of myself and the staff. We went into a bit of an unknown. We've fallen in love with the players and the fanbase, how they reacted.

"It's right up there with what I've achieved - and I've won Champions Leagues with Chelsea. But here we're overachieving. Automatic promotion wasn't in our plan."

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Full of praise for his players, the former Everton and Derby manager confirmed his side will celebrate the moment but pursue the Championship title.

Lampard said: "When I looked at Coventry, I saw a club Mark [Robins] had done fantastic work with, and I looked at the squad and thought there were players there we could work with.

"The resilience to come back after losing in the play-offs... We spoke in the summer about what we could do this season and whether we could finish third or fourth to get a home play-off in the second game, which we didn't do last year.

"It's such a good feeling that the boys have managed to get it over the line. Everything I've ever done has been a bit of a point to prove. I'm lucky I have that ingrained."

The Coventry boss went on: "I had my moments, and I think the trick of being a manager is you've got to walk out with a calm demeanour as a manager, but it's easier when you trust the players.

"I've got players like Jake Bidwell and Jamie Allen who haven't played every week, but they've been the biggest voices in the dressing room.

"The players can have a couple of beers on the way home, but they've got to get the job done now.

"I let them have a bit of a party after the Sheffield Wednesday game on Saturday because it was basically done then, but I had the hump with them on Tuesday and Wednesday when they didn't train well.

"We want to go and get it done now. If we play how we have done the rest of the season, we will be fine. We want to sustain it now."

Coventry were one step away from the Premier League three years ago, before being beaten by Luton Town in the play-off final.

Last season, Sunderland knocked the Sky Blues out of the semi-finals and have gone on to have a memorable return in England's top flight.

Finally, it is Coventry's turn, having not been in the league since 2001.