Steve Cotterill

**Stephen John "Steve" Cotterill** (born 20 July 1964) is an English football manager and former player who is currently manager of Shrewsbury Town.

## Playing career

Cotterill was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. During his playing career, he played as a striker. He spent his youth career with non-league club Alvechurch before making his senior debut in 1986 for his local team Cheltenham Town, then only semi-professional. Cotterill would only spend a year at The Robins before moving to Burton Albion in 1987. Two years and 74 league appearances later, Cotterill was on the move again, this time turning professional by signing for Wimbledon in the First Division. Three years into his career with the Dons, Cotterill was sent on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion to regain fitness after recovering from an injury. His time on the Sussex coast would see him make 11 league appearances, scoring 4 goals. In the summer of 1993, Cotterill signed for AFC Bournemouth for a fee of £120,000. He retired from playing in 1996 after another bad knee injury, from which he couldn't fully recover. Cotterill made 167 league appearances during his 10-year career, scoring 73 league goals.

## Pre-STFC management career

Cotterill began his managerial career in 1995, taking over at Irish club Sligo Rovers. He led Rovers to a third-placed finish in the League of Ireland and also reached the final of the League of Ireland Cup. In 1997, Cotterill took charge of one of his former clubs, Cheltenham Town. At the time of his appointment, The Robins were still a non-league side. He won promotion to the Football Conference in his first full season and won the 1998 FA Trophy. He eventually lead the club into the Football League. In 2002, he was appointed manager of Stoke City before resigning just 13 games into his spell to become assistant manager to Howard Wilkinson at Sunderland. During his time as assistant, Sunderland only recorded two league victories and both men were sacked after 27 games. 2004 saw Cotterill become manager of Burnley, where he would spend three years. After a few years out of management, Cotterill became manager of Notts County in 2010 on a short-term deal until the end of the season. Later that year in June 2010, he was named as the new manager of Portsmouth. In 2011, he became manager of Nottingham Forest before resigning in 2012 shortly after the takeover by the Al-Hasawi family. In 2013, he joined Harry Redknapp's backroom staff at QPR on a short-term basis. On 3 December 2013, he took over at League One club Bristol City. He would go on to win promotion back to the Championship in 2015 as well as the 2015 Football League Trophy. He was dismissed by The Robins in January 2016. With three matches left of the 2016–17 season, Cotterill once again linked up with Harry Redknapp, this time at Birmingham City where Cotterill was appointed first-team coach. After Redknapp was sacked in September 2017, Cotterill was named as Blues manager on a 2.5-year contract. Cotterill was dismissed in early 2018 after a string of bad results which meant the club remained in and around the Championship relegation zone.

## STFC career

Cotterill was appointed manager of Shrewsbury Town on 27 November 2020, replacing the recently sacked Sam Ricketts. Town would be his first managerial job since 2018. He took charge of his first Town game two days later on 29 November, a 1–0 win at home to Oxford City in the FA Cup second round with the goal being scored in extra time by Daniel Udoh.