Frank Lampard is sitting behind a small table in a small room and puts a little pleasure in himself. Superstition? Yes, he had a few.
“Yes,” laughs Lampard. 'I always ate the same meal in the same proportions and then the dog walked the same walk, the same laps of the park. I had a certain order to turn on my boots and turn on my kit.
'But it became really consuming, because then you lose or play badly and you start a few again and then it becomes a constant nonsense.
'That said, I still keep a few in my own way, but I try to get them out of my head because it can make life challenging at home.
'The dog is still walking, don't worry. I just am not so intense about which route and how many laps I should do and what relationship it will have with how we perform on a Saturday afternoon or not!
'There is still a bit above it (taps his head). It is a constant fight, but it shows that I care, I think. '
And it's the last bit that it is important. The piece about the care. Because if Lampard, former captain of England and the winner of every conceivable club trophy that was ever there to win, it couldn't care, he just wouldn't be here behind this small table in this small room.
Derby, Chelsea, Everton and Chelsea again. Lampard is only 46 years old, but has experienced a lot as a manager in just seven years.
Chelsea second time round – as a caretaker after the fire off Graham Potter two years ago – was particularly brutal. His team won only one of his 11 games that were in charge and to be honest, a great Chelsea servant looked sad and reduced.
Many felt sorry for him. Others laughed. He looked like that might be in management for him, another great player who was broken through life on the other side of the fence.
But that was not the way for Lampard. Last November he took over a Coventry side in the championship. In anticipation of today's home game with Stoke City, his team is fifth who has just won eight of their last nine league games. It is the best run in Coventry for 55 years, hence all the questions about superstition.
“I think a lot,” Lampard tells Mail Sport. 'And when I was out of the game, I thought of Derby and my first time in Chelsea and Everton and Chelsea again and I tried to make sure it all makes me better.
'I am very happy to be at home with my family. I love the dogs. It is the most peaceful hour of my day and this job sometimes stops me from doing that.
'But when it comes to my professional life, this is what I like to do. This is what really gives me a drive. To go on the training pitch and to improve. You take beats, yes. It is much more challenging to do this work.
'But I bought it as soon as I decided that I wanted to become a manager. The things that happen along the way – a little success and then you have a failure – mean that you have to charge and take the balance and take a step back and evolve.
'But I've always wanted to come in again and I'm happy to work here at the moment. I worked as a manager in the Premier League, Champions League and then as a championship. I can honestly say that I enjoy. I enjoy managing this club with the same passion as with Everton or Chelsea. This is what I care about. '
Lampard's management record is actually respectable. He took Derby to the play-off final of the championship in one season and then left for Chelsea, which he sent to a fourth placed Premier League finish.
He was replaced the following season by Thomas Tuchel with the club Ninth. At Basket-Case Everton he held them in the top division in 2022 before he was fired with relegation again a threat in January.
Many managers fail and disappear. It is those who learn along the way who tend to come again. For Lampard it was his second enchantment at Stamford Bridge that he thinks was actually the most constructive.
“That was actually very interesting because it wasn't that fun, clear,” he explains. 'Many people have interviewed. “Do you have to do it?” And “why did you do it?” And all things like that.
'With reflection – and I had a lot of time to think about this – it was one of my biggest lessons. Not at all at football level. Not coaching or tactical. It wasn't the place for that.
'No, what I have learned is that if you are in a group and there is a lack of motivation or a team that does not all work together in the same direction, many, many other things don't matter at all.
“And that was the clearest image I've ever had in that short period. We are now in different clubs and I am not going to talk about them individually. But you can see if you don't have that status and that environment and that thought where you want to go in your work, then it is really difficult to get results. '
Lampard talks a lot about the value of relationships and cultures and he should know. He won three prominent competitions as a Chelsea player together with four FA cups and a Champions League. He also played 106 times for England.
At Derby they still talk about him and the impact he had in one season. He remains in contact with football and office staff in Pride Park.
“Classy is the word they all use,” said a well -placed source in Pride Park. 'Frank has fantastic emotional intelligence. He could read people incredibly quickly. He knew what they needed and changed the way of his conversation, depending on what that was. He would make people feel special and were also customizable.
