Coton Green

Welcome to the homepage for our Men's First Team who currently play in the Midland Football League. The team currently play in the Premier Division which is Step 5 of the non-league pyramid.

The Green Army are led by Nic Oakley who is our most successful ever Manager, guiding the team through two promotions from Step 7 to Step 5. Nic is supported in his role by Matt Minton and Simon Lyons as Assistant Managers, Tom Reece and Harry Reece as Coaches, Josh Benton as Goalkeeper Coach and Indy Bhasra as Sports Therapist.

History

The team entered the Midland Combination in 2004 and was promoted to Division Two in its first season after finishing league winners. In this successful first season, they also finished runners up in the Challenge Urn, losing out in a penalty shoot out to Greenhill at Atherstone Towns Sheepy Road. They were promoted to Division One in 2007 and a second successive runners-up finish in 2008 saw them clinch promotion to the Premier Division. Their meteoric rise came to a halt soon after when they were relegated back to Division One in 2009. After such a quick rise to the top of the Midland Combination, the next few seasons were spent lingering around the bottom half of Division 1 which also saw several changes of manager.

When the Combination merged with the Midland Alliance to form the Midland League in 2014, Coton Green were placed in Division Two of the new competition. Unfortunately this change of divisional structure did not alter the on-field fortunes of Coton as they suffered a second successive bottom of the table finish only to be reprieved by FC Glades withdrawing from the competition for the following season.

Since their transformation from Sunday morning to Saturday afternoon football, Coton have had 10 full-time managers at the club with varying lengths of tenure. Cotons initial and most successful manager to date was Steve Pike who was helped out by 4 different assistant managers during his time. These included ex-Tamworth Youth team coach Alan Ross and former Birmingham City player Barry Barnes. Pikes reign at the Coton helm came to an end in 2009 when the club were relegated back to Division 1 after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in their first season at that level.

The club were helped out in the short term by reserve team manager Jamie Dix before short spells in charge for Paul Casey, Steve Scattergood and Steve Nichols. Following this unsettling period of change, reserve team manager Jamie Dix stepped up as full-time manager for 2 seasons where Coton achieved lower half finishes but did manage to win the Fazeley Charity Cup, defeating local rivals Lichfield City 1-0 in the final.

The club were again faced with change in the 2012 / 13 season when Dix left the club after struggling with results. It was this time the turn of another reserve team manager to step up to the plate to take the first team reigns as John Downing took over for the final 5 games in charge. Downing took full responsibility of the first team for season 2013/14 but in his 2 years at the helm he couldn't improve the fortunes of the team, finishing bottom in his 2 seasons and stood down after 10 games into the 2015/16 season with the team languishing in the bottom 3 of the MFL 2.

Rob Masefield was appointed in November 2015 as the Coton Green manager, where he was able to bring his wealth of experience, contacts and knowledge from the Midland Combination to Coton Green. Masefield was initially assisted by Carl Nolan who was also a coach in the Coventry City youth set-up. For the 2016/17 season, Masefield moved to appoint a new assistant following the departure of Nolan, with him being joined by the highly respected Keith Green - the former Earlswood Town Manager with a target of improving on the previous seasons creditable 7th-place finish. During this campaign Masefield was able to achieve another 7th placed finish in the league with the ship firmly steadied after years of languishing near the foot of the table. The season also saw the team reach 3 cup finals (Fazeley Charity Cup, Birmingham Saturday Vase, Smedley Crooke Memorial Cup) but they were unable to come away with any silverware in their 3 efforts at glory. The Smedley Crooke cup run did see a highly notable victory in the semi-final against Division 1 Champions Bromsgrove Sporting who had otherwise gone unbeaten throughout the season.

The 2018/19 saw a decline in fortunes for Coton who were only able to achieve a 12th placed finish in the league despite Masefield recruiting well and the club investing well in its facilities. However the following season saw a return to some success with Masefield achieving his highest league finish during his tenure with a respectable 6th placed finish. Unfortunately the success didn't continue into the 2019/20 campaign and Masefield eventually resigned following a 3-0 defeat away at Dudley Town in the Birmingham Midweek Cup.

