2 weeks Ago By Robin Mumford
Many former England players are pursuing coaching roles to make significant contributions behind the scenes. Big names like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have pursued a management role, whereas others do so quietly. Emile Heskey, Kevin Phillips, and Jack Wilshere have all successfully transitioned to coaching roles post-retirement, staying connected to football.
After a footballer’s playing days are over, several career paths await. Some transition to punditry, like Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher , offering insights and opinions on the sport's latest developments. Others pursue management, where many former players have made their mark as outstanding coaches, drawing on their on-field experience to lead new generations in the sport.
Each route allows retired players to stay connected to football, whether from the sidelines or the commentary box. Top coaching positions in football often go to the sport’s biggest names. Among former England internationals, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, and Steven Gerrard have all ventured into management with mixed results recently.
However, many ex-Three Lions stars have pursued coaching roles more quietly, making significant contributions outside the media spotlight. Below, we highlight just some of the former England players now working to get their coaching badges—names you may not realise are still kicking about behind the scenes. Former England players you may have not realised were now coaching Player England caps Current role Tom Cleverley 13 Manager at Watford Joleon Lescott 26 Interim coach at England Lee Bowyer 1 Manager at Montserrat Jonathan Woodgate 8 First-team coach at Middlesbrough Bobby Zamora 2 Strikers coach at Brighton & Hove Albion Emile Heskey 62 Head of football development at Leicester City Women Andy Johnson 8 Director of football at AFC Croydon Carlton Cole 7 Academy coach at West Ham Tom Huddlestone 4 First team coach at Birmingham City Jack Wilshere 34 First-team coach at Norwich City Leighton Baines 30 Professional development coach at Everton Kevin Phillips 8 Manager at AFC Fylde Chris Kirkland 1 Head goalkeeping coach at Colne Paul Konchesky 2 Academy coach at Colchester Darius Vassell 22 Under-18 coach at England Rickie Lambert 11 Academy youth development coach at Wigan Athletic Stewart Downing 35 Academy coach at Leeds United Ryan Shawcross 1 Under-21 coach at Stoke City Phil Jones 27 Under-14 and under-18 coach at Manchester United GIVEMESPORT has taken a look at ten of the most forgettable players to have earned an England cap.
5 Coaching at International Level Despite one of St George's Park's primary functions being to breed the next generation of homegrown managerial talent, the current climate of English coaches has seen the FA revisit previously-ventured employment routes in the form of foreign exports, having handed Gareth Southgate's vacancy to German-born Thomas Tuchel . This alone pretty much sums up the state of English managers right now. That being said, though, there's one former Three Lions star that has made a living from a position at the helm of an international team, albeit in far less strenuous contexts.
Lee Bowyer, the former Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City manager, was clearly fed up with the English rain, as you can now find him in the peace and quiet of Montserrat, in the Caribbean, as helmsman of a nation ranking 180th in the world at the time of writing. Fair play. Someone who chose a more traditional route, meanwhile, was Darius Vassell.
The 22-cap former Aston Villa, Manchester City and Leicester City forward is hoping he can forge a better future for young English footballers, as his role nowadays is to help oversee the Three Lions under-18s side as part of Liam Bradley's coaching team. 4 Coaching at Premier League Clubs Once a feared striker in English football, Emile Heskey—who notched over 500 appearances and 110 goals in the Premier League , plus 62 England caps—is now head of football development for Leicester City's women’s team. A Leicester legend, Heskey took on his first executive role in 2021 after a year of serving as an ambassador and mentor for the Women's side.
He is the only former Three Lion to currently work in the WSL. Meanwhile, Leighton Baines and Phil Jones took more traditional routes following their playing days, with the former Everton captain taking on the role as development coach at the club he racked up over 300 league appearances at, while the latter helps out with the under-14 and under-18 sides at Manchester United after failing to reach the heady heights attached to him when he was tipped for greatness back in 2012. Bobby Zamora, fittingly, works as a striker coach at Brighton after his goalscoring instinct helped the Seagulls to two successive promotions during his heyday as they now reside comfortably inside the top 10 in the Premier League.
Elsewhere, Carlton Cole continues to work in the country's promised land as an academy coach at West Ham, as he follows the trend of players staying loyal to the clubs they found the most joy at. 3 Coaching at Championship Clubs As aforementioned, it's usually the bigger names that get the top jobs, but one former player that proves a glittering career isn't the defining ingredient for an up-and-coming manager is Tom Cleverley. The former Manchester United midfielder had a career plagued by injury, having only been able to make 13 England appearances.
But now, he operates the dugout at Vicarage Road for another of his former sides, Watford. So far so good is the general feeling of the trigger-happy ownership, with the 35-year-old restoring some order early on during his managerial tenure. Ryan Shawcross and Stewart Downing, meanwhile, have settled for the more muted roles of under-21s coach and academy coach at Stoke City and Leeds United, respectively.
Jack Wilshere, another player who retired too early after becoming injury prone , works as a first-team coach at Norwich City, while Tom Huddlestone shares the same job title at Tom Brady-owned Birmingham City. Jonathan Woodgate is still trying to make a name for himself in football after failing to deliver on his wonderkid promises at Real Madrid - he now works as a first-team coach as part of Michael Carrick's backroom staff at Middlesbrough. 2 Coaching at League One and League Two Clubs Two players who, once upon a time, found themselves washed up on Merseyside during Liverpool's pre-Klopp wilderness years, Rickie Lambert and Paul Konchesky were, at one point in their careers, laughing stocks among rival fans.
Needless to say, though, their post-playing days have brought footballing longevity. The latter of the two has already had a decent amount of time in coaching, having initially joined West Ham in that capacity back in 2017. After then rejoining Billericay Town as assistant manager to former teammate Jamie O'Hara in 2020, and finding himself in the cockpit of West Ham Women's manager for just one win in the 2022/23 season, he now works behind the scenes as an academy coach at Colchester United.
Lambert, meanwhile, has a lot less to his coaching CV. The 117-goal ex-Southampton forward has only been on that side of the game since May last year, when he joined Wigan Athletic as a youth development coach - a position he still holds at the League One outfit. Gareth Barry, Steven Caulker, and Andros Townsend all feature in an 11 of former England internationals who are still playing.
1 Coaching at Non League Clubs Andy Johnson scored over a goal every other game for Crystal Palace , netting 74 times in 140 appearances to help the Eagles secure Premier League promotion, playing a key role in the club’s recovery from financial troubles. His post-retirement ventures have been equally successful. Johnson now runs a property company, works for Fortus, a business advisory firm, and was appointed AFC Croydon’s director of football in February 2024, keeping him extra busy.
Kevin Phillips was perhaps even more prolific, scoring 113 goals for Sunderland between 1997 and 2003. Post-retirement, Phillips took up coaching, staying with Leicester City as assistant first-team coach during their first season back in the Premier League. He later took roles as assistant manager at Derby County, first-team coach at Stoke City, and manager at South Shields and Hartlepool.
The 51-year-old remains in football, currently serving as head coach of AFC Fylde in the National League. Chris Kirkland, with nearly 300 league appearances over 18 years, has naturally remained in the goalkeeper industry. He began coaching League One club Port Vale’s goalkeepers in January 2017 as a favor to his friend Michael Brown.
Around that time, he also founded the Chris Kirkland Goalkeeper Academy. Kirkland later coached Liverpool’s women’s team and now holds the same role at Colne in English football’s lower divisions..
