London (AFP) – Frank Lampard is targeting promotion to the Premier League for Derby County in his first season as a manager.
Lampard’s first competitive game in charge sees the Rams kick off the new Championship season against Reading at the Madejski Stadium on Friday.
After a glittering playing career that included three Premier League titles and the 2011-12 Champions League with Chelsea, Lampard hopes to build on a promising pre-season campaign by ending Derby’s decade-long absence from the top flight.
“It’s a difficult question, but of course promotion is the target — every club in the Championship has the same target,” said the 40-year-old.
“But we will go step by step. We want to finish as high as we can, we want to get promoted, because this is a Premier League club.
“We must start with those intentions, the players know that. We all want it together here, the staff, the whole building, want to get this club into the Premier League.”
Lampard promised his team would be hard-working.
“I want them to be aggressive, I want them to play good football, fast football. I don’t mean beautiful tiki-taka football, but I want there to be an energy in the team, where they play and excite the fans. I want energy, hard work and aggression,” he said.
Opposing Lampard in the Reading dugout will be his old Chelsea coach, and former Derby boss, Paul Clement.
“I’ve sent a couple of texts to Frank Lampard — first when he got the job and then when the fixtures came out,” Clement said.
“I’m looking forward to coming up against him, as I do with all the managers. This a bit more because I’ve worked with Frank before so it will be nice to see him.”
