Saturday afternoon’s visit of Southend United marks Steve Cotterill’s 1000th game as a manager.

It’s been an incredible career for Cotterill spanning 30 years working with 13 clubs.

His career started in 1995 with Irish side, Sligo Rovers, where Cotterill stayed for 14 months.

Cotterill managed 55 games for Sligo taking them to a third placed finish in the League of Ireland Premier Division whilst also guiding them into the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1996.

In 1997, Cotterill returned to his birth town to take over Cheltenham Town where he managed 303 games and picked some fantastic accolades.

In his first full year at Cheltenham, Cotterill earned promotion from the Southern League Premier Division to the Conference League before lifting the FA Trophy in 1998.

Cotterill then guided Cheltenham into the Football League, going as high as the Second Division whilst also reaching fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club’s history.

After a memorable five years at Whaddon Road, Cotterill moved to then First Division side Stoke City in 2002. He managed 13 games before heading to Sunderland to become assistant manager to Howard Wilkinson.

In 2004, Cotterill then managed Burnley where he took charge of 161 games with one of most memorable moments coming in the FA Cup when he knocked Liverpool out in the fifth round.

After three years and seven months, making him the longest serving manager for the club at the time, Cotterill departed the club and later joined Notts County in 2010.

Cotterill managed 18 games for the Magpies guiding to the League Two title before leaving the club at the end of the season to join Portsmouth.

He arrived at the club during a period of financial difficulty but was key in stabilising the side going on to manage 61 games.

After over a year on the south coast, Cotterill was snapped up by Nottingham Forest where he managed 37 games before joining Queens Park Rangers as Harry Redknapp’s assistant manager.

His return to the south-west would follow with Bristol City in December 2013.

In his second season with the club, Cotterill enjoyed great success with City guiding them to the League One title in 2015 and promotion to the Championship.

Alongside the title, a memorable trip to Wembley saw his City side lift the Football League Trophy for a record third time following a 2-0 win over Walsall.

After almost three years at Ashton Gate, Cotterill moved the midlands becoming Redknapp’s assistant at Birmingham City before becoming manager in 2017.

After Cotterill departed the Blues, he didn’t return to management until late 2020 with when he took the helm at Shrewsbury Town.

Cotterill started life at the Salop with a hat-trick of away wins at Hull City, Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers.

But the next year would be a tougher one as, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cotterill was twice admitted hospital, and spent time in intensive care, after suffering badly from the virus and COVID-pneumonia.

Thankfully in March 2021, Cotterill was released from hospital and was able to recover at home.

He departed the Salop in June 2023 before taking some time out of the game to asses his next opportunity.

Fast forward to January 2024, and Cotterill moved back to the south-west to take over Forest Green Rovers.

After being unable to stave relegation from the Football League, Cotterill rebuilt during the summer of 2024 in order to push for promotion back to League Two.

Cotterill has achieved a 51% win rate with Rovers and currently sit joint-second in the National League.

Congratulations Gaffer on an incredible milestone!