Michael Jolley (born 30 March 1977) is an English professional football manager who was most recently in charge of Segunda Federación side Vélez CF.
He has previously held coaching positions at five professional clubs, including Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Lincoln City, Crewe Alexandra and Burnley.
After three years as Burnley's U23 head coach, he was appointed manager of AFC Eskilstuna in Sweden, joining the last-placed Allsvenskan club in June 2017.
[3] In 2002, Jolley returned to England to be nearer to his family, while continuing his work in banking he also moved into football coaching when he joined Crystal Palace in 2004.
[19] Jolley became new manager of Swedish Premier Division, Allsvenskan side, AFC Eskilstuna on 13 June 2017,[20] after being recommended by Sean Dyche.
[26] A 3–2 defeat by IF Elfsborg in their penultimate home game[27] followed by a 1–1 draw away to Halmstads BK confirmed relegation to Superettan on 23 October 2017,[28] and Jolley left AFC Eskilstuna on 9 January 2018 by mutual consent, unable to agree on the future direction of the club.
[30] His main task for the remainder of the season was to maintain their League Two status; he worked alongside Paul Wilkinson, who continued his previous role as assistant manager.
[35] After retaining their EFL League Two status, the 2018–19 season began slowly with only five points and a single win in the opening ten games[36] leading to fears that Grimsby would again be involved in a relegation battle.
Roared on by over 5500 Mariner's fans only a solitary late goal edged Grimsby out despite them having to play nearly the entire game with ten men after an early red card.
[40] The team's league form suffered again after their cup exit and it wasn't until the final game in January that they picked up their next victory against Milton Keynes Dons.
[41] They backed this up with three wins and one draw in February leading to optimistic thoughts of a late bid for the playoffs with Jolley again nominated for EFL League Two Manager of the Month.
Chairman, Paul Hornby stated that the board and Jolley had a differing vision on how the team should play which ultimately lead to the decision to remove him as manager.
[2] Jolley places an emphasis on football being a part of the community and the role he takes in supporting local schools, events and causes, which made him particularly popular with Grimsby Town fans.