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Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player.
As a player, Coppell was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed, technical ability and work rate. He won domestic honours with Manchester United and represented England at the World Cup. After a knee injury ended his playing career, he went into management.
Coppell has managed several English clubs, most notably Crystal Palace and Reading, both of which he took from the English second tier to achieve each club's greatest-ever successes in the top flight. He has also managed Manchester City, Bristol City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford. He is credited with discovering Ian Wright, a striker he signed from non-league football, and who became a household name and international footballer.
Coppell was a nippy, incisive wide player in his youth but despite interest from some top clubs, he chose to join lower league Merseyside club Tranmere Rovers as he wanted to study for a degree in economic history at the University of Liverpool.
By 1974, Coppell was playing for Tranmere, studying for his degree and coaching the university team. But in 1975 his life changed when Manchester United made an offer of for him. His prospective new club instantly offered to double his wage and Coppell signed.
Coppell was able to complete his degree while playing on the right wing for Manchester United, making his debut as a substitute in a 4–0 win over Cardiff City on 1 March 1975, as his new club stormed back to the First Division after a season in the Second. Coppell ended that season with ten games and one goal.
The following season, Coppell played 39 times and scored ten goals, one of which was at the Kop end of his boyhood club Liverpool's Anfield ground. He also won honours for the England under-23 team.
The exciting young Manchester United team put together by manager Tommy Docherty progressed in the First Division and reached the 1976 FA Cup Final, where they were strong favourites to beat Southampton, who were from the Second Division. But Southampton won the final 1–0.
Afterwards, Coppell said: "I didn't feel too bad, as I appreciated being in the FA Cup final at all. It was only afterwards I realised it might have been the only chance I'd ever get. But the next season gave me another go."
In 1977, Manchester United fell short in the League but reached the FA Cup Final again, where this time they played Liverpool, who were chasing a "treble" of First Division championship, FA Cup and European Cup. Liverpool had already won the title by the time the two sides met at Wembley Stadium, but it was Manchester United who performed on the day and won 2–1. Coppell was one of nine United players in the team who had lost in the final to Southampton the year before.
Coppell remained a constant for club and country over the next 12 months, scoring for his country against Czechoslovakia and Northern Ireland while also adding goals from the wing for Manchester United, who reached another FA Cup final in 1979 following a season during which Coppell did not miss a game. Arsenal beat Manchester United 3–2 in the final.
A week later, Coppell had a better experience at Wembley as he scored one and made another as England beat Scotland 3–1. He continued to impress for his country while also remaining an ever-present for Manchester United for the next two years. His habit of scoring against Scotland continued in 1980 with a goal in a 2–0 win at Hampden prior to the 1980 European Championships, during which he featured in the opening two group matches, though England failed to progress further.
Coppell nursed the injury through the 1982 World Cup in Spain, playing in all three of England's group games and the goalless draw against West Germany in the second pool. England went out in the next game against Spain and Coppell underwent a second operation.
He continued to play for Manchester United as much as he could after suffering the injury, playing 36 times in the 1981–82 season and 29 times in the 1982–83 campaign. He made two more appearances for England after the World Cup ended, scoring in the former as England beat Luxembourg 9–0.
Coppell was fit enough to play in the League Cup final of 1983 which – in a reverse of events in 1977 – opponents Liverpool won 2–1. But as Manchester United progressed also to the FA Cup final in the same year, Coppell's knee had broken down again and he missed the final against Brighton & Hove Albion, which ended 2–2 and ultimately concluded in a 4–0 victory for Manchester United in the replay.
Another operation followed but to no avail, and Coppell announced his retirement from the game in October 1983, aged just 28. He had broken the record for the most consecutive appearances for an outfield Manchester United player – 207 from 1977 to 1981 – which still stands to this day. His Manchester United career ended with 373 appearances and 70 goals; his England career had concluded with 42 caps and seven goals. He also scored the quickest recorded goal at under 18 level in a cup final against Notts County. The goal time was 12 seconds.
He has since stated that he recently discovered, thanks to advances in technology, that his ACL had only been connected at one end since the tackle, something which had been missed in previous surgeries. He has now had his ACL removed.
The following season, Crystal Palace finished in third place in the top flight (their highest ever league finish) and won the Full Members Cup. The club's fortunes declined after that, and in May 1993, Coppell resigned after they were relegated from the Premier League. However, his name was linked with the England national coach's job six months later when Graham Taylor resigned, but he swiftly ruled out any interest in the job. In May 1994, he was also linked with the manager's job at Middlesbrough, but the job went to his former Manchester United teammate Bryan Robson instead.
All in all, Coppell's exploits in SE25, from promotion to the Cup Final, to third place, even to First Division survival, made him a favourite, and in 2005, he was voted as the manager for Palace's Centenary XI.
