Steve Coppell

Steve Coppell
Personnel
Surname	Stephen James Coppell
birthday	July 9, 1955
place of birth	Liverpool ,  England
position	Winger (right)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1973-1975	Tranmere Rovers	38 (13)
1975-1983	Manchester United	322 (53)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1976	England U-23	1 0(0)
1977-1983	England	42 0(7)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1984-1993	Crystal Palace
1995-1996	Crystal Palace
1996	Manchester City
1997-1998	Crystal Palace
1999-2000	Crystal Palace
2000-2001	Brentford FC
2002-2003	Brighton & Hove Albion
2003-2009	Reading FC
2010	Bristol City
1 Only league games are given.

Stephen James "Steve" Coppell (born July 9, 1955 in Liverpool ) is a former English football player and one of the best wingers of his generation before a serious injury ended his career early. Most recently he worked as a coach at the English second division club Bristol City .

Player career

Coppell was a noticeably talented player in his youth. Despite previous offers from several top clubs, he joined the lower-class club from Merseyside , the Tranmere Rovers , as he was aiming for a degree in economics at Liverpool University .

Coppell studied until 1974, played at the same time for Tranmere and coached the university team. His life changed in 1975 when Manchester United made him an offer for £ 60,000. Coppell cheated on his potential new club based on his current salary, as Manchester United offered him a flat rate to pay him double. Coppell then signed a contract in Manchester.

He graduated while he was on the right wing of Manchester United, making his debut in the 4-0 win over Cardiff City on March 1, 1975 as a substitute. That season, Manchester returned from the Second Division to the First Division after a year-long absence . Coppell himself played ten games and scored one goal.

In the following season, Coppell scored ten times in 39 games, including a goal at Anfield Stadium at Liverpool FC , where he had played in his youth. In addition, he came to work in the English U23 youth team.

The promising young Manchester United team, which was put together by Tommy Docherty , developed further in the first division and reached the final of the FA Cup , in which they faced the second division club Southampton FC and held the role of favorites. The inexperienced team, including Coppell, could not withstand the nervous strain and the much more experienced team from Southampton won 1-0. Coppell marked the first dangerous scene of the game with a shot from over 20 meters, which could be saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

In 1977 Manchester United could not play a decisive role in the championship, but reached the final of the FA Cup again and met Liverpool there, who would have won a triple with a win (together with the championship they already had at the time had won, and the European Cup of National Champions ). On that day, Manchester United, including nine players who had disappointed last year, won the title with a 2-1 win.

In the same year Coppell was appointed to the English national football team and played the qualifying game for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina against Italy at Wembley Stadium. The English team won 2-0, but missed the qualification due to the worse goal difference. Coppell became a fixture in the plans of English coach Ron Greenwood and played a number of friendly matches in 1978. He scored his first goal for England in the 1-0 win against Scotland at Hampden Park .

Coppell played consistently for both his club and the national team the following year, scoring against Czechoslovakia and Northern Ireland , alongside a series of goals for Manchester United, where he never missed a game and again reached the FA Cup final. There Manchester faced Arsenal FC , which, like Manchester itself once before, had lost an FA Cup final in the previous year (0: 1 against Ipswich Town ). It then looked like a win for Arsenal, who were 2-0 up. With four minutes left to play, a Coppell free-kick was deflected by Joe Jordan and defender Gordon McQueen reduced the lead to 2-1. Manchester developed even more pressure to equalize in the remaining time and when Arsenal could not clear the ball from the defensive, Coppell levered the defense with a lift, so that Sammy McIlroy scored in front of two Arsenal defenders. When there was only one minute left, everything looked like extra time. Arsenal, however, was able to make it 3-2 in one of the last offensive actions by way of Alan Sunderland and thus the decision in the game.

Just a week later, Coppell was able to draw positive attention again at Wembley Stadium when he scored a goal in the 3-1 win in the international match against Scotland. His performance for England continued to be consistently good, as was his permanent presence for the club for the next two years. He was able to continue his series of goals against Scotland in 1980 when he scored a goal in the run-up to the 1980 European Championship in Italy in the 2-0 at Hampden Park. At the European Championship itself he played in the first two group matches and was eliminated there with England.

