‘GOING UP WOULD BE STUFF OF DREAMS!'
IT'S typical of John Coleman that he didn't want the celebrations on Boxing Day to mark his 20 years of managing Accrington Stanley alongside trusty assistant Jimmy Bell to deflect from the main aim – picking up three precious points.
And in the end it was smiles all round for anyone of a Stanley persuasion as, fittingly, it was one of his stalwarts, skipper Sean McConville, who acrobatically scored the only goal of the game to topple league leaders Rotherham.
Only then could Coleman really relax and enjoy his remarkable milestone, which has been achieved over two spells at the helm. When he first arrived at the tail end of the last Millennium, reformed Stanley were playing in the Northern Premier League First Division.
Four promotions later and they're mixing it with some massive clubs in League One. Progress? Not half.
“It just creeps up on you,” said Coleman of his two decades in the dugout. “You are concentrating on your job and you don't think about the time aspect.
“The first time around it was a long spell (from 1999-2012), but this second stint (from 2014) feels like ten minutes! The years have just flown by.
“The club were celebrating the 20 years on Boxing Day and there was a round of applause on 20 minutes which was appreciated by me and Jimmy, but I didn't want the game to be a sideshow.
“We just wanted to focus on winning the game and then we could spend some times with the fans afterwards. Some have become good friends.
“When we were first here we were getting crowds of 250 to 300 and some of them would come on the coach to away games. You get to know them and see their passion for the club.”
One of the biggest personal highlights for Coleman was winning his first promotion with the club from NPL Division One as player-manager in 1999-2000. Coleman, Bell and current Accrington first-team coach John Doolan all featured on a dramatic final day of the season.
The 59-year-old Merseysider said: “Nothing will beat that – it was my first promotion and I played and scored when we beat Farsley Celtic 3-0.
“We were 17th at Christmas and went on an unbelievable run. We'd been third going into the last day and the top two went up. We knew that if we won, we'd go up on goal difference. To have all my family there, play and score in that game, and lift the title was something special.”
Special
Something that was special for all those with Stanley allegiances was winning promotion into the Football League in 2005-06.
With debts piling up, the original club had resigned from the League in March 1962. They eventually went bust four years later before reforming in 1968. It had been a long and winding road through Non- League to get back to where they had once resided.
And Coleman was especially delighted for chairman Eric Whalley that they'd achieved the dream.
“It was a great feeling being able to do it for him,” said Coleman. “Eric had given his heart and soul to the club and was forever bailing it out. To do it for him and all the fans who had followed the club through thick and thin meant a lot.”
However, it wasn't all plain sailing after returning to the top 92.
“The idea of getting back in the Football League was deemed the Holy Grail,” explained Coleman, who has also had stints in charge of Ashton United, Rochdale, Southport and Sligo Rovers . “But after the initial thrill of being in the league, the numbers dwindled a bit and there was a little bit of apathy. It became hard to sustain.
‘From when we first took charge of the club in 1999 to where it is now, it's unrecognisable'
John Coleman
“It's been a steady process. We have built the club up to be a good, competitive team in the Football League. There have been people who have helped keep the club afloat over the years, like Eric, Peter Marsden, Ilyas Khan and Dave O'Neill.
“Andy Holt has since taken the baton and sprinted away again. It's not just doing what we do on the pitch, it's the infrastructure of the club as well. If you look at the club from when we first took charge in 1999 to where it is now, it's unrecognisable – and in the future it's only going to get better.
“We have acquired a training ground and will hopefully be in that next year. The new stand on the far side is a million miles from what we had before. The clubhouse opens next state of the art – the fans will be proud to use it.
“It's trying to ensure the match- day experience isn't just 90 minutes – you can have a band, promotions on food and drink.
“We also do a shirt give- away to children in the local area, which is a great initiative. They are getting a chance to be part of the club and hopefully that will eventually help grow the fanbase. When we went out of business, clubs like Burnley and Blackburn were attracting our fans.”
Underdogs
With plenty going on off the pitch, can Coleman continue to help Stanley punch above their weight on it?
“I think there's another promotion in us,” he insisted. “It would be the stuff of dreams. If you look at the clubs in League One, the magnitude of them, it takes your breath away – Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Charlton, Portsmouth, but we have always tried to shrug off that tag of being underdogs. It's never bothered us.
“If we hadn't been playing catch up so much last year with games called off and injuries, I think we would have had a good chance.”
Heading into 2022, the Lancashire club – with one of the lowest budgets – were a creditable tenth in the third tier, sandwiched by a bunch of big guns, but Coleman hasn't been overly impressed.
“People say we are overachieving again, but we are a little bit disappointed because we have conceded too many goals and lost games we should have won,” he said. “I don't think we have hit the heights we can – hopefully in the second half of the season.”
As always, Coleman is set to have his loyal No.2 Bell alongside him every step of the way.
“We've managed together for 25 years and we played together a lot before that,” explained Coleman, who scored more than 500 goals in his Non-League playing days. “I think it's the dynamics that make it work. There's a lot of freedom for Jimmy to express himself on the training ground.
Freedom
“At the start I did the coaching and Jimmy helped, but it's gone pretty much full circle. Jimmy does a lot of the coaching alongside John (Doolan) and I'll observe and chip in. It works well. Jimmy and John deserve a lot of credit for how good they are.”
Coleman is mixing with Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal stalwart Arsene Wenger in the dugout longevity stakes.
“They are brilliant people to even be associated with,” added Coleman, who had a rare New Year's Day off after Stanley's match at Wigan was postponed following Covid cases and injuries at the Wham Stadium. “I have a long way to go to match their achievements!
“Even being a Liverpool fan, I admired the way Alex Ferguson played and his teams attacked. I haven't been that much of a biased football fan that I couldn't appreciate good play. You are always trying to learn and pick up new ideas.”
That willingness to learn is probably why the former primary school teacher is still going strong in the Stanley dugout after all these years – and has more dreams to accomplish.
