JOHN Coleman will celebrate his 400th league game in charge of Accrington Stanley on Sunday against Rochdale.

Since signing up at the then Crown Ground in 1999, there have been more highs than lows with three promotions from the UniBond First Division all the way through to the Football League.

He and assistant Jimmy Bell have won eight trophies altogether, seen plenty of players come and go and have helped turn the club from a part-time outfit into a full time professional league side.

Here, John looks at some of the memorable moments ...

FAVOURITE LEAGUE GAME

Farsley Celtic without a doubt. This was the last game of the UniBond First Division season and we had gone on an unbeaten run since Christmas. That was the best day of my life. All the other fixtures had gone, we needed to win to clinch the title, there was a big crowd, it was at home and we did it. We played really well and I was playing as well - I also scored which put the top hat on it.

BEST SIGNING

Has to be Paul Mullin - he is Mr Reliable and has done really well for the club. He is no trouble. There have been others in their own right though. Mike Marsh was good the season we had him in the UniBond Premier Division when we were promoted to the Conference. He gave us the shot of confidence we needed and he did really well for us. Then there was Russell Payne who was one of my favourite players. It is just a shame he didn’t play longer for us as he was exceptional. There is also Peter Cavanagh who has been Accrington’s most successful captain.

MOST SKILLED PLAYER

You would look at Russell Payne but then there is also Ian Craney and Gary Roberts.

BEST FEELING AFTER A LEAGUE GAME

I think that came after Exeter when we beat them live on Sky and that told people that we were there to stay and were going to get promoted. I think that was a better feeling than Woking, when we actually won the League. It was special.

FAVOURITE PROMOTION OUT OF THE THREE

That was winning the UniBond First Division. It was just the way we did it - going unbeaten for 19 games and it going down to the wire. It was a great run to go on and do what we did. One of my best experiences.

WORST LEAGUE DEFEAT

Obviously losing to Peterborough 8-2 was hard to take last seasonbut I think one of the worst that sticks in my mind is losing to Dagenham and Redbridge. We were 2-1 up on 90 minutes and then we lost 3-2 in injury time and that was really hard to take. There have been a couple of games where we have been in a winning position and thrown it away and I think they are the hardest defeats to accept. They hurt the most.

WORST SIGNING

Justin Jackson was bad just for the fact he never played. To be honest, everyone has served their purpose when they have signed. The other one I remember was signing Darren Connell and he never played a game for us either. It was just one of those things.