Coventry City news from CoventryLive as we look at the main men in charge of shaping the Sky Blues future on the club’s return to the Premier League
Head of recruitment Dean Austin (left), Coventry City boss Frank Lampard and owner Doug King have big decisions to make this summer as they re-shape the squad to be Premier League ready
Coventry City face arguably their biggest transfer window in a quarter of a century as the club looks to put together a competitive squad to stay in the Premier League.
Up until this last season, which ended just over a week ago, it was fairly predictable that the three teams that gained promotion from the Championship struggled and dropped straight back down. But Sunderland and Leeds United have managed to buck that trend, with only Burnley returning to the second tier this time around.
Money is clearly a major factor, with the Black Cats spending in excess of £150m last summer on 14 new signings and have reaped the benefit by not only staying up but also securing a seventh place finish and European football next season.
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So who are the big decision makers for the Sky Blues as the club gets its teeth into the transfer market? Summer trading starts in a couple of weeks with the summer transfer window officially opening for business on June 15 for top flight clubs in this country.
When it comes to the big decisions at City, there are three main men – owner Doug King, Head of Recruitment Dean Austin and head coach Frank Lampard.
Doug King
The Sky Blues’ owner is, by his own admission, extremely hands on when it comes to running all aspects of the club, none more so than with recruitment and particularly so in terms of the managing the purse strings.
Although he doesn’t necessarily get involved in identifying potential new players, once a player has been brought to his attention he is very much involved in negotiations over the deal, whether that be with the agents and/or the other club.
Known as a shrewd negotiator who drives a hard bargain – as he did when he held out for a deal worth £20m for Viktor Gyokeres – King likes to be front and centre when it comes to the figures.
Dean Austin
The former Tottenham and Crystal Palace defender joined the Sky Blues in December 2022 and has been largely responsible and credited for putting together the current squad of players who achieved this year’s promotion success.
Two of his biggest successes have been in the last two January windows when he identified, first, Matt Grimes and then Frank Onyeka 12 months later.
Austin and his staff have gone from researching two potential outcomes over the last eight or nine months – one based on promotion and they other if City missed out. The team’s fate became a lot clearer in early April when promotion looked pretty much nailed on and to focus switched very much to window shopping in an elite market ahead of next season.
Although the window isn’t yet open for business, most of the groundwork will have been done, players identified for the positions that require strengthening and background checks done on their characters and quality by speaking to former managers and coaches who have worked with them.
Those names will then be forwarded to Frank Lampard and Doug King for consideration, with the head coach likely to have a big say in the process.
Coventry City are back in the Premier League
The Coventry Telegraph has produced a stunning special edition marking the achievements of Frank Lampard and his men.
And to celebrate, the Coventry Telegraph has produced this stunning 48-page special edition marking the achievements of Frank Lampard and his men.
Since relegation in 2001, the Sky Blues have gone through many well-documented lows, but a quarter of a century later, free-scoring City have earned promotion in emphatic style.
And our bumper special edition is the perfect souvenir to remember that fantastic achievement by.
We’ll have match reports, pics, and reaction from every kick of City’s journey back to English football’s promised land.
It’s all here… the avalanche of goals pre-Christmas that made promotion look nailed on, the brief wobble that followed, and the revival under Lampard to consolidate their position at the top of the table.
Plus, Sky Blues writer Andy Turner will have pages and pages of in-depth analysis on the title-winning season, manager Lampard’s success, key players, and what lies ahead for the club in the top flight.
Club historian Jim Brown will also share his fact-filled take on promotion, while there will be pictures and reports from the Sky Blues’ joyful promotion celebrations.
Click here to buy
Frank Lampard
The Chelsea legend will have an extensive contacts book of his own and has in the past drawn upon his connections to players he’s previously worked with at Stamford Bridge and elsewhere. City have already been linked with Aston Villa’s former Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley, for example.
He’s also, of course, a huge draw for potential new signings given his standing and reputation in the game as a world class player and successful manager. Once a player has been identified, Lampard, like every manager/head coach, will then get involved in the process once permission has been granted by speaking to the potential recruit – a two-way exercise to enable the manager to get a feel for the player while also selling him the vision in terms of how he sees their role in the team etc.
Conclusion
Communication is clearly the key and all three – King, Austin and Lampard – will work extremely closely on every deal, keeping each other updated on virtually every stage of the process from the initial identification of positions and players that might suit, right through to getting the deals over the line.
Explaining how things work, Lampard told CoventryLive: “Myself and Dean have got great communication.
“We get on really well and I’m very thankful to Dean’s support working here and he’s done a great job.”
In terms of looking at what other promoted clubs have done in the market to see what has worked and what hasn’t, Lampard added: “In terms of that specific, I think Dean will do that in his own right with his recruitment team because recruitment is going to be key.
“Let’s be honest. The strategy and how we approach it as coaching staff is one thing but also the players that you want to be recruiting for how you want to be, and for that reason it’s important to study stories. But our story will be different, in a way. But what you can’t do, you can’t do it without the level of players to compete now.”
He added: “I’m not disrespecting our boys, they’ve done great and they deserve the opportunity but, of course, we want to help and improve the squad to help the players that are here that want to make that step up. So yeah, we’ve looked at it a bit, probably separately and a little bit together. And yeah, fortunately I’ve worked there (in the Premier League) as well so I do have a sense of what it is but all the work is done.”
As for Lampard’s relationship with King, it’s clear from the club’s recent broadcast discussion between the two that they get on very well.
“I think if you can get on well with your owner, man to man, that’s a good start,” said the 47-year-old City boss. “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.”
Asked if those disagreements will be to do with money and budgets, he said: “We’ll see, we’ll see about that but when you have that hands on thing, and we’re a small operation which I think is a good thing because if I want to convey something I can go and speak to Doug or Dean 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.”
The last word
Asked how the club plan to get the balance right by retaining what the club have got and being competitive enough to survive 38 hugely testing matches next season, King said: “I think that’s our challenge, and senior relevant people will chew that over as to what we should do.”
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