James Shan (born 28 October 1978) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach who is a first-team coach at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Playing career

Shan spent a three-month period in the youth set-up at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

at the age of 15. Following his spell at Walsall, Shan dropped down into

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

as a youth player, attending trials at

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and

. Shan also played for local club Paget Rangers.

Coaching career

Shan was a part of the coaching staff at childhood club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, coaching various age groups in the club's academy set-up. In 2006, Shan joined the coaching staff of

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, working with the club's under-7s age group. He later worked as manager of the under-18, under-21 and under-23 sides, before joining the first-team coaching staff at the end of the 2017–18 season. In March 2019 he was appointed caretaker manager following the sacking of

Darren Moore Darren Mark Moore (born 22 April 1974) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the current manager of Sheffield Wednesday. Born in England, he earned two international caps for Jamaica. Moore is a ...

, leading the club to a 3–0 victory against Swansea City in his first game in charge. In April 2019 it was announced that Shan would remain as caretaker manager until the end of the 2018–19 season. On 28 June 2019, Shan left West Bromwich Albion following

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown c ...

's appointment as head coach. On 6 December 2019, Shan was appointed as the interim manager of

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

in the

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

, leaving on 11 February 2020. The following day he was announced as new manager of

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. He was linked with a move to

following their appointment of

, and a day later he was relieved of his duties with Solihull Moors. He was appointed assistant manager of

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in July 2021. He left the club in August 2022. On 30th September 2022 it was announced by Darren Moore that Shan had joined Sheffield Wednesday as a member of their technical team.

Personal life

As of March 2019 Shan has three sons.

Managerial statistics

References

1978 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers English football managers Paget Rangers F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. non-playing staff Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers Association footballers not categorized by position Kidderminster Harriers F.C. managers Solihull Moors F.C. managers Rochdale A.F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff {{England-footy-manager-stub