TO FULFIL a burning ambition to become Accrington Stanley’s full-time manager, John Coleman had to leave behind a comfortable life in the classroom as a primary school teacher. Here the scouser, who's made a big impact in the non-league sport, talks about life at the world famous club and how the words of the old TV milk advert ‘Accrington Stanley, Who Are They?’ ring hollow these days as the team strides towards a return to the Football League.

The 43-year-old highlights how more fans need to get behind the Nationwide Conference leaders at Stanley's Interlink Express Stadium in their push for promotion. And he gives an insight into his unusual management tactics and explains how subjecting players to a weekly dose of aqua aerobics, pilates and even yoga helps their performance.

Q. WHAT TIME DO YOU GET UP?

A. I don’t have to get up until 8am but I’m up earlier because I’m used to getting up in the morning from my time as a teacher which is world’s apart from the job I have now. I have three girls so it’s a busy house and I also live with my wife Lorraine.

Q. WHAT'S YOUR DAILY ROUTINE?

A. We go into the canteen and have a cup of tea and some toast and read the papers before training starts. It depends what the weather is like as to where we train but if it’s bad we go to Hyndburn Sports Leisure Centre where the lads take part in classes which can be anything from body pump, aerobics, aqua areorbics, pilates or yoga. At first they have a giggle about it but then they all get on with it - I would even consider making them do ballet if it made them perform better.

In the New Year we are even going to start providing lunch for them so I can keep a check on what they are eating and making sure they are getting a healthy meal. I have meetings with the chairman (Eric Whalley) where we discuss just about anything and everything and have a meeting with the players on Friday where they are usually fined a couple of pounds for any misdemeanours which might have occurred. We foster a good team spirit here.

Q. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT THE ROLE?

A. The fact that I can now devote all my time to football is great. Football is my passion. When we were part time we were doing the things we thought were important and didn’t have the time to devote time to the finer points but now we can do that. If I want to do some work with the full backs or with the goal keeper or whoever I can spend a couple of hours focusing on that. I also spend a couple of  hours watching videos of the game to analyse certain aspects because I have the time to do that now. When I was teaching I would be up at 4am to get the books marked and the lessons planned before going straight out after work to football which obviously wasn’t good for family life.

Q. WHAT'S THE STRANGEST/FUNNIEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?

A. A TV company asked if they could follow us for a day because they wanted to interview a ‘quirky’ manager but I later found more about it I was a little concerned. Anyway it turned out that it was about people from all walks of life featuring prostitutes to high-flying business men to football managers and it actually wasn’t that bad. We do get phone calls from people from all over the world from places like Egypt and Israel wanting to come and play for us and some of them are very good and have ended up staying but others are hopeless.

Q. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT?

A. Getting full-time status is something that will always be a memorable for me. We have had championship wins and a couple of  memorable cup runs which have all been fantastic but I think if we can get into the football league that would be a dream come true. We have got a good chance, we are top of the league but it’s like I say to the players the easy part is getting to the top, the hard part is staying there. We have 22 games left to play so we are about half way through so we just need to hold on.

We do need the people of Accrington to support us. We are a world famous club, maybe people have become blasè with our success over the years. When we won the UniBond League the crowds were fantastic but  now maybe people have become blasè.

We want to be successful but we have to have the resources available to bring in new players and to do that we need bigger crowds. I have to justify the extra out-goings to the chairman and it makes it easier if we can get more people along to games. It's frustrating but you can't knock the people who do come along. They get right behind the team and the people who stand behind the goal are fantastic. The away support isn't big enough to make a difference so we need the people of Accrington to back the team.

Q. WHAT'S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN?

A. I was talking about this the other day and I think something a manager once said to me which was something like if you're playing in  non-league football and your playing well and work hard it would buy  you a house and that’s good advice because it can. I was a non-league player and played for club’s like Macclesfield and Morcambe and I always wanted to be a league player but becoming the full-time manager at Stanley, I got the second best thing.