Crystal Palace
Which team did the player Chris Coleman (footballer) belong to from 1991 to 1995?
Chris Coleman ( footballer ) Christopher Patrick Coleman , OBE ( born 10 June 1970 ) is a Welsh professional football coach and former player , who most recently served as the manager of Chinese Super League club Hebei China Fortune from June 2018 until May 2019 . As a player , Coleman usually played in defence , while also occasionally appearing as a forward . He began his career at Manchester City , leaving as a teenager to make his debut for hometown team Swansea City in 1987 . In 1991 , he joined Crystal Palace , whom he represented in the Premier League . He spent a year-and-a-half at league champions Blackburn Rovers before signing for Fulham in 1997 , helping the team to two promotions from the third tier to the top flight . He won 32 caps playing for Wales . Colemans playing career ended at the age of 32 , when his leg was broken in a car crash . Following this , he started his coaching career at Fulham . In his first full season as manager , he guided the club to ninth place in the 2003–04 Premier League . After leaving Fulham , Coleman was appointed manager of Real Sociedad , where he resigned in January 2008 due to differences with the incoming president . He returned to England to manage Coventry City , but was dismissed in May 2010 following a poor run of results . Coleman then managed Greek side AEL for the first half of the 2011–12 season before resigning due to financial troubles at the club . In 2012 , he took over as Wales national team manager after the death of Gary Speed , and led Wales to UEFA Euro 2016 , their first major tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup , where they made the semi-finals . Early life . Coleman was born in Swansea to an Irish father and has two sisters . He was educated at St Josephs Roman Catholic Primary School and Bishop Vaughan Catholic School . Coleman has been nicknamed Cookie since childhood , as friends likened his eating habits to the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street . Club career . Swansea City . The first professional team Coleman was contracted to was Manchester City , aged 16 , although he later left them , citing homesickness as the major reason . He then joined his hometown club Swansea City . He made his first professional appearance for them aged 17 , in the autumn of 1987 . He made nearly 200 appearances for the south Wales club and helped win the Welsh Cup in 1989 and 1991 . Crystal Palace . After spending four years with Swansea , Coleman was signed by Crystal Palace in 1991 for a transfer fee set by a Football League tribunal at around £270,000 , plus a percentage of any future sale . After making 143 appearances , scoring 16 goals in that period – a 1 in 9 record explained by the fact that manager Steve Coppell often used Coleman as a makeshift centre forward . Palace finished 10th in Colemans first season at Selhurst Park , but they were relegated from the new FA Premier League in his second season ( although they did reach the semi-finals of the League Cup ) . They won promotion as Division One champions at the first attempt , but went straight back down again despite reaching the semi-finals of both cups that season . Coleman was sold to Blackburn Rovers , the defending league champions , for £2.8 million in December 1995 . While at Palace , he was capped for Wales at senior level for the first time . In 2005 , Palace supporters voted Coleman into their Centenary XI . Blackburn Rovers . Coleman joined Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £2.8 million . Blackburn did not retain the Premier League title they had won in 1995 , and finished seventh , just missing out on a UEFA Cup place . Coleman made 28 league appearances over his season-and-a-half at the club , and when he found himself out of the starting line-up too often ( not helped by a persistent Achilles injury ) , he took the gamble to further his career by dropping two divisions to join Fulham . Fulham . Fulham , at the time in the second tier , were financed by wealthy businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed , and were able to spend a record transfer fee for the division and club , of £2.1 million for Coleman in late 1997 . He quickly became club captain , and led Fulham to promotion under manager Kevin Keegan in 1998–99 to the First Division . He remained captain and a regular in the team under new manager Jean Tigana in the 2000–01 season as Fulham made a successful start to the campaign . However , Colemans career was effectively ended midway through the season , after he broke his leg in a car crash , near Bletchingley in Surrey on 2 January 2001 , just days before an FA Cup tie against Manchester United . He never recovered from this injury despite playing a reserve fixture in March 2002 , a game that only served as an indication that he would never again play at the highest level of English football . He announced his retirement as a player in October 2002 , but stayed at the West London club as a member of the coaching staff . International career . Coleman was eligible to play for his birth country of Wales , for the Republic of Ireland through his Dublin-born father , and also for the United States via his maternal grandfather . Coleman was capped by Wales at school , youth , under-21 and senior levels . His only competitive football appearance after his leg injuries came for Wales on 14 May 2002 , when he was called up to the squad as a replacement for Danny Gabbidon , and then came on as a late substitute for goalscorer Robert Earnshaw in the 1–0 win over Germany at the Millennium Stadium . Managerial career . Fulham . Coleman joined Fulhams coaching staff in October 2002 under Tigana . He later succeeded the Frenchman as caretaker manager in April 2003 , and steered Fulham away from relegation danger . He was named as Fulhams permanent manager in May 2003 , beating the more experienced Klaus Toppmöller and George Burley to the post , and also became the youngest manager in the Premier League . His first full season in charge saw Fulham finish a surprise ninth place , as many pundits tipped them to struggle and for Coleman to be sacked . Many of Fulhams key players , such as Edwin van der Sar , Louis Saha , Steed Malbranque and Luís Boa Morte , were sold in the following years and Fulham did not repeat their earlier successes under Coleman though he kept them clear of relegation . He was sacked on 10 April 2007 in a move that caught some observers by surprise , after a seven-game winless run that left the club four points above the relegation zone . Real Sociedad . Coleman moved abroad to manage recently relegated Segunda División side Real Sociedad on 4 July 2007 , after being recommended to the club by fellow Welshman and former Real Sociedad manager John Toshack . He was linked with Bolton Wanderers in October 2007 though nothing came of it . With the club in 5th place and having only lost once in its previous eleven games , Coleman resigned as manager on 16 January 2008 , citing a divergence in vision