James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He was most recently the first team manager at Southport F.C.

Playing career

Bentley debuted for Telford United in 1997, playing for the Shropshire club for 5 years. He signed for

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

in 2002, managed at the time by

Jim Harvey James Harvey (born 2 May 1958) is a Northern Irish football manager and former player. Playing career As a player, Harvey began his career at Glenavon in his hometown of Lurgan, before joining Arsenal in 1977. He made only three Football Leag ...

. In 2007, Bentley captained Morecambe to a 2–1 victory over

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in the Conference National play off final, taking the club to the Football League for the first time in their history. In June 2010, Bentley was appointed player-coach, having spent the previous season in a coaching role with the reserve team.

Managerial career

On 13 May 2011, Bentley was appointed the player-manager of

on a two-year contract, but since then he has concentrated on the managerial role and did not play a competitive match after taking on the post. He signed a two-year contract extension with the Shrimps on 10 October 2013. A further two-year contract extension was agreed with Morecambe on 29 August 2015. Ken McKenna also agreed the same deal with the League Two club. On 13 October 2017, Bentley and McKenna agreed further contract extensions until the end of the 2019–20 season. During Morecambe's 1–2 defeat to Cheltenham on 17 December 2016, Bentley was sent off from the dugout, after reacting to Alex Kenyon's dismissal. He received a £750 fine with £250 costs and a two match touchline ban from the FA after a personal hearing. At the following home game, a 4–1 victory over Notts County, Morecambe fans held a 'bucket collection' and raised the £1,000. After the departure of

Paul Tisdale Paul Robert Tisdale (born 14 January 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player. He is currently Head of Football Operations at Celtic. As a player, Tisdale represented Southampton, Bristol City, FinnPa, Panionios and ...

from

in June 2018, Bentley became the longest serving manager in the top four tiers of English football, until his resignation in October 2019 to become the new manager of AFC Fylde. In March 2022, Bentley was sacked by the

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

club, which was in fourth place, fourteen points off top spot. On 29 August 2022, Bentley was appointed manager of League Two's bottom club

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on a two-year contract. On 27 March 2023, Rochdale sacked him; under Bentley, the side had won just six out of 32 league games and were still bottom, 10 points from safety with eight games remaining. On 29 August 2023, exactly a year after his appointment at Rochdale, Bentley was appointed as manager of

club,

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. At the time of his appointment Southport were at the foot of the table with only 1 point after 6 games. Having overseen a turnaround in form, he was awarded the Manager of the Month award for November 2023. He was sacked on 12 March 2025, the club sitting seventeenth in the league, eleven points clear from safety.

Career statistics

Source:

Managerial statistics

Honours

Individual * League Two Manager of the Month: August 2014, August 2016 *

Manager of the Month: November 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Jim 1976 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Manchester City F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players English football managers Morecambe F.C. managers AFC Fylde managers Rochdale A.F.C. managers Southport F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers