John Coleman

John Coleman (born 12 October 1962) is an English football manager and former player. He is currently assistant first-team manager of EFL League One club Reading.

Playing career Coleman had a long playing career, mainly in non-league football for Kirkby Town, Burscough, Marine, Southport, Runcorn F.C. Halton, Macclesfield Town, Morecambe, Lancaster City and Ashton United. He also had a short spell in Wales with Rhyl. He was one of the most prolific non-league goalscorers in history, with over 500 goals to his name in a career spanning almost two decades. This success saw him play for the England National Game XI (the England team for semi-professional players) and receive many Player of the Year awards from the clubs he played for.

Coleman is ranked fifth on Southport's list of highest goalscorers of all-time.

Managerial career He was appointed player-manager of Ashton United in 1997. After two years, he joined Accrington Stanley then playing in the Northern Premier League First Division. His -year tenure saw the club win three promotions as champions to enter the Football League in 2006. He was also the club's longest ever serving manager. At the time of his departure to Rochdale, Coleman was the third longest serving manager in England, behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger.

On 24 January 2012, Coleman and his assistant Jimmy Bell were appointed by Rochdale to replace Steve Eyre, who had left the club the previous month. Their contracts were terminated by Rochdale on 21 January 2013 following a poor run in form. In October 2013, Coleman declared his interest in replacing Dave Hockaday as manager of Forest Green Rovers, but returned to Southport as manager on 7 December 2013, with Jimmy Bell once again as his assistant.

He took over as manager of Sligo Rovers in June 2014.

On 18 September 2014, Coleman was confirmed as manager of Accrington Stanley for his second spell with the club. In the 2015–16 season, Coleman led Accrington to a 4th place finish, missing out on automatic promotion on the final game of the season by goal difference. In the play-offs, Accrington lost to AFC Wimbledon after extra time in the semi-finals. His achievement earned him the EFL Manager of the Season award for 2017–18. At the time of his departure, he was the longest-serving manager purely in the EFL having been in charge for 9 years and 6 months. On 25 March 2025 Coleman left his position as Gillingham manager after achieving just 2 wins in 14 games and leaving Coleman with the lowest win ratio of any permanent manager in the club's history.

On 3 May 2025, Coleman was appointed manager of League of Ireland Premier Division club Waterford. He departed the club on 28 September 2025, following a 2–1 defeat to Shelbourne, having won just 5 of his 20 matches in charge of the club.

On 24 October 2025, Coleman was appointed manager of National League club Aldershot Town.

On 3 July 2026, it was announced that Coleman would re-unite with Leam Richardson at EFL League One club Reading for the first time since their spell together at Accrington Stanley to become their Assistant First-Team Manager alongside Danny Schofield, James Beattie and Mikele Leigertwood.

Managerial statistics

Honours Player Individual Southport Player of the Year: 1986–87

Manager Accrington Stanley EFL League Two: 2017–18 Conference National: 2005–06 Northern Premier: 2002–03 League One Manager of the Month: December 2019, November 2020 League Two Manager of the Month: September 2015, March 2017, February 2018, March 2018