Alan Keeling spent 20 years as a coach educator for the FA and for the PFA. He served Morecambe as academy manager and assistant first-team manager and he spent several years at Stalybridge Celtic. As academy manager, he twice took Stalybridge teams to the Conference Youth League title and he later became manager of the U21s. After gaining his Brazilian Pro Licence, he helped to take the club forward with a full time training programme for the first team.
He has also served Hyde United as assistant manager, Oldham Athletic as manager of the academy U15s and U16s, and he helped lead Maltese club Floriana from the relegation zone into the top four as first-team coach.
He is the founder of the Football For Life Premier Academy, which was the first organisation to run BTEC Sports Education and Football programmes.