Published: Thursday, 26th November, 2009 2:00pm

Lampard's two year Premier League goal

by Anthony Smith

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FRANK Lampard snr is convinced Reading will be back in the Premier League within two years.

And the club's football consultant strongly believes Brendan Rodgers is the right man to get them there.

It was one year ago this week that Rodgers offered Lampard a job at Watford after the pair struck up a friendship at Chelsea.

And when Reading lured Rodgers from Vicarage Road in the summer, he immediately brought Lampard with him as well as assistant manager Dean Austin.

And while Lampard admits Rodgers has made errors at the Madejski Stadium, he also has complete faith in the 36-year-old to turn Royals into serious promotion candidates.

"Brendan has obviously made mistakes like we all have and he will be the first to admit that," said Lampard.

"But he's also done a lot of good things. He believes in the way he wants to play and he's got my full backing.

"I just throw in things here and there which might make him think twice sometimes but we work well together and we respect each other.

"I watched him coach at Chelsea so I knew how good he was. But being a manager is different because you are the front man who takes all the flak if it goes bad. If it goes well you get the glory but there's no middle ground.

"He will learn as he goes along but I think he's done very well and with a bit of luck we can take this club forward.

"We don't want to be in this division, we want to be in the Premier League - if not this year maybe next.

"We will have a big push for the Premier League because that's where I want to be and it's what I'm here for."

Lampard quickly settled into his new role and he sees strong similarities between Royals and one of his former clubs.

"I love it here," he declared. "I think Reading is a terrific club and it reminds me a lot of West Ham United.

"When you go to the ground on match days everyone is laid back and friendly. Maybe that's gone out of the game at the Premier League clubs because it's so commercial and corporate.

"But Reading is like the West Ham I knew when I was assistant manager to Harry Redknapp for seven years.

"It was a good family club and that's the great thing about it. We want it to stay that way, that's how we like it."

And the 61-year-old says he loves being back in a tracksuit. "I enjoy my job, I don't get pressure from anyone but I make sure I do my stuff and I'm always at the training ground.

"I want to give something back so I've started taking the youth team on Tuesday mornings. I work them hard but it doesn't do them any harm.

"So my job is not just to work with the first-team but to look underneath and what's coming through.

"Going back to West Ham, we had two of three coming through from the youth team every year and that's what we want here."

Reading are on a three-match unbeaten run which includes wins at Coventry and at home to Blackpool last weekend, their first at in the league at Madejski Stadium since January.

And Lampard has praised the collective spirit of the team: "The attitude of the lads has been brilliant," he argued. "They kept going when it's not easy.

"I've been in the game a long while and you go through phases. But as long as you don't hide, you will get out of the difficult times.

"I told the lads a month ago that whatever they do, don't hide. It's easy to talk a good game then you go on the pitch and all of a sudden you go missing and it all goes wrong. I've been very pleased with the reaction."

He added: "The 4-1 defeat at QPR might have brought a few things home to the players and the staff as well.

"We seem to have kicked on from there. We've beaten Coventry and Blackpool, we were unlucky to lose to Leicester and we drew with Ipswich when we possibly should have won.

"But we've always tried to play football and as long as you believe in what you are doing I like to think you will come out the other end.

"I also think clean sheets are so important right from the top league down to the bottom. If we can concentrate on keeping clean sheets and playing our football I'm sure the goals will start coming the other end."

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