Having once played alongside Lampard for club and country, ex-Coventry playmaker Cole – who has come out of retirement on a one-day loan to play for Warley FC, Specsavers’ Best Worst Team that registered one win and 18 defeats last season while conceding 81 goals – told GOAL when asked what the immediate future holds: “There’s no reason why Coventry can’t be the next Brighton, the next Brentford, the next Bournemouth. He could be part of that and develop and really hone his skills as a manager. He’s still young in terms of management skills. There’s still a lot for him to do.
“The blessing that Frank’s got now is because he’s nailed qualification to the Premier League so early, he has got a head start on the other promoted teams. That is crucial when it comes to buy-in.
“You’ve seen what Sunderland have done last year. There’s a school of players that all the promoted teams want and look for. They managed to get all their deals done. I think with Frank, he’ll probably look at that and think, we need to make sure that in these next two weeks, we are negotiating, sounding out agents and doing this type of stuff to get them players in before the likes of whoever comes up with them, whether it be Ipswich, Southampton, get a chance to get in there.”