CHRIS COLEMAN (FOOTBALLER)

'Christopher "Chris" Coleman' (born 10 June 1970 in Swansea, Wales) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer. Coleman is currently the Real Sociedad manager. As a player, he usually played in defence while also occasionally making a mark as a forward. His most significant achievements include winning 32 caps for Wales and attaining a very respectable ninth place finish in the Premier League as the manager of Fulham, who had been tipped for relegation, in 2004. It was the club's highest ever league finish. Coleman became Real Sociedad manager on 28th June, 2007, after high recommendation from former Real Sociedad manager and countryman John Toshack.
In his playing days, Coleman was nicknamed "Cookie".
He is married with four children, and currently lives near Kingswood, Surrey.

Contents

Biography

Playing career

Swansea City

Crystal Palace

Blackburn Rovers

Fulham

Managerial career

Fulham

Real Sociedad

Managerial stats

Notes

External links

Biography

Coleman was born in Swansea, but actually grew up in and around Gloucester. The first professional team he was contracted to was Manchester City, aged 16, although he later left them to join Swansea.

Playing career

Swansea City

Having been born in the City, Coleman made his first professional appearance for the club aged 17, in 1987. After making nearly 200 appearances for the South Wales club, he was recognised as a good talent and moved on after four years.

Crystal Palace

After spending four years with his hometown club, Crystal Palace signed him for a transfer fee set by a Football League tribunal at around a quarter of a million pounds (plus a percentage of any future sale) - a reasonable figure for a 21-year old in the pre-Premiership days. 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 had attracted enough attention to move into the big time with 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 'Cookie' (as they called him) into their Centenary XI.

Blackburn Rovers

Having played so well in his five year period at Palace, a hefty 2.8 million pounds were paid for him by a revolutionary Blackburn team: the first to buy players ''en masse''. Blackburn lost the Premiership title they had won in 1995, and finished seventh. Coleman made 28 Premiership 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 brave gamble to further his career by dropping two divisions to join Fulham.

Fulham

Wealthy businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed had invested heavily in Fulham, and Kevin Keegan, the manager he hired to lead Fulham's charge to the Premiership, was able to persuade Coleman to drop down to Division Two, for a divisional record fee of over two million pounds.
Having played his first game at Brentford in January 1998, Coleman was quickly given the post of club captain, and "Captain Cookie" (a nickname no-one can really explain) was soon a fan's favourite, leading Fulham to promotion to Division One, in a record-breaking season. He was consistent throughout the club's mediocre first season there, and his position as club captain was re-affirmed by Jean Tigana, who was appointed manager of the club in summer 2000. As the club rolled towards an impressive promotion to the Premiership, Coleman was left behind after he broke his leg in a a car crash in Surrey in January 2001 - just days before a much hyped FA Cup tie against Manchester United.
He never recovered from this injury - despite playing a reserve fixture in March 2002, which only served as an indication that he would never play at the highest level of English football again. This was hardly surprising, considering doctors and physio staff initially thought he may struggle to walk again.
He was persuaded to join Fulham's coaching staff by Tigana in October 2002, whom he replaced as manager of Fulham in April 2003.

Managerial career

Fulham

In March 2003 Tigana left Fulham, two months before the pre-arranged date. With no obvious candidates to succeed him, many big names were mentioned in the press such as Radomir Antić, before Mohamed Al-Fayed appointed Coleman on a part time basis. The support of the Fulham faithful saw him saving the club from relegation, and almost inevitably being appointed full-time manager, the youngest in the Premiership at the time, in the close season.
In his first season, Coleman did well, re-igniting the Fulham team to a 9th place finish in the league (their best ever), and in the process helping Louis Saha re-construct his career to the extent that a big move to Manchester United came in January 2004 for the French striker. In the 2004-05 season Fulham finished 13th, but with growing pressure for change from the fans, his job was on the line.
On 10 April, 2007, Fulham announced that they had sacked Coleman after just one win in 15 games (and 2 away wins in two seasons) in the Premiership. The club sat, at the time, only just above the relegation zone. Coleman was replaced on a caretaker basis, and with the agreement of the Irish Football Association, by then current Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez. Coleman's assistant coach Steve Kean was also to be replaced due to the restructuring process.

Real Sociedad

Coleman was appointed manager of Real Sociedad on 28 June 2007, and appointed Steve Kean as his assistant.^[1]

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Fulham		April 17 2003	April 10 2007	176	61	71	44	34.65
Real Sociedad		June 28 2007	''Present''	2	1	1	0	50.00

Notes

1. Coleman named Real Sociedad boss

External links

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★ FulhamFC.com