Tony Collins (1926 - ) was the first black football manager in the English football league. Collins played for two years at Rochdale A.F.C, making 47 appearances and scoring 5 goals before he was appointed player-manager in June 1960. He retired from playing the next year but carried on as manager of Rochdale, a post he held until 1967. He led Rochdale to their only League Cup final in 1962. He was then appointed as the assistant manager of Bristol City from 1967-1980 and subsequently held the managers job at Bristol in 1980, though only for a brief period.
Although Tony Collins was the first black manager in England, Keith Alexander (1958 - 2010) is considered to be a pioneer of the modern game and an important figure in the effort to drive racism out of football. He is widely acknowledged as being the most well-known and successful black manager to have managed in England. Keith Alexander had a long and distinguished playing career before taking charge of Lincoln City in the 1993/4 season. He returned to the managerial post at Lincoln from 2002 - 06 and has also managed teams such as Peterborough United and Macclesfield town.
