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Pep Guardiola once told Frank Lampard he was destined to become a top-class manager and his Coventry City side are now on the brink of Premier League promotion. The Chelsea legend has completely transformed the fortunes of the Sky Blues since taking the reins as head coach in November 2024 .

Having inherited a side languishing in 17th place in the Championship, the former England midfielder guided the club to a fifth-placed finish, before narrowly missing out to eventual play-off winners Sunderland in the semi-finals.

This season, however, there's been no need for play-off heartache, with Coventry firmly establishing themselves as the standout side in the second tier. Following their 0-0 stalemate with Hull City on Monday, they now sit just four points away from a return to the Premier League for the first time since the 2000/01 season.

Promotion could be secured on Saturday , should they overcome bottom side Sheffield Wednesday while Middlesbrough and Millwall both fail to win against Portsmouth and West Brom respectively.

Lampard's arrival at the CBS Arena represented his fifth managerial appointment and his second crack at the Championship, following his one-year tenure with Derby County. Yet it was during his maiden spell at Chelsea that he received the ultimate endorsement from Guardiola .

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The 47-year-old secured Champions League football in his debut season at Stamford Bridge despite a transfer embargo, with the Manchester City supremo heaping praise on Lampard for his astute decision-making .

Guardiola said: " Frank Lampard was an extraordinary football player, and he will be an extraordinary manager. He did a really good season and I am delighted to watch his team. They are the elite of European football.

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"When you start as a manager, you have a passion and no fears. You take decisions without compromise, which he has done by giving opportunities to the young, talented players Chelsea have because his academy in the last five or 10 years has done really well."

Looking ahead to Coventry's potential promotion to the top flight, football finance expert Kieran Maguire outlined how financially rewarding moving up would prove for the club. Speaking about Coventry's existing portion of the EFL's TV agreement, he told CoventryLive: "As far as the impact on the club is concerned, they get around about £12million from the TV deal.

"You can add a minimum of £100m on to that. And then it goes up by another £2.5m to £3m for every place higher up the league. So there's a minimum of £100m there.

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"I think you can add an extra £15m to £20m for the commercial side of the club... that front-of-shirt deal will become that much more attractive because you're being broadcast to almost 200 countries around the world .

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