Frank Lampard will firstly assess exactly what he inheriting as the new boss of Coventry City before the subject of the January transfer window is seriously explored, says Doug King. The Sky Blues chairman has appointed Chelsea great Lampard as the club's new head coach this week, a role in which he replaces the outgoing Mark Robins after an extensive process.
Lampard takes over an undoubtedly talented squad which has been assembled over the last number of years under Robins, who had to find ways to replace the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Gus Hamer and Callum O'Hare. City were busy in the summer, recruiting Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jack Rudoni, Norman Bassette and Oliver Dovin. They also welcomed Ephron Mason-Clark, six months on from his acquisition.
For the club to sit where they currently find themselves will raise the eyebrows of many who predicted that City would be one of the teams to watch in the Championship this season, but the hope for King now is that Lampard's arrival can inspire an improvement in fortunes. Whether that involves topping up the squad in January, time will tell, but the first port of call will be to conduct a deep dive into what is currently at his disposal.
"We've done a lot of recruitment in the last two or three windows," King told talkSPORT. "I think, and he thinks too, that he needs to get a proper look at what we have and assess it. A player like Ephron Mason-Clark, who went back on loan to Peterborough and then coming in the summer, he hasn't really had a good run of it yet.
"We have high hopes for him particularly, to get him into it and make his mark. He was absolutely superb last year, obviously in one league down. He's a quality player and we haven't seen the best of him yet in my opinion. There's no point us going this, that, what have you.
"We've been doing our work anyway, as we always do in recruitment, to see where we want to strengthen and see where there may be some interesting moments to target. Right now, though, we haven't had much chat on that at all. It's just 'let's get on with it', it's a great time to come in, because we have this coming week where we have no midweek games. That'll give the guys time to get a flavour of where we are and get their bearings."