Big Steve Coppell has just celebrated 1000 matches as a manager. The Reading FC website has an interview with their legendary manager in which he discusses various parts of his management career:
‘I go back to my first season in management at Crystal Palace when we ended up finishing seventh from bottom, that was the highest we had been all season. There were various times when I would have been very happy to go to prison rather than drive to the training ground!’
Despite those early days of dread, Coppell has endured in some style. Before beginning an early career in management, an injury to the knee making it impossible for his career to continue, he won a fair share of domestic honours as a player with Manchester United and represented England for several years, including at the 1982 World Cup.
Coppell bags a goal as England thump Scotland 3-1 in 1979
He has managed Crystal Palace an inconceivable four different times (so far), Manchester City (for 33 days) Brighton and Brentford, as well as guiding Reading to the Premier League for the first time in 2006. Throughout his managerial career, he is credited with discovering great players such as Ian Wright and more recently Kevin Doyle, who went from being unknowns to household names and international footballers. Coppell is one of the rare breed in that he is academically qualified, having a degree in economics which he gained at Liverpool University whilst playing (!) for Manchester United.
Going back to that quote, the nadir of those early years occurred in what turned out to be Liverpoool’s last championship season, 1989-90, when this happened:
Liverpool 9-0 Crystal Palace (Palace also missed a penalty)
Better times were ahead, however…
