Graham Coughlan is amazed that Sheffield Sheffield Wednesday are not looking at his opposite number at the weekend, Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman, for their vacant managerial position.
Rovers meet Stanley on Saturday and Coughlan, a former Owls defender, expressed his admiration for the job Coleman has done at the unfashionable Lancashire club and cannot understand why Wednesday and other bigger clubs have not come in for him when looking to fill their managerial vacancies.
Coleman initially took charge of Stanley for almost thirteen years between 1999 and 2012, guiding them back to the Football League for the first time since they ignominiously dropped out in 1962 before he left for Rochdale.
After spells in charge at Southport and Sligo Rovers, Coleman returned to Stanley in 2014 and led them to the League Two title in 2017 which he followed up by guiding them to League One safety last season on a minuscule budget compared to some of their competitors.
Coughlan made the point over the Wednesday job when speaking to the Bristol Post; He said: ‘When you’ve got a manager in John Coleman and an assistant manager in Jimmy Bell, it always amazes me how these jobs come up in England, these big jobs, and they’re very rarely mentioned.’
Lincoln City manager Danny Cowley is currently heavily linked with a move to the Hillsborough hot seat, but Coughlan feels the Owls could do much worse than give the job to the Liverpudlian performing miracles across the Pennines. “My son’s team, Sheffield Wednesday, are looking here, there and everywhere at the moment, but half an hour, 45 minutes across the tops, there’s a perfectly good manager in John Coleman.’
‘He’s very underrated and, over the last two seasons, I voted for him for (the) manager of the year.’
“He’s an excellent bloke, first and foremost, and a really top manager, what he’s done at that football club is extraordinary and a minor miracle.’
Our View
Coleman, in our opinion, would do a decent job at Wednesday, but he is just not fashionable or a big enough name to appease Owl’s fans desperate for success.
These days it appears if bigger mainly Championship clubs do appoint managers from the lower leagues they have to be young and up and coming, Paul Hurst (at the time) and Nathan Jones spring to mind.
If they chose another route, it is often the different option of a foreign coach, but this trend seems to be on the decrease after the success of Wilder at Sheffield United and Smith at Villa.
Coleman is fifty-six, and in one of the safest jobs in football with one of the best owners, while he would back himself to do a good job, he probably doesn’t need the hassle.
It sounds to us like the Rovers boss is trying to butter him up before a crucial clash on Saturday.
