Christopher "Chris" Coleman (born 10 June 1970 in Swansea, Glamorgan) is a Welsh football manager and former player. Until his resignation on January 9th 2012 he was the manager of Greek Side Larissa. On 19th January 2012, Coleman was appointed team manager of the Welsh national team, as successor to Gary Speed.
As a child he grew up a keen supporter of Liverpool FC - his favourite player being Emlyn Hughes.
As a player, he usually played in defence, while also occasionally appearing as a forward. He won 32 caps playing for Wales. As a manager, Coleman attained a respectable ninth place finish in the Premier League in 2004 as the manager of Fulham, who had been tipped for relegation. After leaving Fulham, Coleman was appointed manager of Real Sociedad, but resigned in January 2008, citing differences with the incoming president, even though in his last twelve games he recorded only one defeat. In February 2008, he returned to England to manage Coventry City, but he was dismissed in May 2010 following a disastrous run of results.
In June 2010 he worked as a commentator for ITV at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[1] He has also commentated for Sky Sports.
[edit] Biography
Coleman was born in Swansea in 1970 to a family of 2 sisters. He started school at St Josephs catholic primary school and after attended at Bishop Vaughan Catholic School. The first professional team he was contracted to was Manchester City, aged 16, although he later left them, citing homesickness as the major reason.
He then joined Swansea City which was his boyhood club which he still supports to this day. He had a very successful stint at Crystal Palace where he is considered to have legend status. He also did extremely well with Fulham, and at one point was considered the best defender outside the premier league helping them climb the leagues until his horrific car crash.
He has been used as a co-commentator on non-contract terms on both ITV at World Cup 2010 and its Europa League coverage and since the sacking of Andy Gray on Sky Sports for its Premier League coverage. However in many interviews he has lended the assumption that he wants to get back into management as it is where his heart is. He has 3 daughters and a son and along with his wife live in Kingswood surrey.
His son Sonny Coleman recently joined SEM group PLC a football agency headed by Jerome Anderson.
[edit] Playing career
[edit] Swansea City
Coleman made his first professional appearance for Swansea aged 17, in 1987. He made nearly 200 appearances for the south Wales club and helped win the Welsh Cup in 1989 and 1991.[2][3]
[edit] Crystal Palace
After spending four years with his hometown club, Coleman was signed by Crystal Palace for a transfer fee set by a Football League tribunal at around £250k, 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 – he moved to Blackburn Rovers. The major lowlight of this period was relegation from the Premiership, but he did obtain his first cap for Wales while contracted to Palace.
In 2005, Palace supporters voted Coleman into their Centenary XI.
[edit] Blackburn Rovers
Coleman joined Premier League champions Blackburn for a fee of £2.8 million. Blackburn did not retain the Premiership title they had won in 1995, and finished seventh. Coleman made 28 Premier 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.
[edit] Fulham
Fulham, at the time in the Second Division, were financed by wealthy businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, and were able to spend a record transfer fee for the division 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 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.
[edit] Managerial career
[edit] Fulham
Coleman joined Fulham's coaching staff in October 2002 under Tigana. 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.[4]
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.[5] 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 in April 2007, after Fulham went on a seven game winless run.[6]
[edit] Real Sociedad
Coleman moved abroad to manage recently relegated Segunda División side Real Sociedad in June 2007 after being recommended to the club by fellow Welshman and former Real Sociedad manager John Toshack.[7] He was linked with Bolton Wanderers in October 2007[8] 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.[9]
[edit] 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.[10]
On 26 August 2008, the BBC reported that Chris Coleman was no longer interested in the international success of Wales.[11] 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."[12] On 4 May 2010, Coleman was sacked following Coventry's 19th place finish during the 2009–10 season.[13], their lowest league finish in more than 45 years.
[edit] Larissa
In May 2011, Coleman was appointed as manager of Greek side Larissa.[14] In January 2012, Coleman announced that because of financial troubles at the club he would be quitting from his position as manager.[15]
On 19th January 2012, Coleman was appointed team manager of the Welsh national team, as successor to his late friend Gary Speed.[16]
[edit] Statistics
[edit] Player
[edit] Manager
| Team |
Nat |
From |
To |
Record |
| G |
W |
D |
L |
Win % |
| Fulham |
 |
17 April 2003 |
10 April 2007 |
176 |
61 |
44 |
71 |
34.66 |
| Real Sociedad |
 |
28 June 2007 |
16 January 2008 |
20 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
40.00 |
| Coventry City |
|
19 May 2008 |
4 May 2010 |
117 |
34 |
37 |
46 |
29.06 |
| Larissa |
 |
May 2011 |
09 January 2012 |
12 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
50 |
| Wales |
 |
19 January 2012 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
| Total |
325 |
110 |
89 |
126 |
33.85 |
- As of 19 January 2012
[edit] Honours
[edit] Player
- Swansea City
-
- 1989, 1991
[edit] Manager
- Coventry City
Football League Championship Manager of the Month: February 2009[17]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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(s) secretary (c) caretaker
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Chris Coleman |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
football player and coach |
| Date of birth |
10 June 1970 |
| Place of birth |
Swansea, Wales |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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