for the club with newly elected President Iñaki Badiola . Coventry City . Coleman was appointed manager of Championship club Coventry City on 19 February 2008 , signing a three-and-a-half-year contract . He replaced Iain Dowie , who had been sacked by new owner Ray Ranson . On 26 August 2008 , the BBC reported that Coleman was no longer interested in the Wales national team . He later said that his words had been misinterpreted ; when answering a question on whether Coventry striker Freddy Eastwood was fit to play for Wales , he meant to say that he wanted Eastwood fit for club before returning to international duty . On 4 May 2010 , Coleman was sacked following Coventrys 19th-place finish during the 2009–10 season , their lowest league finish in more than 45 years . They would be relegated two years later . AEL . On 26 May 2011 , Coleman was appointed as manager of Greek side AEL . In January 2012 , Coleman announced that because of financial troubles at the club he would be quitting from his position as manager . Wales . On 19 January 2012 , Coleman was appointed team manager of the Wales national team , as successor to his friend Gary Speed , who had died the previous November . After letting his assistant Osian Roberts take charge in Speeds memorial match against Costa Rica in February , his first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat against Mexico at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 27 May . Wales first match in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was on 7 September at home to Belgium , with centre back James Collins sent off for a late lunge on Guillaume Gillet in the 25th minute of an eventual 0–2 loss . Four days later in Novi Sad , the team lost 6–1 to Serbia ; Coleman said in October 2015 that he considered leaving his post after the defeat . After becoming the first Welsh manager to lose his first five games , Coleman got his first win on 12 October 2012 , a 2–1 victory against Scotland . On 26 March 2013 , in a qualifier against Croatia at the Liberty Stadium , Wales led 1–0 for the majority of the game through a Gareth Bale penalty , but two late goals from the opponents ended any hopes of qualification . In October 2015 , Coleman led Wales to their best ever position on the FIFA World Rankings , 8th . On 10 October , their qualification for the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament was confirmed , a first tournament qualification since 1958 . The team came first in their group in France , and eliminated Northern Ireland and Belgium to reach the semi-finals , losing to eventual champions Portugal . Coleman received interest from other teams due to his management of the Welsh team at the tournament . On 23 May 2016 , it was announced at a Football Association of Wales press conference that Coleman had signed a two-year contract extension to take in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign . Waless 1–0 home loss to the Republic of Ireland on 9 October 2017 meant that they were eliminated from qualification . Coleman resigned as Wales manager on 17 November . Sunderland . On 19 November 2017 , Coleman was appointed as the new manager of under-performing Championship club Sunderland . He replaced a dismissed Simon Grayson , who had left the Black Cats third from bottom of the league table in twenty-second place and within the relegation drop zone . Colemans first game in charge was a 2–1 defeat at Aston Villa , two days after his appointment . By the conclusion of 2017 , Sunderland had collected eleven points , out of a possible twenty-four , under Colemans guidance , briefly lifting out of the relegation zone into twenty-first place , following a satisfactory run of form . During the winter transfer window , Coleman was informed that club chairman Ellis Short had refused to invest any more money into player transfers , with the American businessman announcing his intentions to sell the club . Joining the club for free of charge included the loan signings of Jake Clarke-Salter from Chelsea , Ovie Ejaria from Liverpool , Lee Camp from Cardiff City and Ashley Fletcher from fierce rivals Middlesbrough ; Kazenga LuaLua was the only permanent transfer that window , joining from Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer . After their transfer window nightmare , Sunderland went on a nine-game winless run , ending when they defeated Derby County 4–1 at Pride Park . This was Colemans final victory in charge of Sunderland ; his final six games saw the Black Cats record three draws and three defeats . Relegation to League One was confirmed following a 2–1 defeat against Burton Albion at the Stadium of Light . His final game in charge was a 2–1 defeat to Fulham . On 29 April 2018 , Coleman was dismissed shortly following the clubs sale . Hebei China Fortune . On 10 June 2018 , Coleman was appointed as the head coach of Chinese club Hebei China Fortune , as successor to Manuel Pellegrini , who left the side to return to the Premier League with West Ham United . The club had become notable during the year for completing the high-profile signing of Javier Mascherano from Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona . His side finished the 2018 Super League season in sixth position , two places and fourteen points adrift from qualification to the 2019 AFC Champions League . Colemans side struggled to adapt in the 2019 league campaign , with the club sat in fifteenth place , in the relegation zone , following nine games . Having only won one game that league season , a 2–1 victory over Shanghai Greenland Shenhua , he was sacked on 15 May due to poor performance . Personal life . He is married to TV presenter Charlotte Jackson . They had a son at the end of 2014 . Colemans godson is Republic of Ireland international Ronan Curtis , who plays as a forward for Portsmouth . In June 2010 , Coleman worked as a commentator for ITV at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa . He has also worked as a commentator and pundit for Sky Sports . For Euro 2020 he worked for ESPN . On 20 October 2016 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Swansea . Coleman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( OBE ) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to football . In 2017 , he was awarded an honorary degree from his hometowns University of Swansea , and fellowships at three other Welsh universities . In July 2017 , he endorsed the Welsh Governments project to double the number of speakers of Welsh by 2050 . Honours . Player . Swansea City - Welsh Cup : 1988–89 , 1990–91 Crystal Palace - Football League First Division : 1993–94 Fulham - Football League Second Division : 1998–99 - Football League First Division : 2000–01 Individual - Football League Third Division PFA Team of the Year : 1988–89 , 1990–91 - Football League Second Division PFA Team of the Year : 1997–98 , 1998–99 - Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year : 1999–2000 , 2000–01 - Crystal Palace Player of the Year : 1994 Manager . Individual - Football League Championship Manager of the Month : February 2009