Coppell experienced his personal tragedy during a qualifying game for the 1982 World Cup in Spain against Hungary . Coppell injured himself badly in a tough duel, with his knee literally shattered (according to Coppell's statement "similar to a fireworks that was placed in my knee and then went off"). He had an operation on his knee and the temporary solution should enable his career to continue.

Coppell then played at the World Cup in all three group games as well as in the goalless intermediate round match against Germany . England then dropped out of the tournament and Coppell was operated on again on his knee.

He came within the scope of his possibilities for Manchester United and played after 36 appearances in the previous season 29 times in the following season 1982/83. He also played twice after the World Cup and scored in the 9-0 win against Luxembourg .

Coppell was injury-free at the league cup final in 1983 when Liverpool, in contrast to the encounter in 1977, won 2-1. When Manchester United reached the FA Cup final, Coppell's injury broke again and he missed the game against Brighton & Hove Albion , which ended 2-2 in the first encounter and found its winner in the replay 4-0 at Manchester United . Coppell had another operation, but the healing was not successful, so that in October 1983, at the age of only 28, he ended his career as a football player. He had previously set the record in this category with 207 games in a row between 1977 and 1981. His career at Manchester United ended with a total of 70 goals in 373 appearances. For England he had played 42 games and scored seven goals.

Coaching career

In 1984, Coppell became the coach of Crystal Palace , becoming the youngest coach in the Football League at the age of 29 . Under his aegis, the club rose in 1989 through the play-off games in the English premier league. Palace remained in the elite class for four seasons and reached the FA Cup final in 1990, which they then lost to Manchester United. Worth mentioning was the victory in the semi-finals against Liverpool, where they returned the favor for a 9-0 defeat in the championship at Anfield. In the following season, Crystal Palace achieved its highest ranking in the club's history with third place and won its first trophy with the Full Members Cup . Thereafter, the club's performance deteriorated and after relegation from the Premier League had to be accepted despite a record number of points for a relegated team in 1993 , Coppell resigned.

In 1995, Coppell returned to Crystal Palace as technical director before becoming manager of Manchester City , where he only stayed in office for six games. Again he was, now in 1997, coach at Crystal Palace and was able to rise again through the playoff games. He then stayed with the club for the first seven months of the 1997/98 season before a change in the club's management level caused his resignation. The club was relegated in the same season.

In January 1999, Coppell returned to Crystal Palace. During this time, the club had serious financial problems and he could only play to keep relegation due to a smaller budget. In 2000, Palace was bought by Simon Jordan and Coppell left the club one more time. He then became a coach at Brentford FC in 2001 and led the club into the final of the playoffs for promotion to the second division, after they had previously narrowly missed direct qualification.

In the second half of 2002 Coppell left Brentford to join Brighton who were playing for relegation in the second division. Although the club improved over the course of the season, relegation could not be prevented. In October 2003 Coppell then moved to Reading FC in the Football League Championship and rose with the club in the 2005/06 season in the Premier League . After two years, Coppell rose with Reading in 2008 back to the second division and got there in the 2008/09 season straight away in the promotion play-offs. Immediately after losing the semi-final against Burnley FC , he resigned from his post with immediate effect.

On April 22, 2010, Bristol City announced his appointment as head coach. Steve Coppell signed a contract that came into effect on May 11, 2010 and was initially limited to one year. On August 12, he resigned from his position with immediate effect and at the same time announced that he no longer wanted to work in a coaching position.

successes

• FA Cup Winner: 1977, 1983 (as a player)
• Full Members Cup Winner: 1991 (as trainer)
• Charity Shield winner: 1977 (as a player)

Web links

• Profile at Manchester United
• Steve Coppell in the soccerbase.com database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Coppell departs as manager" (BBC Sport)
2. ↑ Steve Coppell new city boss ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Bristol City) 
3. ↑ Steve Coppell quits as Bristol City manager (BBC Sport)