David Coles (footballer)

David Coles

Coles with West Ham United in 2010
Personal information
Full name	David Andrew Coles
Date of birth	(1964-06-15) 15 June 1964 (age 60)
Place of birth	Wandsworth, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) [1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Bristol Rovers (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1983	Birmingham City	0	(0)
1983	Mansfield Town	3	(0)
1983–1988	Aldershot	120	(0)
1988	→ Newport County (loan)	14	(0)
1988	HJK	4	(0)
1988–1989	Crystal Palace	0	(0)
1989	Brighton & Hove Albion	1	(0)
1989–1991	Aldershot	30	(0)
1991	Fulham	0	(0)
1991	Basingstoke Town
1991	Crawley Town	1	(0)
1992–1994	Yeovil Town	96	(0)
1994–1997	Gloucester City	117	(0)
1994–1997	Farnborough Town	4	(0)
Total		390+	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

David Andrew Coles (born 15 June 1964) is an English goalkeeping coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he made nearly 200 appearances in the Football League. He is currently Head of Goalkeeping at Bristol Rovers.

Playing career

David Andrew Coles, born on 15 June 1964 in Wandsworth, London, ^[2] began his football career as an apprentice with Birmingham City. He turned professional in April 1982, but was released less than a year later without playing for the first team. ^[3] He played briefly for Mansfield Town, for whom he made his Football League debut, before joining Aldershot, where he remained for five seasons. ^[4] In his first, he was almost ever-present and won the club's Player of the Year award. He continued as first-choice goalkeeper until a knee injury and then a broken leg cost him his place, and he spent the last few months of the 1987–88 season on loan at Newport County. ^[5]

He helped HJK win the 1988 Finnish championship, ^[3] and kept a clean sheet in the European Cup first round second leg as HJK narrowly failed to come back from a 3–0 first-leg deficit against Porto. ^[6] He was briefly on the books of Crystal Palace before spending the last few months of the 1982–83 season at Brighton & Hove Albion as cover for John Keeley; he made one appearance in the Second Division when Keeley was unwell. Released at the end of the season, ^[3] he returned to Aldershot, ^[7] and two years later, having taken his league appearance total for Aldershot to 150, he spent a short spell on Fulham's books before retiring from full-time football. ^[3]

Coles had started work as a PE teacher at Sindlesham School, in Winnersh, Berkshire, in 1990, ^[8] and continued to play non-league football on a part-time basis. His clubs included Basingstoke Town, ^[4] Crawley Town, ^[9] Yeovil Town, ^[10] with whom he spent two-and-a-half seasons and reached the third round of the 1992–93 FA Cup, ^{[11] [12]} Gloucester City, for whom he made 155 appearances in all competitions between 1994 and 1997, ^[13] of which 117 were in the Southern League, ^[14] and Farnborough Town. ^[15]

Coaching career

Coles had been involved with coaching on behalf of the Football Association when he was approached by Premier League club Southampton about their vacancy at goalkeeping coach. He initially rejected the idea because he enjoyed working in the school, but when Southampton repeated their offer in 1999, he accepted the position. ^[8] After a lengthy spell with the club, which included their run to the 2003 FA Cup Final, he left in December 2005 as part of a "clear-out" of backroom staff. ^[16] Coles then followed Harry Redknapp to Southampton's South Coast rivals, Portsmouth, where he worked with David James and Asmir Begović. ^[17] He chose not to follow Redknapp to Tottenham Hotspur to work with Heurelho Gomes, ^[18] instead staying at Portsmouth for a further two years under the management of Avram Grant, whom he then followed to West Ham United in July 2010. ^[19] He parted company with the club a year later, following the arrival of Sam Allardyce as manager. ^[20]

After two years with UAE Pro League club Al Jazira, Coles rejoined Portsmouth as goalkeeping coach in November 2013. ^{[21] [17]} Two months later, he joined Bristol City to replace Lee Kendall, who had been appointed goalkeeping coach to the England Women's team. ^[22] After five and a half years with the club, he left by mutual agreement in June 2019. ^[23] Coles was briefly goalkeeping coach to Forest Green Rovers before taking up the role with the England under-18 team. ^{[24] [25]}

