Steve Cotterill interview: Cheltenham Town return 'emotional' as legendary boss lifts club off bottom of League Two
In this exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Steve Cotterill talks to Adam Bate about returning to Cheltenham Town after 23 years away and guiding them from the foot of the Football League to win the October manager of the month award in League Two
Thursday 20 November 2025 21:05, UK
Steve Cotterill transformed Cheltenham Town. But that was a quarter of a century ago now. And yet, one of the stories of the season is now emerging at Whaddon Road. Cotterill, improbably, is back – and he is transforming this club all over again.
Cheltenham were bottom of the Football League when he returned, after 23 years away, at the end of September. They had just lost 7-1 against Grimsby. "It did look a little bleak," Cotterill tells Sky Sports. An understatement. But the mood changed instantly.
Fleetwood were beaten 2-0 in his first game back and further wins over Newport and top-of-the-table Walsall earned Cotterill the manager of the month award for October. They started November by knocking League One side Bradford out of the FA Cup.
"Fleetwood was not just special, it was emotional," says Cotterill, speaking to Sky Sports from his office at the training ground. The scenes that day will live long in the memory of supporters too. A banner in the stands referenced the return of the king.
"I felt the whole of Cheltenham behind me that day. Not that I have not felt it since too, by the way, because they have been incredible ever since I have been back. Even when I was at other clubs, this club has always been important to me. It is my hometown."
Cotterill's legend was forged during a five-year stay from 1997 to 2002 when he took the club from the Southern Premier League into the Football League, winning the FA Trophy at Wembley along the way. In his final game in charge, he took the club into the third tier.
It has been a long road back via clubs that have included Stoke, Burnley, Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham but he returns insisting he is better for those experiences. And, at 61, he finds a very different Cheltenham to the one he remembers too.
"There were only three of us back then," he laughs. "The rest were part-time. The club is much bigger than when I left. Now, we have analysts, physios, media, commercial, marketing. None of that was here all those years ago. The club has grown unbelievably."
He adds: "And grown with really good people too. Not only the staff that have come in with me, the staff that I have inherited. They have been amazing. Kind, honest, hardworking people. You need that buy in, you need people behind you. It has been a real team effort."
Cheltenham had been a flat place to be with a protracted takeover adding to a sense of stasis in the summer. But team effort or not, Cotterill has been the catalyst for change. And it has not just been good vibes. The work on the training ground has been vital too.
"We needed to put that Grimsby result behind us quickly and we did that. Credit to the players because you can never make them better without their permission. It was a lot of standing around again, taking on coaching points, after doing all that in pre-season.
"It was about us getting to a point where the lads knew what we wanted in and out of possession, from set plays, throw-ins, goal kicks, corners. When we're here, we do this. When we're there, we do that. Then, they always have something to fall back on.
"It was about all the patterns. Where is your pressing point? It is not just one man, it has to be the whole team. There were some interesting conversations early on. 'Can I go in there?' Well, you have to because if you do not move there then this will happen.
"They have taken to it really well. If I asked one of them to show me our press now, show me how we look from a throw-in deep in our half, who moves where from a short corner, I think I could go around the team and they could coach the rest of the players on it."
Cotterill is careful not to be critical of predecessor Michael Flynn. "Sometimes managers go in and say the players need to be fitter. I would never say that. It is not fair." Indeed, he says he has spoken more to Flynn since taking over than he ever had before.
"When I got the manager of the month, he was one of the first guys to message me." He is backing Flynn to get back in but accepts that sometimes a manager and a club just fit. "Everyone just wants us to do well and that has been really powerful," he explains.
"Maybe it was down to me being a local lad but everybody is getting back in love with each other again." He looks a little embarrassed when the subject of the banner declaring him royalty is raised but there is no point denying that the rediscovered unity is palpable.
"What I would say is that the crowd trusts me and that is so important. We had to get that connection back. I don't mean just me, I mean between the manager and players with the supporters. By connecting that back, it has had a snowball effect, I suppose."
For the older supporters, the appeal of Cotterill's comeback is obvious. But for a younger generation, those who had only heard the stories about how Cheltenham rose from obscurity to become a Football League club, they are on the journey now too.
The 1887 Red Army, a group of fans responsible for the aforementioned banner, have captured Cotterill's imagination with their enthusiasm. "A lot of our supporters would not have seen my first time here but their mums and dads might have done," he says.
"We have got another young group of supporters now, over in the corner, really noisy. They start it, the older ones warm up and everyone joins in. I appreciate all the fans, all ages, but we have to remember those young people are the future of the club."
Cheltenham are still up against it. A couple of narrow defeats - "despite playing better than we did that day against Fleetwood" - have served as a reminder even to giddy supporters that there is much work left to do to keep the club in the Football League.
"We have given ourselves a fighting chance, put a few markers in the sand that this is how we do things around here, but the job is to build on it and get ourselves away from the situation we are in. There will be bumps in the road. You just have to navigate it."
But, under Cotterill, Cheltenham believe again. And who knows where that could lead? "There was a three-month plan. That will become a longer plan because staying up is important. Then, we will look at things and try to be better next season." The king is back.
