The youngest manager in the Club’s history, Coleman guided Fulham to a record-breaking highest ever League finish in his first full season in the job, and secured a sixth consecutive season of Premiership football for the Whites in 2005/06.
Unforgettable victories at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane, a brief flirtation with a Champions League place, a clean sheet at Highbury and an FA Cup Quarter Final were just some of the highlights of a first season in charge in which the Whites never left the top half of the table. For rookie Manager Coleman it was the perfect start to his managerial career.
But Coleman was the first to acknowledge that his second season in command would be considerably harder than his first. As summer 2004 approached and the much-deserved backslapping had died down, it became immediately apparent that the landscape had changed as far as Coleman was concerned.
Having taken on the role of caretaker manager following Jean Tigana’s departure in April 2003 Coleman – together with then Academy Director Steve Kean – had five games to shore up a Club still staring the possibility of relegation in the face. However, with three wins, one draw and a defeat – 10 points from a possible 15 – Coleman had secured Premiership football for a third season and, even though he had previously dismissed any suggestion that he would fancy the job on a permanent basis, he was clearly warming to the idea by the end of the campaign.
Only four days after the end of the season the former Welsh international, whose playing career had been cut tragically short as a result of a horrific car crash in January 2001, was unveiled as the Club’s new full-time Manager. Despite competition from some high-profile candidates with comprehensive managerial CVs, Chairman Mohamed Al Fayed and the Fulham Board had no doubt that Coleman - who certainly had the very public backing of the players - was the man with the passion, hunger, drive and leadership to steer the team.
Coleman played his last game for Fulham in the 2-0 defeat away against Stockport on New Year’s Day 2001. Ironically it was one of only five games from which the Division One-winning side lost that season. The following day, and with less than a week to go before Fulham entertained Manchester United at Craven Cottage in the Third Round of the FA Cup, Coleman sustained serious injuries to his right leg in a car crash.
He would play no further part in the title-winning season and the severity of his injury meant that few ever expected the giant Welshman to play again. However, he proved the doubters wrong. Following intensive rehabilitation and showing quite unbelievable stamina and determination given the severity of his injuries, Coleman rejoined his Fulham teammates in full pre-season training in 2002. He made a number of appearances in the Reserves in the early part of the 2002/03 season and played his swansong game – earning his 32nd international cap – for Wales when he came on as a substitute in the 1-0 win over Germany.
However, after retiring Coleman was keen to stay on at the Club and leapt at the opportunity to try his hand as a coach when Jean Tigana offered him a job. Initially Coleman worked closely with Academy Director Steve Kean, coaching from Under Nine level upwards.
However, it wasn’t long until Jean Tigana, keen to utilize Coleman’s fantastic relationship with the players, drafted him into working with the First Team. The respect and response shown to the former captain by the squad was clear and his authoritative and commanding presence in the dressing room was something that the Frenchman knew would benefit the team. And so Coleman became a regular on the bench alongside Tigana and Damiano, earning his first taste of what life on the other side of football was like.
As a player Coleman’s career began when he signed as a junior for Manchester City in 1986, aged 16, but it wasn’t until his move back to his home town of Swansea City that he made his first professional appearance. Coleman spent four seasons with City from 1987-91 before moving to Crystal Palace for £275,000 in 1991. He spent five years with the London club, making 143 League starts and scoring 16 goals, and then headed north when Premiership Champions Blackburn, secured his services for £2.8 million in 1995. However, an Achilles injury meant that his appearances for the Premiership club were limited to just 28 games.
By 1997 Mohamed Al Fayed’s Fulham, under the managerial leadership of Kevin Keegan, was making waves. But as he would later show in his recovery from the car accident and in his first taste of management, Coleman was never a man scared of a challenge, and he became the first big name to drop two divisions in order to join the ambitious club.
After making his Fulham debut at home against Brentford on December 2 1997, it wasn’t long until the giant defender’s career took off once again and any critics of his drop down silenced. Coleman was undoubtedly the corner stone of Keegan’s side, the man around which much of the newly assembled team was built.
By May 1998, Coleman had Captained Keegan’s team to the Division Two title, winning the respect of the players and fans along the way and was rapidly becoming Fulham legend in the making.
A born leader, strong, tall, and commanding in the centre of Fulham’s defence, Coleman went on to play under Paul Bracewell and then, with the arrival of Jean Tigana, was a key part of the team which went on to win the Division One title. Although his participation in that season was cut short his influence was immense and he was greatly missed by players and fans alike.