Michael Jolley

Managerial career

AFC Eskilstuna Jolley became new manager of Swedish Premier Division, Allsvenskan side, AFC Eskilstuna on 13 June 2017, after being recommended by Sean Dyche. The team was then winless with four points from the opening 12 matches, and bottom of the league table. Under his coaching they took 15 points from the next 16 games, gaining their first ever Allsvenskan win on 15 July 2017, 2–1 against Kalmar FF in Jolley's first home game in charge, plus wins against IFK Göteborg and Malmö FF; the Malmö victory showcased Jolley's tactical thinking, receiving considerable analysis within the coaching community. A 3–2 defeat by IF Elfsborg in their penultimate home game followed by a 1–1 draw away to Halmstads BK confirmed relegation to Superettan on 23 October 2017, and Jolley left AFC Eskilstuna on 9 January 2018 by mutual consent, unable to agree on the future direction of the club.

Grimsby Town On 2 March 2018, Jolley was appointed as the new first team manager of EFL League Two side Grimsby Town on an undisclosed rolling contract. His main task for the remainder of the season was to maintain their League Two status; he worked alongside Paul Wilkinson, who continued his previous role as assistant manager. Jolley's first game in charge was a 1–1 draw at home to Port Vale on 10 March 2018.

Jolley secured Grimsby's League status on 28 April 2018 with a 2–1 victory at home to Notts County. The final ten games of the season yielded Grimsby 15 points (four wins and three draws), after a winless run of over 20 games before Jolley took charge

After retaining their EFL League Two status, the 2018–19 season began slowly with only five points and a single win in the opening ten games leading to fears that Grimsby would again be involved in a relegation battle. However, the next ten games were the most productive of Jolley's spell at the club and by Christmas Grimsby were one of the form teams in the Division leading to Jolley winning the EFL League Two Manager of the Month for December 2018 after four consecutive wins.

Further wins in the opening two rounds of the FA Cup against Milton Keynes Dons and Chesterfield saw them pitched against Premier League Crystal Palace in the third round. Roared on by over 5500 Mariner's fans only a solitary late goal edged Grimsby out despite them having to play nearly the entire game with ten men after an early red card.

The team's league form suffered again after their cup exit and it wasn't until the final game in January that they picked up their next victory against Milton Keynes Dons. They backed this up with three wins and one draw in February leading to optimistic thoughts of a late bid for the playoffs with Jolley again nominated for EFL League Two Manager of the Month. Their form fell away through March though and it was Easter Monday when they tasted victory again, closing the season out by winning two of the final three games to give a mid-table finish, equally positioned 15 points clear of relegation and 15 points short of the play-offs.

The 2019–20 season began promisingly and by the end of August Grimsby were top goalscorers in League 2 and placed fourth securing Jolley his third EFL League Two Manager of the Month nomination in six months.

EFL Cup victories over Macclesfield Town and League 1 Doncaster Rovers saw the Mariners rewarded with a plum away tie to Chelsea and by the end of September Grimsby Town continued to occupy a play off spot a quarter of the way through the season as they maintained their strong goalscoring form with a 3–1 away win at previously unbeaten Exeter City.

However it was announced that Jolley had moved on from the club by mutual consent on 15 November 2019 after only four more league games, a 1–1 draw at home to Newport County AFC in the FA Cup proving to be his final game in charge. Due to postponements his final EFL league match was a goalless draw away to Cambridge United three weeks earlier on 22 October 2019, which saw him leave Grimsby still well in touch with the promotion contenders only one point and two points respectively behind eventual play-off teams Colchester United and Northampton Town and only five points worse off than eventual Champions Swindon Town.

Later it emerged that Jolley's "expletive-laden rant" to a BBC journalist had contributed to his departure after an off-record conversation had been captured on tape in which Jolley complained about excessively negative coverage of the team and swore multiple times.

Barrow On 23 December 2020, Jolley was announced as the new manager of EFL League Two side Barrow, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract. He was sacked by Barrow on 21 February 2021 after just eight games in the role, with the club 23rd in League Two. Chairman Paul Hornby said the board and Jolley had differing visions on how the team should play which ultimately lead to the decision to remove him as manager.

Vélez CF In January 2023, Jolley was appointed manager of Segunda División RFEF side Vélez until the end of the season.

Bury On 12 December 2025, Jolley was appointed manager of Northern Premier League Division One West side Bury. His appointment prompted objections from some supporters due to his 2009 conviction, despite the matter having been disclosed to the club during the recruitment process and Jolley having previously been cleared to work in football by safeguarding authorities. Two days after his appointment, Jolley announced he was not going to take up the job. In a detailed statement, he pointed to the 2009 criminal proceedings and subsequent investigations from the Scottish Government and English Football Association that established he was "deceived, and at no time acted maliciously" but described his appointment as a "distraction" and said "I do not wish my presence to deter the board from its mission of returning the club to its rightful place in the EFL."

Personal life Family Jolley has been married to Lizzie since 2013. , one of a number of community initiatives he undertook during his time in the role. 2009 incident In 2009, Jolley was involved in an incident in Scotland that led to a court appearance after a 15-year-old girl misled him about her age when they met in a Stirling nightclub on a night out and later had a sexual encounter. It was established in court that the girl and her friends that accompanied her to the nightclub had lied to him about her true age, telling him that she was 19, and that he would not have had sexual relations with her had he known her true age. This was also the conclusion of all subsequent investigations into the incident with Jolley quoting directly from one of these in a 2010 statement. Jolley received the minimum available sentence of a 12-month community order and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the same length of time, reflecting the mitigating circumstances accepted in full by the court.

Following their own separate investigations, both the English Football Association and the Scottish Football Association concluded that Jolley posed no safeguarding risk and cleared him to continue working with young people in football. Jolley stated that he made all the clubs that employed him aware of the incident.

In 2018, complaints made to the press regulator IPSO resulted in corrections to media reporting of the incident by the Daily Record and the Daily Mail, with MailOnline also issuing an apology for their errors reporting the incident.

Managerial statistics + Managerial record by team and tenure

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