Rochdale Football Club is delighted to announce that Jimmy Shan has joined Robbie Stockdale’s backroom staff.
The 42-year-old has been appointed as the club’s new Assistant Manager.
Shan, who started his coaching career at Birmingham City’s Academy, worked across the age groups at West Bromwich Albion, including under-18s, under-21s and under-23s, before joining the first-team coaching staff in 2017-18. He then went on to spend a spell as caretaker manager at the Hawthorns.
After leaving the Baggies, a stint as interim manager at Kidderminster Harriers followed. From there, Shan took over the managerial reigns at Solihull Moors, where he has been most recently.
“Robbie is someone I have known for a long time. We competed against each other [with our respective teams] in the under-23 leagues in academy football and I did my Pro Licence with him. For a long time, he’s someone I have had a lot of admiration for, including his football principles and ways of working, so it’s a good fit and hopefully a successful partnership,” said Shan.
“[It’s a great] opportunity to work back in the football league again. It’s an exciting project here in terms of it being a little bit of a rebuild - we can put our own stamp on the playing style and where we want to take the club. The aspirations of the football club are to get promoted back to League One, so it ticks a lot of boxes for me personally and it’s a wonderful opportunity to be part of a good project.
“I think I’ve now done every role you can possibly do as a football coach - working as a coach with the youngsters in the Academy, to the under-23s, to first team coach, manager, caretaker manager and now assistant manager. I just have a real big buzz and passion for working on the grass and coaching and developing players, and this role appealed to me massively.”
Manager Robbie Stockdale added: “I’m very pleased to welcome Jimmy to the club. In terms of everything I was looking for in an Assistant Manager, Jimmy ticks the boxes.
“I wanted somebody that I can trust and that can take the lead on the grass when required and Jimmy is a fantastic coach. That can free me up for the time being to work on the recruitment side of things.
“His tactical knowledge of the game is very strong and his contacts for young players, especially in the Midlands where he worked at some of the big clubs in that area, is second to none, so we’ll certainly be tapping into that.
“The staff that are already here have been a massive help to me since I arrived and they'll continue to be. Jimmy is good addition and he's here to complement the staff that are already in the building. It’s part of the process of me trying to build my own backroom team.”
Welcome to the club, Jimmy!
You can watch a full interview with our new Assistant Manager on the club’s YouTube channel HERE.