Today Fulham face Liverpool at Craven Cottage and the belief of their engaging, honest young manager in his team's potential remains utterly unshakeable. When he won three of them the good news came direct from the chairman Mohamed Al Fayed. " 'It's yours', he told me," Coleman says, "and he just said, 'Look after my club'." Few would dispute that Coleman has done that. It has not always been easy but more than 100 games have passed since Coleman, aged 32, was summoned into the Harrods boardroom - "I never felt I belonged in places like that" - to be asked whether he would take over for the last five matches of the 2002-2003 season.
Which of these has become Coleman's way is the obvious question to ask him and his answer is emphatic: none of the above. It is a measure of the quiet confidence of Coleman that he has resisted comparison with any of his own former managers as resolutely as he has resisted Fulham employing a more senior man to oversee their 35-year-old manager's progress. From the old school, as exemplified by Terry Yorath at Swansea City - "he was very aggressive and that worked for me" - to the "introverted" style of Steve Coppell, the understated manner of Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan's relentless enthusiasm and finally the silent hand of Tigana. "Unbelievable." For the Premiership's youngest manager, Tigana, with whom Coleman developed a good relationship, was the last stage in an education that took in all ages of the game. Five minutes later, he made the second when he told them it was time they went out to warm up.
Only when the Fulham players had returned to the dressing-room and the clock said 2.55pm did Tigana show up at last. "He put his head round the corner and just said, 'Good luck boys'," Coleman recalls. At about 2.15pm, Coleman took what in retrospect might be described as the first managerial decision of his career: he told his team-mates to put on their kit. At three the team was due to kick-off against Crewe, and as the squad looked to Coleman, their captain, he was wondering about Jean Tigana and where their new manager might be on his first match in charge.