This saw Adam Wilkes take up the post of Manager for the Green Army and up until the curtailment of the season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Wilkes was able to achieve 10 straight wins setting a club record in the process. These proved to be Wilkes' only 10 games in charge though as he resigned prior to pre-season for the 2020-21 campaign. The club moved quickly to appoint a new Manager and achieved somewhat of a coup in attracting Russell Dodds to the position, but again the next campaign was put to a halt by covid with the club sitting in 3rd position in the league after the 9 games which were played. Dodds was able to attract Darren Acton to his management team who came in as Assistant Manager, and was also boosted by the appointment of Darren McLaren as a second assistant. The team then participated in a post season covid cup, with Coton losing out by 3 goals to 2 in the final against Lane Head.

With Acton leaving his role to pursue other opportunities, Dodds brought in ex-Studley Manager Nic Oakley as his assistant, but unfortunately Dodds then departed himself in October leaving Oakley to take over full control of the team. This led to Oakley and McLaren leading the team with Shaun Edwards coming on board the following month.

The team made their FA Vase debut in 2015, and played in the competition for 5 consecutive years before FA rule changes meant that Step 7 clubs could no longer enter. Across those 5 seasons, all fixtures came against higher league opposition as well as defeat. With promotion back to Step 6 at the end of the 21/22 season, this also meant a return to the FA Vase. An away tie to Brocton saw the Green Army go in 2-0 ahead at half time, before a stunning comeback from Brocton saw the hosts prevail 4-2 winners.

In 2021/22 Nic Oakley embarked on his first full season with the team, and was able to guide them to promotion to Division 1. After a 13 year hiatus, Coton Green were back at Step 6 of the football pyramid. Oakley and his staff enjoyed a successful first season back at the level, achieving a 9th place finish as well as reaching 3 cup semi-finals. After Oakley decided to take a step back to focus on his family life, Coton were left with a gap to fill and appointed Jason Pyott as Manager for the 2023/24 season. Unfortunately this proved to be a decision that didn't work out for the Green Army, and after just 7 games Pyott resigned from the post after losing each of those games.

Russell Dodd's returned to Coton to try and help steady the ship, and although improvement came the results were still up and down. This period of uncertainty continued until Christmas, and with the team languishing second from bottom the club made the decision to release Dodd's from his duties in the hope of securing safety and it's place in Step 6. After lengthy discussions, Coton were able to secure the services of Nic Oakley again and an excellent run until the end of the season saw the Green Army only lose once in it's remaining 17 games securing a mid-table finish.

The 2024/25 season brought real focus in on competing at the right end of the table, and after solid recruitment in the summer Coton got off to a great start and come Christmas were well in the title hunt, going neck and neck with Nuneaton Town in a battle for top position. A run of bad results saw Coton's title hopes whimper, however a strong run at the back end of the season secured the Green Army a spot in the Play-Offs for the first time in their history. The semi-final saw Coton travel to Heather St. Johns, who had secured 2nd position in the league after a great end to the season themselves. In what was a nervous occasion in front of a crowd of 342, Coton scored 2 first half goals via Jay Henry and Ollie Roome to secure progression through to the Play-Off final.

In the final, they met Leicester St. Andrews who had overcome Cradley Town 3-2 in their semi-final. With St. Andrews having the higher league position at the end of the season, they were the hosts for the game which saw both teams 90 minutes away from Step 5 football. With 924 spectators in attendance, the Division 1 showpiece game was full of drama. Coton started the game brightly, but couldn't make their chances count, and it was the hosts who punished the Green Army not once, but twice during the first half to see them go into the break leading 2-0 and one hand on the trophy. However, a true underdog story began on the commencement of the second half as Coton fought back, and it was Jay Henry who notched himself a brace to end the game at 2-2 and take it to a penalty shoot-out. With confidence and momentum on their side, Coton stepped up and scored all 5 of their penalties - with Luke Keen putting away the last penalty to secure Coton the win and progression to Step 5 for the first time in their history.

Manager: Nic Oakley
Asst Managers: Matt Minton & Simon Lyons
Coaches: Harry Reece & Tom Reece
Goalkeeper Coach: Josh Benton
Sports Therapist: Indy Bhasra

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