Coleman back in classroom

John Coleman admits he can see similarities between his former life as a primary school teacher and his current job as boss of Accrington.

Coleman and Stanley players Nicky Hunt and Luke Joyce returned to the classroom on Thursday morning when they visited Huncoat Primary to celebrate the school's football team's achievement of reaching a Wembley final in May. The pupils quizzed the trio on a variety of topics - including Coleman's wage and who his favourite player was in the current Accrington team - and the Stanley boss revealed the trip was a flashback to an earlier point in his career when he juggled the job of teacher and manager at the same time. "I looked at a survey at the top 10 most stressful jobs and football management and teaching were in the top 10; I was doing both at the same time," he said. "It was a wonder my head never fell off! "They've got different types of stress, you can possibly release a bit more tension when you're a football manager - you can shout at people, you can't really shout at children. "But, once the bell goes, you can relax whereas the bell never goes as a football manager." Coleman is now solely focused on affairs at the Store First Stadium, where mid-table Accrington host play-off chasing Newport on Friday night. Yet the 52-year-old Liverpudlian concedes he still take elements of his life in the classroom on to the training ground each day. "They are transferable and they've certainly helped me," Coleman said of the similarities between teaching and managing. "Even if you just look at how people learn. If you're trying to coach players, some will respond to being shouted at, some will respond to having an arm around them, some will respond to being shown what to do, some will respond to being told what to do. "You have to quickly get to know people. It's similar when you're teaching a class of people. I had 28 in my class and they've all got different personalties, learning styles and different abilities, and those abilities change from one thing to another. "It's similar with players, you've got players who are quick, players who are strong, players who are skilful, players who are whole-hearted, flair players, players who are good in the air. You've got to use them all to the best of their ability."