During Coppell's first match, Brighton fans were accused of racially taunting referee Phil Prosser after he awarded two penalties against them, which helped Neil Warnock's Sheffield United come from 2–1 behind to win. The police, stewards accompanying Mr Prosser and Sheffield United player Peter Ndlovu, who the referee also claimed was abused, all stated that they did not hear any racist abuse. No evidence was found to support Prosser's claim and the FA took no further action.
Coppell did get an emotional return to Palace, being applauded into his dugout, despite taking charge of Palace's arch-rivals in the game. Palace won the match 5–0. Some Brighton fans accused Coppell of deliberately capitulating which he denied.
Although their performances improved, they were relegated on the final day of the season, five points behind Stoke.club.http://www.officialplayersites.com/managers/manager.php?id=43
In the next season, Brighton pushed hard for promotion, but Coppell received a job offer from Reading, which he accepted, despite the Seagulls topping the Division Two table. Coppell cited the apparent lack of progress on the Falmer stadium project, which was a major factor in his decision to join the club. Without a modern stadium, Coppell felt Brighton had little chance of getting to the Premier League, which was where Coppell wanted to be managing. Reading had recently completed the Madejski Stadium, making them an ideal employer.pp. 140–141, "On A Wing And A Prayer", Know The Score Books
Reading dominated the Championship in the 2005–06 season, setting a new league record of 33 league games unbeaten between the opening day defeat by Plymouth Argyle and the loss at Luton Town in February; these were the only league defeats the team would suffer that season. On 25 March 2006 they clinched promotion to the top flight for the first time in their 135-year history thanks to a 1–1 draw away to Leicester City. Coppell's team secured the league title in the following week, with a 5–0 drubbing of Derby County, and they would go on to set a new English league record for the number of points won in a season, with 106. Following such an outstanding season in charge of Reading, Coppell was voted League Managers Association's Manager of the Year for both the Championship and the entire league, and he also topped the Tissot League For Managers' Performance.
On 26 March 2007, Coppell broke with his usual tradition and signed a new two-year contract to keep him as Reading's manager until the end of the 2008–09 season. Coppell is well known for not voicing controversial opinions, but he broke with this habit on 9 April 2007, when he accused Charlton's Talal El Karkouri of cheating and faking a "death roll" to get Leroy Lita sent off after Lita appeared to headbutt him. Lita received a 3 match ban for the incident.
Reading finished their first season in the English top flight in eighth place, just one point short of UEFA Cup qualification. In recognition of this performance, Coppell won the Manager of the Year award for the second season in succession. Speaking earlier in the season, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said of Coppell: "I think it's totally deserved. It's a marvellous contribution he's made. And what's encouraging for the Premiership is that it's mostly British-based players in his side, with some Irish players thrown in. I think that says a lot for the way he has gathered his team together".
Reading's second season was not as good as their first season and it ended in relegation back to the Championship. Coppell said he would consider his future as Reading manager. However, at a press conference on 20 May 2008 he cited the fans as an important factor in committing his future to the club for the 2008–09 season. Unusually for a club just relegated, Reading fans were so concerned that Coppell may feel honour-bound to resign that they launched a successful protest to convince Coppell to stay at the club.
Their initial form was promising, with Reading playing the free flowing football that got them promoted in record-breaking fashion in 2005–06. Reading equalled their highest win under Coppell with a 6–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday. They also beat the then league leaders Wolves 3–0 at Molineux. The latter half of the season was less impressive however, particularly at home where they failed to win a single match after January. Eventually they finished the league in 4th place after failing to secure a win against Birmingham that would have seen them promoted automatically. In Coppell's final game in charge, Reading lost their playoff semi-final against Burnley. He resigned as manager immediately after the game.
However, on 9 September 2011 he said he was interested in becoming the next manager of Iceland. He had previously coached Icelandic players Brynjar Gunnarsson, Ívar Ingimarsson and Gylfi Sigurðsson.
Kerala Blasters lost the final in spite of getting the lead as ATK came from behind and then won on penalties by 4–3 in Kerala's home stadium.
On 12 July 2017, it was announced that Coppell would not return to the Kerala Blasters for the 2017–18 season.
His new season with ATK started with a 2–0 defeat to his former club Kerala Blasters, coached by David James. ATK finished sixth and failed to reach the playoffs again. In the Indian Super Cup 2019 ATK reached the semi-finals but lost to Chennaiyin FC. Coppell was sacked after the defeat.
| Crystal Palace | 1984–93 |
| Crystal Palace | 1995–96 |
| Manchester City | 1996 |
| Crystal Palace | 1997–98 |
| Crystal Palace | 1999–2000 |
| Brentford | 2001–02 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 2002–03 |
| Reading | 2003–09 |
| Bristol City | 2010 |
| Kerala Blasters | 2016 |
| Jamshedpur FC | 2017–2018 |
| ATK | 2018–19 |
Crystal Palace
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