Having secured Swinton Lions’ position in the Championship before heading off to a new challenge with Widnes, can Allan Coleman unlock the Vikings’ potential and steer them to a Super League return?
“DIFFICULT, exciting, eye-opening but really enjoyable – if that makes sense?”
A fair and honest assessment of the job that Allan Coleman has taken on at Widnes, having been announced as the Vikings’ new head coach in August of 2023.
Few clubs top Widnes’ impressive honours list, but that has all felt a long way away in recent times, from dropping out of Super League to, far more concerningly, the very real threat of going under.
Rather than challenging for titles and Challenge Cups, the opportunity to rebuild a proud and historic club was the factor that enticed Coleman to make the move from Swinton.
“It was the challenge,” he told Rugby League World. “I had some fantastic years at Swinton and it’s a fantastic club, but if you look at both clubs side-by-side, there’s a big gulf – obviously not in the performances or league tables recently – but more with the stature of the clubs and what can happen with them.
“You hear a lot of people saying it’s a sleeping giant and a massive club, and it is, but how they were performing and how it was being run wasn’t like a massive club.
“We’ve had to change a lot of things and be realistic about where we are as a club and where we want to be. When I had my interview, I just said that I can’t believe that a club of this size, with the players they’ve had, had never made the play-offs. Now I’m in the club, I can understand why that happened.”
Having been relegated in 2018, the on-field aim for this season is therefore clear.
“They’ve had John Kear, Simon Finnigan, Tim Sheens, Kieron Purtill; high-quality coaches.
“They’re all brilliant coaches and I wanted to be classed as one of the coaches in that calibre and in the same breath as those people. I wanted that challenge and I want to be the coach who does it; get us in the play-offs.
“There is quite a bit of pressure on this club and so there should be. The fans got behind the club all those years ago when they needed them with going into administration. They saved the club with 6,000 turning up to watch.
“The potential is there. We’ve lost a lot of fans because we’ve missed a generation really. They’ve not seen the good times at Widnes and football is getting quite popular in Widnes. We’ve got to keep going and keep banging the drum, but the target is play-offs and it’s got to be this year.
“I want success, the fans want success, and the club wants success. I’m a believer that you can still have success while you’re building, and that’s not necessarily being the best team.
“For example, we’ve not made the play-offs since being relegated from Super League, so if we can achieve that in year one then that’s success. Our crowds are going up slowly and hopefully our season ticket sales can go higher. Next year, if we finish fifth and we have finished sixth this year, for example, then that is success. If you’re in a better position than you were the year before, then that’s success.”
Coleman has certainly, in his own words, done his apprenticeship within the game, having also had a stint in rugby union, too.
So beyond finishing in the top six, what does he hope for in the longer-term?
“I’m fortunate in that every club I’ve been at, I’ve won something. I started off at Leigh Miners and we won the treble which was every trophy available. We won something for each of the five years. I then went to Leigh Reserves which was a step up, then Swinton approached which was a step up, then Widnes approached which was another step up.
“I want to win something with Widnes, and I want to make it a big happy club again. If that gives me an opportunity to coach in Super League with Widnes then that’d be absolutely superb. It’d be a dream come true for me and I think there would be a lot of happy people out there to see the club, especially with that history they’ve got, back in that environment again.
“It’d be great to be the guy that does that but who knows after that? I just love rugby league. I was in it for a long time volunteering.
“If I keep doing the job right and keep believing in my philosophy in how I want things to happen then who knows? I want to coach at the top, but we’ve got a big job on our hands at Widnes at the moment.”
Rewinding back to August, when Coleman made the difficult but understandable decision to depart Swinton.
What followed was a period of limbo, with the Leigh-born coach leading on player recruitment with Widnes, whilst also aiming to keep the Lions in the Championship, a feat he managed to achieve.
“It was vital that I kept the club in the Championship because they belong there. They’re not a League One club. They have a fantastic history.
“I didn’t want to leave but I told them that I’d understand if they didn’t want me to stay. They told me that I’d want it more than anybody and that was a real pleasure for me to do that. There were times where the fans turned and I understand that, but the lads I had there were brilliant.
“It was a very stressful time because I was trying to do the right for Swinton, but I was also trying to do the right thing for Widnes. I was just so happy in the end that we managed to do both. If it had gone the other way, I don’t know how it would have felt but that last day was probably the best win I’d had as Swinton coach even though I’d won the play-offs before. That was probably the most important win of my Swinton career.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 499 (August 2024)
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