JOHN Coleman went back to the classroom this week to help a group of Hyndburn youngsters and their classmates celebrate reaching Wembley.

It was a flashback for the Accrington Stanley manager, who was a primary school teacher in Merseyside before the Reds became a full-time club in 2005.

He swapped lesson plans for game plans to help mastermind Stanley’s return to the Football League in 2006.

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“I looked at a survey at the top 10 most stressful jobs - football management and teaching were in that top 10 and I was doing both at the same time!” he said.

“It’s a wonder my head didn’t fall off!”

But the Liverpudlian admitted there wasn’t a world of difference between his former and current professions.

“Even if you just look at how people learn,” he added.

“You’re trying to coach players, some will respond to being shouted at, some will respond to an arm round them, some will respond to being shown what to do and some will respond to being told what to do.

“You have to quickly get to know people, and it’s similar when you’re teaching a class of children. I had 28 in my class when I was teaching and they’ve all got different personalities, different learning styles and different levels of ability, and those levels of ability change from one thing to another.

“You might have 10 children who are really good at maths but those children might not be the 10 best at English or history.

“Similarly with your players, you’ve got players who are quick, players who are strong, players who are skilful, players who are wholehearted, flair players, players who are good in the air.

“You’ve got to use them all to the best of their ability.”

Having done his homework on Newport, tonight he is hoping Stanley can play to their strengths and give their play-off chasing opponents a schooling as the Reds look to return to winning ways following back-to-back draws.

“Time and time again we’ve proved we can compete against all the top sides,” said Coleman. “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to maintain consistency defensively. The goals against column doesn’t lie and that’s what’s anchored us into the position that we’re in,”

“Newport, are in the play-offs at the moment. They are seventh, but we’ve scored more goals than them. However, we’ve conceded 20 more than them as well and that’s the thing that has to change next season.”

But while the Stanley boss has one eye on the future, the present remains pertinent, with the play-offs and relegations still both mathematical possibilities.

“The last month our performances haven’t probably been reflected in the points total we’ve taken,” he said.

“We have played some really good football, and whole-hearted football as well, passionate and really playing with their heart on their sleeve and putting in a great deal of effort.

“I hope that between now and the end of the season we show some reward for that with the points that we build up.”