Chris Coleman (footballer)

Christopher Patrick "Chris" Coleman (born 10 June 1970) is a Welsh professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of the Wales national team.

As a player, Coleman usually played in defence, while also occasionally appearing as a forward. He won 32 caps playing for Wales. Coleman's playing career ended at the age of 32, when his leg was broken in a car crash. Following this, he started his coaching career.

In his first full season as manager of Fulham, Coleman guided the club to ninth place in the 2003–04 Premier League. After leaving Fulham, Coleman was appointed manager of Real Sociedad, where he resigned in January 2008 due to differences with the incoming president. He returned to England to manage Coventry City, but was dismissed in May 2010 following a poor run of results. Coleman then managed Greek side Larissa for the first half of the 2011–12 season before resigning due to financial troubles at the club. In 2012, he took over as Welsh national manager after the death of Gary Speed, and led Wales to UEFA Euro 2016, their first major tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Coleman was born in Swansea^[2] to a family of two sisters. He started school at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School and then went to Bishop Vaughan RC School. As a child, he grew up a keen supporter of Liverpool – his favourite player being Emlyn Hughes. The first professional team he was contracted to was Manchester City, aged 16, although he later left them, citing homesickness as the major reason.^[3] He then joined Swansea City.^[4]

He is married to TV presenter Charlotte Jackson. They had a son at the end of 2014.^[5][6][7] His oldest son Sonny is a football agent.^[8]

In June 2010, Coleman worked as a commentator for ITV at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[9] He has also worked as a commentator and pundit for Sky Sports.

Club career

Swansea City

Coleman made his first professional appearance for his hometown club Swansea City aged 17, in the autumn of 1987, soon after joining them from Manchester City. He made nearly 200 appearances for the south Wales club and helped win the Welsh Cup in 1989 and 1991.^[10][11]

Crystal Palace

After spending four years with Swansea, Coleman was signed by Crystal Palace in 1991 for a transfer fee set by a Football League tribunal at around £270,000, plus a percentage of any future sale. After making 143 appearances, scoring 16 goals in that period – a 1 in 9 record explained by the fact that manager Steve Coppell often used Coleman as a makeshift centre forward. Palace finished 10th in Coleman's first season at Selhurst Park, but they were relegated from the new FA Premier League in his second season (although they did reach the semi-finals of the League Cup). They won promotion as Division One champions at the first attempt, but went straight back down again despite reaching the semi-finals of both cups that season. Coleman was sold to Blackburn Rovers, the defending league champions, for £2.8million in December 1995. While at Palace, he was capped for Wales at senior level for the first time.

In 2005, Palace supporters voted Coleman into their Centenary XI.

Blackburn Rovers

Coleman joined Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £2.8 million. Blackburn did not retain the Premier League title they had won in 1995, and finished seventh, just missing out on a UEFA Cup place. Coleman made 28 league appearances over his season-and-a-half at the club, and when he found himself out of the starting line-up too often (not helped by a persistent Achilles injury), he took the gamble to further his career by dropping two divisions to join Fulham.

Fulham

Fulham, at the time in Division Two, were financed by wealthy businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, and were able to spend a record transfer fee for the division and club, of over £2 million for Coleman in late 1997. He quickly became club captain, and led Fulham to promotion under manager Kevin Keegan in 1998–99 to the First Division.

He remained captain and a regular in the team under new manager Jean Tigana in the 2000–01 season as Fulham made a successful start to the campaign. However, Coleman's career was effectively ended midway through the season, after he broke his leg in a car crash, near Bletchingley in Surrey on 2 January 2001, just days before an FA Cup tie against Manchester United. He never recovered from this injury despite playing a reserve fixture in March 2002, a game that only served as an indication that he would never again play at the highest level of English football. He announcement his retirement as a player in October 2002, but stayed at the West London club as a member of the coaching staff.

