Steve Coppell is currently the director of football after Crawley Town. His last job in management was at Bristol City but left after just four months in charge back in August 2010. He is now being linked with the vacant Crawley job.
Coppell had a good playing career starting out at Tranmere Rovers in his native Merseyside before moving onto bigger things with Manchester United. Coppell would go on to play for Man United on 322 occasions as well as earning 42 England caps and scoring seven goals for his country along the way.
Coppell was forced to retire at just 28 after a series of knee operations proved unsuccessful and he moved into management with Crystal Palace aged just 28. He was the youngest ever Manager in the Football League when he took over at Selhurst Park.
Coppell is currently one of the early favourites in the Next Crystal Palace Manager Odds.
Palace became the club where Coppell would make his managerial name and he would go on to coach them on no less than four occasions over the years. In his first spell he earned the Eagles promotion to the old Division 1 as well as reaching the FA Cup Final in 1990 after winning an epic Semi-Final against Liverpool 4-3 which is a match that many still talk about today. Coppell was a big success at Palace but he resigned shortly after they were relegated in 1993.
Coppell had brief spells with Man City, Brentford and Brighton in between various stints back at Palace before he was offered the chance to manage Reading in 2003 to succeed Alan Pardew. The first couple of season at the Madejski Stadium were spent just hovering outside of promotion but it was the 2005/06 season that Reading hit the big time. They ran away with the Championship Title with a record 106 points as they swept all before them to enter the Premier League for the first time.
Reading had an outstanding first season in the Premier League finishing a brilliant eight place to confound their critics. The second season was more difficult however, and the Royals were relegated back to the Championship but Coppell decided to stay in charge as he was so popular with the fans, another season in the Championship saw Reading finish 4th and miss out on automatic promotion and head to the play offs where they unable to gain the final spot, following that Coppell resigned after the game on 13th May 2009.
In April 2010, Coppell returned to football management as the new manager of Bristol City, he stated a lack of passion was the reason for his resignation and his management career is now in the balance.
Steve Coppell has been off the radar since leaving his job at Bristol City and so far there have been no signs he is about to return to the job anytime soon. Coppell is one of the most experienced Managers in football so would be sure to be in demand if decides to give the game one more go but we are certainly not holding our breath.
