Frank Lampard has opened up about his pride in the job he and his Coventry City players and staff have done to get the club back to the Premier League for the fans. The Sky Blues boss was last night named the EFL’s Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Season at a glitzy awards ceremony in London where he spoke passionately about his time at the club, relationship with owner Doug King and the support from the fans and his family, in particular his wife and ‘best friend’ Christine. Here’s every word of his acceptance interview with Sky Sports presenter and one-time City loan player David Prutton. Reflecting on Friday’s 1-1 draw at Blackburn that secured automatic promotion, he said: “I was emotional the other night because it dawned on me in that one moment what we’d achieved as a football club, as a fanbase and as a club that I walked into 15/16 months ago that had gone to the depths and back up. “Football’s always about people and always about supporters and the people who have live it, and I missed that bit so you have to credit Mark Robins for what he did for the club, you have to credit the owner, Doug, for what he’s done for the football club and appreciate the moment. “I’m working with a great group of players, an amazing group that have… knowing this job, and I have had a few different experiences now, when you walk into a group – forget the football talent, which is obviously important – but they look after themselves, they train well, they support each other, they have a laugh and muck around at the training ground but they want to fight when they’re losing and want to come back from things, and that the gold. And I walked into that group of players. “Myself and my staff have worked really hard. There’s a lot of story behind it for that stuff, and it’s an incredible story and I am incredibly proud to be part of it.” Put to him that his relationship with Doug King seems really special, he replied: “I think if you can get on well with your owner, man to man, that’s a good start. And we can laugh and talk and agree and disagree, and I’m sure we’ll have some disagreements over the next few weeks maybe over the summer.” Prutton interjected, asking if that would be to do with money and budgets, to which he said: “We’ll see, we’ll see about that, but when you have that hands on thing, and we’re a small operation, and I think that’s a good thing because if I want to convey something I can go and speak to Doug or Dean Austin who has recruited players at a level that we were working at, and good people and boys that want to work. “The whole thing has been amazing and I came into that and myself and my staff have added to that process and we have seen the results of it.” He added: “I’m very proud. Sometimes I talk it down but what these boys have done, the style that they have done it in and way they have approached this season has been very special. I am fortunate enough to have played in good teams and sometimes I relied on someone else, amazing players, but I have seen a group this year that have done something special. We got promoted the other day and I was very happy for all of the players, for the club and all the staff, really proud.” Prutton said that Coventry City is a football institution that’s been away for 25 years and asked about the heartbreak of the play-off semi-final defeat last season and then going again, and how much that drew on him as a person? “I’ll be honest and say not so much,” he said. “We were all disappointed/devastated when we lost to Sunderland. We didn’t deserve to lose that game and fair play to them, they went through. “I didn’t have to cajole the boys and message them through the summer and say, ‘Let’s go again…’ You know, I sent one message out and the rest of it was just the lads going again.” Lampard then spoke in glowing terms about Matt Grimes, saying: “I have got an amazing captain, Matt Grimes, and this player, this man and what he does for us, a constant undertone and getting the vibe. He’s not always pumping his chest but he’s doing stuff, the right stuff. He rides the storm and plays immaculately in every game, to the point where people take him for granted. “And he runs it, but so do the rest of them, a mixture of characters, And in the summer they just came back and went again. We didn’t change the squad that much, bought in a few players – Carl Rushworth who has made a huge change to what we were doing just on pure ability and talent, but the rest of the boys just went, ‘Let’s go again.’ So I can’t take too much credit for that. We just train every day, work hard every day and try to push that as staff and the boys have delivered.” Speaking about being a manager and the support networks required, Lampard said: “None of us have all the answers. I went into it to be the best tactical coach, better than Pep but you don’t have the answers. And sometimes you wing it, pretend you have the answers or portray it like you feel you have the answers. “You have to have good people around you because there are so many things I can’t do. I’m sitting there with Chris Jones who I worked with at Chelsea as a player and he can do so many things. I can say, ‘Jonesy, what do you think today?’ bang, done… Joe Edwards, again, can do things that I can’t, and we came in to some staff who are really keen and really engaging and good people.” With a special mention to his wife, Christine, he said: “I won’t leave the family bit out because I’m sitting next to my wife. I am fortunate enough at this point to have a work/life balance where I can go home to my wife, who supports me and gives me everything I need. She’s my best friend. I’m lucky, she has her own career and she kind of gets it. Every other manager in this room will say that that’s so important because it’s such an intense job. You go to work and live in this bubble and there’s another problem, what can we do… There are so many problems and you’re trying to get the best and then you come home and you need that balance. So, I’ve mentioned the wife.” As for the Premier League and stepping up a level and asked if he’s dying to get back, he said: “The good thing is that the story of the club and how long it has been away, the fans are desperate for it, and the players as well. A lot of our lads have not touched the Premier League, so they wanted to get there and I think that’s shown in their performances this year. “So I am all for it, let’s go there. It’s going to be difficult, the levels go up but the boys have been so great and we’ll sit down this summer and work it out; what can we do? We want to make a good account of ourselves. We have to. “Have we got a lot of hard work? Yes, we have. Doug, we have lots of hard work. And this club has come a long way in a short period of time and Doug should get lots of credit for that because of what he’s done to the training ground, with his passion, what he’s done with a club that’s gone down and come back up. “His passion is huge and now we will have to take on the challenge of what it is and go for it.” Every day, the CoventryLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Coventry City content. Our dedicated reporter Andy Turner – who you can follow on X – follows the Sky Blues home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. 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