The former England midfielder has led the Sky Blues back to the top-flight of English football after a 25-year absence and is "ambitious" about what can be achieved – although he is aware that there will be more defeats than this season's run to the Championship title.

Lampard told The Times: "What I have to understand is that it's not going to look like this year. You'll lose a lot of football matches. More teams than not will go back down straight away.

"Everyone needs to be very aware of that, because it's easy when you're winning a lot – everything's great, the building's great, everyone bounces in to work.

"I'm definitely ambitious where I want to compete in the league, and I feel like I know the work that we need to do fundamentally. To try and do it right, you really have to have a clear strategy very quickly."

Lampard worked under some of the game's leading managers during a celebrated career at Chelsea and cites Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho as his two biggest influences.

He said: "I don't think you can have a career like I've had and not pick things up.

"Carlo Ancelotti was probably the calmest manager I've ever worked with, calm to the point where I thought, does he really want to speak with me, and engage with me that much? But as I got to know him, he gave me a sense of calmness about my game and a trust in me. So I try and give that off, and I'm getting more confident in being that person now than I probably ever have been."

Lampard added: "And there's a Jose Mourinho character. The biggest impact I remember of Jose was how much self-confidence he gave me, via his own self-confidence. I remember that transmitting. I was slightly humble and he went, 'You've got to take it, you've got be more.'

"He was also very driven about being a winner: 'We do not lose, this is what we do.' So I take a bit of that, but I definitely cannot become Jose and I can't become Carlo, because it's just not me."