Coles joined Bristol Rovers in September 2020, ^[26] left briefly for family reasons in January 2021, ^[27] and returned two weeks later to finish the season before being relieved of his duties by new manager Joey Barton. ^[28] He joined Indian Super League club Mumbai City as goalkeeping coach ahead of their 2021–22 season. ^[29] On 21 September 2022, Coles returned to Bristol Rovers as Head of Goalkeeping. ^[30]

References

1. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p.  42. ISBN   978-0-356-14354-5.
2. "David Coles". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
3. Carder & Harris (1997), p. 57.
4. "Player search: Coles, DA (Dave)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
5. "Where are they now? A–H". Shots2692. Mark Elliott. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
6. "HJK–Porto 1988 History". UEFA. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
7. Shaw, Dennis; Taylor, Louise (15 July 1989). "Talbot future in doubt after transfer dispute". The Times. London. p. 54.
8. Blackman, Matt (23 July 1999). "Saints sign up classy new coach". Reading Weekend Post. p. 13.
9. "1991/92 – Southern League Premier Division". Crawley Town Football Club History. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
10. Ley, John (5 February 1992). "Recession fails to bite" . The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 34 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Harman (2005), p. 787.
12. Hodgson, Guy (3 January 1993). "Football: Romance disappears in the fog" . The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
13. "David Coles". Tiger Roar. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
14. "Results & statistics: 1994/95 season". Tiger Roar. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
    "Results & statistics: 1995/96 season". Tiger Roar. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
    "Results & statistics: 1996/97 season". Tiger Roar. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
    "Results & statistics: 1997/98 season". Tiger Roar. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
15. Harman (2005), p. 248.
16. Wilson, Jeremy (24 December 2005). "Burley and Woodward begin Southampton clear-out". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
17. "Coach makes surprise Pompey return". The News. Portsmouth. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
18. Szczepanik, Nick (8 November 2008). "Adams left in the lurch after Jordan is tempted by Spurs". The Times. London. p. 117.
19. "Groves and Coles appointed". West Ham United F.C. 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
20. John, Nathaniel (7 July 2011). "Martyn Margetson signs for West Ham". East London Advertiser. Retrieved 16 November 2021.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
21. Cameron, Neil (12 November 2011). "Al Jazira's goalkeepers are in safe hands". The National. Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
22. Baker, Adam (23 January 2014). "Coles takes coaching role". Bristol City F.C. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016.
23. "Carr and Coles departures". Bristol City F.C. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
24. Loveridge, Ashley (2 July 2019). "Forest Green appoint former Premier League goalkeeping coach". Stroud News and Journal. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
25. Forest Green Rovers F.C. [@FGRFC_Official] (31 July 2019). "NEWS... Goalkeeping coach David Coles, who joined Forest Green Rovers from Bristol City at the start of the month, has left the club for a role with the England Under 18s" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
26. Frost, Sam (18 September 2020). "Former Bristol City and England U18s coach joins Bristol Rovers staff". Bristol Post. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
27. Warlow, Rob (29 January 2021). "Bristol Rovers confirm exit of former Southampton and Portsmouth coach". Bristol Post. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
28. Frost, Sam (11 May 2021). "Two coaches leave Bristol Rovers as Joey Barton's reshuffle begins". Bristol Post. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
29. Mumbai City FC [@MumbaiCityFC] (13 November 2021). "Into the thick of things #TheIslanders' goalkeeping coach, David Coles, rallies the GK Union as the trio prepare for the 21/22 league campaign!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
30. "Coles Returns to Rovers". www.bristolrovers.co.uk. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.

Sources

• Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. ISBN   978-0-9521337-1-1.
• Harman, John, ed. (2005). Alliance to Conference 1979–2004: The first 25 years. Tony Williams. ISBN   978-1-869833-52-7.

External links

• 2004 interview at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 November 2007)
• David Coles at WorldFootball.net