International career

Coleman was capped by Wales at school, youth, under-21 and senior levels.^[2][12] His only competitive football appearance after his leg injuries came for Wales on 14 May 2002, when he was called up to the squad as a replacement for Danny Gabbidon,^[13] and then came on as a late substitute for goalscorer Robert Earnshaw in the 1–0 win over Germany at the Millennium Stadium.^[14]

Managerial career

Fulham

Coleman joined Fulham's coaching staff in October 2002 under Tigana.^[15] He later succeeded the Frenchman as caretaker manager in April 2003, and steered Fulham away from relegation danger. He was named as Fulham's permanent manager in May 2003, beating the more experienced Klaus Toppmöller and George Burley to the post, and also became the youngest manager in the Premier League.^[16]

His first full season in charge saw Fulham finish a surprise ninth place, as many pundits tipped them to struggle and for Coleman to be sacked.^[17] Many of Fulham's key players, such as Edwin van der Sar, Louis Saha, Steed Malbranque and Luis Boa Morte, were sold in the following years and Fulham did not repeat their earlier successes under Coleman though he kept them clear of relegation. He was sacked on 10 April 2007, after Fulham went on a seven-game winless run.^[18]

Real Sociedad

Coleman moved abroad to manage recently relegated Segunda División side Real Sociedad on 4 July 2007, after being recommended to the club by fellow Welshman and former Real Sociedad manager John Toshack.^[19] He was linked with Bolton Wanderers in October 2007^[20] though nothing came of it. With the club in 5th place and having only lost once in its previous eleven games, Coleman resigned as manager on 16 January 2008, citing a divergence in vision for the club with newly elected President Iñaki Badiola.^[21]

Coventry City

Coleman was appointed manager of Championship side Coventry City on 19 February 2008, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. He replaced Iain Dowie, who had been sacked by new owner Ray Ranson.^[22]

On 26 August 2008, the BBC reported that Coleman was no longer interested in the international success of Wales.^[23] He later denied the allegation, however, telling BBC Radio Wales' Sportstime programme, "I've got to get him [Eastwood] fit for Coventry first and foremost, that's my job. When he is fit, I'd drive him down the motorway myself if I had to for him to play for Wales. I've played for Wales myself and I preferred playing for my country than any club I've played for. I can promise you that I love Wales, I'm very patriotic and that will never change."^[24] On 4 May 2010, Coleman was sacked following Coventry's 19th-place finish during the 2009–10 season,^[25] their lowest league finish in more than 45 years.

Larissa

On 26 May 2011, Coleman was appointed as manager of Greek side Larissa.^[26] In January 2012, Coleman announced that because of financial troubles at the club he would be quitting from his position as manager.^[27]

Wales

Coleman as manager of Wales in 2015

On 19 January 2012, Coleman was appointed team manager of the Wales national team, as successor to his friend Gary Speed, who had died the previous November.^[28] After letting his assistant Osian Roberts take charge in Speed's memorial match against Costa Rica in February,^[29] his first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat against Mexico at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 27 May; Gareth Bale and Joe Ledley both missed the game through injury, but Craig Bellamy appeared, having previously made a decision to retire from international football.^[30]

Wales' first match in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was on 7 September at home to Belgium, with centre back James Collins sent off for a late lunge on Guillaume Gillet in the 25th minute of an eventual 0–2 loss.^[31] Four days later in Novi Sad, the team lost 6–1 to Serbia; Coleman said in October 2015 that he considered leaving his post after the defeat.^[32] After becoming the first Welsh manager to lose his first five games, Coleman got his first win on 12 October 2012, a 2–1 victory against Scotland from two Bale goals.^[33] On 26 March 2013, in a qualifier against Croatia at the Liberty Stadium, Wales led 1–0 for the majority of the game through a Bale penalty, but two late goals from the opponents ended any hopes of qualification.^[34]

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

As of match played 13 November 2015.

Honours

Player

Swansea City

• Welsh Cup: 1988–89, 1990–91^[2]

Crystal Palace

• Football League First Division: 1993–94^[2]

Fulham

• Football League First Division: 2000–01^[2]
• Football League Second Division: 1998–99^[2]

Manager

Coventry City

• Football League Championship Manager of the Month: February 2009^[36]

Individual

• Football League Third Division PFA Team of the Year: 1988–89, 1990–91
• Football League Second Division PFA Team of the Year: 1997–98, 1998–99
• Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year: 1999–2000, 2000–01
• Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 1994

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Coleman (footballer).

• Chris Coleman career statistics at Soccerbase