'For example, he would change the training, depending on the mood at the last minute. If the team had a hard time, he would just make it fun and then ask the PR -employees of the club to make the social media images of players smile and laugh. He was so smart. '
At Coventry, just 50 miles, they say the same about him. His appointment was unpopular, simply because the man he replaced – Mark Robins – had done so much for the club, which she had brought from League Two to a play -off final and FA Cup -and -half final in seven years.
Lampard's early reports reflected what he did at Derby. He told the staff that no one was more important than anyone, whatever job they did. Lampard has given priority to individual time with players and while he speaks – only four months later – the issue of ego is discussed.
“I think I should distinguish between professional and public ego,” he says. 'As a player, I have certainly maximized certain parts of my career by a strong professional ego.
“I wanted to be as good as I could be. I wanted to be better than your husband on the road. That was not a bad feature for me.
'As a manager I still have those things. I want my team to be the best. I want to show when I go against another manager that I can do my work.
“But this is work. So I don't have this ego of what it means for my own public personality. It is important to work with the players in this way, because they have to see humility in the person who leads them.
“I'm with them. If we win or lose, I am just as happy and as disappointed as they are. That is of course for me.
“There will be people who look at me from outside who will go:” Silence, you have a huge ego. ” I don't care. I like to be about my work and then get home for all normal things.
'I know that there will always be a challenge around the corner. It will not always be rosy here. We see it in many clubs and in the career of many managers. It is one of the reasons why I am sitting here and try to temper things. '
Coventry is a large old football club that has endured a difficult past. They have been homeless twice and even now their stadium is the property of the group of Mike Ashley's Fraser.
But the current owner Doug King has Coventry on a good financial foot. The Coventry Building Society Arena will have 30,000 in it today when Robins brings his current club Stoke City to the M6 and the training field on which Lampard Talks has benefited from the right investments. It was not long since plans were disputed to build houses on it.
King has given Lampard an important word about recruitment – something he never enjoyed during his time at Chelsea – and Coventry feels like the perfect place to come again, to grow and develop. It is in some ways, it feels how Derby might have done Lampard, against the temptation of his old club in 2019.
Lampard says that he has already taken a long way in terms of how he looks at the game. He spent time with Pep Guardiola – noticed how he deals with his players during training – Thomas Frank and his old New York City FC teammate Andoni Iraola before he returns. He is candid enough to admit that he is now sure of himself.
“I probably depicted faith in the beginning in the beginning, but I now have much more clarity,” he said, hinting a little bluffing in the past.
After deciding that talking about management philosophy will be overestimated, Lampard is determined not to be chained to one formation or playing style. He made that mistake with Everton. Already at Coventry he switched from four at the back to three and occasionally back.
It slowly serves him well and although he goes back against suggestions that big-to-go players get jobs that other coaches should work for, he knows that his success or otherwise will be viewed in that context.
“I am very passionate about young English coaches who get opportunities because I go into the work that goes in,” he explains. 'It is an easy argument to say that as an ex-player with a profile you get a chance. I know the truth.
'I played for a long time and worked with many good managers and recorded a lot of information. And then I understood when I finished that when I started coaching, I should start again in many ways.
'People management, the tactical delivery of training sessions. And so I worked so hard.
'I understand that an English manager who has not had my route, perhaps with younger than 10 years, under the age of 11, under the age of 12. I also think there are a lot of good ones.
'I have the same image as I look at someone like Eddie Howe and what he does. We must continue to work and show our work and our value and hopefully get more opportunities because I know there are great English coaches. '
That is a broader conversation and a broader picture. For now, the focus of one of the modern size of English football is a lot narrow and so he likes it. Maybe that's how it should be.
“I've always wanted to work at the top,” Lampard explains. 'And you must understand that attention and control are accompanied by the territory.
“But I just think I'm right when I'm working. I like to just work quietly if I can. So far I have been able to do that here. My most important love is working, coaching, trying to get results.
'I feel more attention when we go up the competition and that is a good sign. This is just as busy as this room becomes. '
And with that we leave. All five of us.
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