Michael Skubala (born 31 October 1982) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach who is current the head coach for

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club Lincoln City.

Coaching career

Early career

Skubala started his coaching career whilst teaching PE at

Lutterworth College Lutterworth College is a large 11–19 non-selective, inclusive, comprehensive, Church of England Secondary School and Sixth Form College with academy status. Lutterworth College is situated in the rural market town of Lutterworth in the dist ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. Alongside his job at the school, he had a number of coaching roles including at non-league club

Barwell Barwell is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents in 2001, increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census. The name "Barwell" literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from ...

as well as

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

academies. He subsequently became director of football at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

, renowned for sporting excellence, before being headhunted by the FA, where he became head coach of

England national futsal team The England national futsal team represents England during international futsal competitions such as the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the European Championships. The team (and sport) is governed by The Football Association and delivered by their c ...

. Between 2017 and 2020, he guided them to their highest world ranking in two decades and played a key role in the development of future Premier League player and Wolves captain Max Kilman. Skubala then progressed to work with the England U18s, whilst also working at

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

as a football advisor.

Leeds United

In July 2022, he was appointed head coach of Leeds United U21s. In February 2023, Skubala was appointed interim head coach of English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, alongside coaches

Paco Gallardo Francisco "Paco" Gallardo León (born 13 January 1980) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. Playing career Sevilla Born in Seville, Andalusia, and a product of hometown club Sevilla's yout ...

and

Chris Armas Christopher Armas (born August 27, 1972) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the head coach of Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids. Youth and college Born in The Bronx, New York City, Armas is of Puerto R ...

, after the sacking of head coach

Jesse Marsch Jesse Alan Marsch ( ; born November 8, 1973) is an American professional association football, soccer coach and former player who is the head coach of the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada men's national team. Marsch played 14 seasons ...

. After Leeds drew their first game away under Skubala 2–2 at Manchester United, it was announced that he would remain in charge for a second match four days later: the home tie against Manchester United. The club also announced that Skubala would remain in the role while the search for a permanent manager continued, and Skubala said he did not see the temporary role as an 'opportunity' for him. After the appointment of

Javi Gracia Javier "Javi" Gracia Carlos (; born 1 May 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He totalled 430 matches across both major levels of Spanish football, in a 15-year professional career. Afte ...

as head coach, Skubala was promoted to first-team coach at Leeds

Lincoln City

On 13 November 2023, he was appointed the head coach of League One club Lincoln City. His first game ended in a 1–0 defeat to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

. His first Lincoln City win came the next game, beating

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

1–0. He was nominated for the February 2024 Manager of the Month, picking up 16 points from 6 unbeaten games. His unbeaten run would continue into March, taking 13 points from the next 5 games, including a 5–1, 6–0 and 5–0 win, getting him another manager of the month nomination. Lincoln City missed out on a play-off place following a 2–0 defeat to League One champions

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on the final day of the season. On the eve of the 2024–25 season, Skubala signed a contract extension until the end of the 2027–28 season. Three wins from four and the most goals in League One scored, saw him nominated for August manager of the month.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skubala, Michael 1982 births Living people English football managers Leeds United F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Premier League managers English Football League managers Coventry City F.C. non-playing staff Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff English educators