Frank Lampard has proved the doubters wrong again in masterminding Coventry rise with club promoted to the Premier League

Frank Lampard has been proving doubters wrong for a very long time.

The West Ham fans' forum back in 1996 is now etched firmly into football folklore.

Harry Redknapp, Lampard's uncle, sat at a desk defending his nephew from fans who thought nepotism had earned him a place in the first team when he was still a teenager.

"I'm telling you now, he will go right to the very top," Redknapp insisted, firmly and decisively.

Of course Lampard did. He was arguably the greatest Premier League midfielder of his generation.

Retiring at the back end of a glittering career, he could have gone down any path. But his drive and determination drove him back into the game, and into management.

Lampard wanted to prove himself all over again.

Coventry City is his fourth club, and fifth role overall. There has been more success in the past than naysayers will have you believe. There was Derby's journey to the play-offs, taking a Chelsea side under a transfer embargo to Champions League qualification, and keeping Everton in the Premier League.

But this latest success, promotion with the Sky Blues, undoubtedly caps the lot. Taking over a club from one of the most popular and successful managers in their history in Mark Robins - who was sacked in November 2024 amid a tidal wave of fury from fans who have him down as a hero.

Lampard, off the back of things going sour at Everton, a miserable second spell at Chelsea - albeit as a caretaker - and more than a year out of the game, was not a well-received appointment.

It was time to prove himself again. And he has done just that. Lampard took them from 17th in the table into last season's play-offs - where they heartbreakingly lost to Sunderland in the semi-finals. And he has gone one better this year with automatic promotion.

The title awaits as well.

Lampard has worked under some of the greats of the game, and learned from all of them along the way.