JOHN Coleman is still in the honeymoon period of promotion after winning the League Two title with Accrington Stanley.

The town is still on a high, with the trophy the star attraction in the Arndale Centre at last Saturday’s annual food festival, while it is doing a tour of the borough’s schools.

A video of Coleman’s ‘car park karaoke’ - a jubilant manager joining in the chants with supporters and players outside the Wham Stadium the night they lifted the silverware - is still getting hits online.

“I believe so. I’ve not seen it,” said the Stanley manager. But then again, he does not need to.

“Night’s like that stay with you, and you don’t have many so you’ve got to enjoy them when they come along.

“And I think the excitement is still there.

“My grandson took the trophy into his school last week and just to see the smile on his face and how much joy it’s brought him puts everything into perspective and makes everything you do worthwhile.”

He knows he has a wider, adopted, family of Accringtonians and Stanley fans worldwide too.

“There are that many people who take notice of Accrington Stanley, everyone you meet you seem to leave an indelible mark on them,” he said.

“Hopefully we can keep going and spreading the word and grow our following.”

The bubble has not yet burst.

But Coleman intends to put a stop to the celebrations - certainly for his staff and his squad at least - come the first day of pre-season.

“I’ll only be looking forward,” he said, warning: “There might be a few fines that come out for anyone mentioning it, just to keep them focused.”

The Stanley boss’s deadpan demeanour makes it hard to tell if he is being serious.

But when it comes to football he does not joke around.

“They’ve got to hold onto the feeling of winning, but you can quickly lose sight of things if you think you’re going to win because of the success last season,” he continued.

“If you feel like you’re going to be successful for what you’ve done in the past you’ll quickly fall flat on your face.

“It (looking back) can’t get in the way of the hard work that you’ve got to do so you enjoy your moments and then you’ve got to get back to work.”

Coleman has barely had time to switch off since the end of the season as he looks for new recruits that fit into his existing squad and are ready for the League One challenge.

One practically perennial problem area he hoped to have solved was the goalkeeping ranks, with Jonny Maxted signed halfway through the season to challenge Aaron Chapman. But after winning the Golden Glove with 18 League Two clean sheets en route to promotion Chapman accepted a challenge elsewhere, with League One rivals Peterborough United.

“It must have been because of all the damage I inflicted on them in the past,” said Coleman - a prolific non-league striker in his day - on the difficulties he’s had securing a regular number one.

“I like Chappy, I like him as a lad. He’s a good goalkeeper.

“I’ve shown a lot of faith and by his own admission he got 19 clean sheets (in all competitions) when I think he was surprised he played 19 games, so I have stood by him.

“You have to get a goalkeeper that people feel confident in - that the defence feels confident in. I think our lads did feel confident in Chappy last year, and Jonny when he came in. And it’s always good when you’ve got two good goalkeepers who are pushing for competition.”

Coleman added: “Chappy’s just starting a young family and they might think they have to do what’s best for them in the immediate future. It might turn out that he’s made a mistake.

“I wish him all the best and I hope he does really well at Peterborough but I’ve got a feeling he’s in for a bit of a turbulent time.

“I just know his personality. He’s a great lad but you’ve got to know him.

“I think we treat them right, and we’ll just have to replace him and we’ll have to replace him with better than what he was.

“There are good goalkeepers out there.

“We want someone to be challenging Jonny this year and improve us, so we’ll go down that route first.”

As well as ability, Coleman is also keen to find the right character.

While football has changed over the 16 years he has been Stanley manager - across two spells - and the Reds’ mindset towards it has shifted, having gone from part-time to full-time, then non-league to a Football League return, and now League Two champions, one thing has remained a constant.

“We’re looking for the same type of person,” he said. “First and foremost you’ve got to have a different personality - you’ve got to have a different mindset and a different motivation, or sense of motivation, if you’re going to be able to compete well for Accrington. We can’t offer them riches, we can’t motivate them with money. And I don’t really like players who are motivated by money.

“So you’ve got to be made of a certain character to be successful for Accrington and thankfully in the past we’ve been quite good at recruiting that type of person.

“When you sign a footballer it’s always a gamble. Not everyone fits into your style of play. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen for players. Certain players can play well at certain clubs.

“If you wanted to take any example from that it would probably be Billy Kee.

“When Billy Kee was at Mansfield before he came here the fans were slaughtering him. Billy’s a hero here now. He’s still the same player, he’s still the same person, it’s just some players respond differently to different managers, respond differently to different methods and respond differently to different clubs.

“There are players out there who are hungry and made of the right stock and we’ve just got to try to unearth them.”

Coleman wants everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.

TOMORROW: Coleman on scouting missions and Scousers