Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a Scottish-born^[3] Irish international former professional player and professional association football manager . He is currently the manager of Bolton Wanderers.

Paisley-born Coyle began his career at Dumbarton. He played for a number of Scottish teams as well as a spell at English club Bolton Wanderers. Upon retiring from playing, he managed Falkirk and St. Johnstone before heading to then Championship side Burnley. In his first full season in charge, Burnley won promotion to the Premier League. He then moved to Bolton halfway through his first season in the Premier League.

He has one cap for the Republic of Ireland, having qualified through Irish descent. He also played for the Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team.^[4]

Playing career[link]

Club[link]

Coyle began his senior career with Dumbarton in 1985, where he played alongside his brothers Joe and Tommy. In 1988 he joined Clydebank, then in March 1990 a £175,000 transfer took him to Airdrieonians. This move was instantly successful, Coyle scoring a hat-trick on his debut and going on to finish as the Scottish League's top scorer for 1989–90. Over the next two seasons his goals helped Airdrie to promotion, a Scottish Cup final appearance, and an appearance in the 1992–1993 European Cup Winners' Cup – as Scottish Cup winners Rangers, had won the Scottish Premier Division title and qualified for the European Cup.

In the summer of 1993, Bolton Wanderers paid £250,000 to sign Coyle, and his two year spell in England included promotion and a brief chance to play in the FA Premier League. He was a key part of their Division One promotion winning side in 1995, scoring a 75th minute goal against Reading in the playoff final which gave Bolton a lifeline to peg the scoreline back to 2–1. With 90 minutes on the clock, the score was 2–2 and Bolton won 4–3 in extra time to end their 15-year exile from the top flight.^[5]

However, in October 1995, a £400,000 transfer fee took him to Dundee United, where he was once again part of a promotion-winning side, scoring the winning goal in extra time in the second leg of the playoff against Partick Thistle.

Coyle's next moves were to Motherwell in January 1997, after a move to Hibernian fell through,^[6] and then on to Dunfermline Athletic in March 1999. After losing his place in the Dunfermline team, he went on loan to Ross County prior to rejoining Airdrie in 2001. When they went into liquidation in 2002, Coyle joined Falkirk, being promoted to co-player-manager alongside John Hughes in 2003. After leaving this post he returned to Dundee United, primarily in a coaching capacity but also registering as a player. A lack of first team opportunities, however, led to him being loaned out to Airdrieonians' successors, Airdrie United, and this move was subsequently made on a permanent basis. He also took up the post of assistant manager to Sandy Stewart, who now acts as his assistant at Bolton.

He played in an emergency for Burnley Reserves on 9 April 2009, scoring with a lob in a 2–0 win against Accrington Stanley, helping them win the Reserve League title.^[7] On 7 October, Coyle played again for Burnley Reserves in a 1–0 defeat to the Liverpool Reserves at Prenton Park.^[8]

On 15 November 2010, Coyle returned to playing action at the age of 44 when turning out for Bolton in their friendly match with Northern Ireland side Cliftonville. It was the first time in fifteen years that he had started a game for Bolton and he chipped in with a goal in a 2–0 Wanderers win.^[9]

International[link]

A former Republic of Ireland under-21 international, Coyle earned one full international cap, in a friendly match played against the Netherlands in Tilburg in April 1994. The match ended in a 1–0 victory for the Republic, with Coyle coming on to replace the goalscorer Tommy Coyne in the 83rd minute.^[10]

Managerial career[link]

Falkirk[link]

Coyle landed his first managerial job on 31 January 2003, when he and John Hughes were appointed co-managers of Falkirk. They continued as senior players with the club, creating an unusual situation of having co-managers who were both also player-managers.

The Coyle-Hughes management team took over when Falkirk were top of the league, and continued Falkirk's good form, winning the Scottish First Division.^[11]

At the end of 2003-04, after only half a season in charge, Coyle left Falkirk to join Ian McCall's coaching team at Dundee United, leaving Hughes in sole charge.

St. Johnstone[link]

In April 2005, Coyle was named as the new manager of St. Johnstone.^[12] In March 2006, he was awarded Manager of the Month for the Scottish First Division for his team's performance. Coyle led St. Johnstone to a 2–0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox to reach the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup.^[13] It was their first win over the Glasgow club at Ibrox in 35 years. St. Johnstone lost 3–1 after extra time to Hibernian in that semi-final. Saints also reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup thanks to away wins against SPL clubs Falkirk and Motherwell, but lost 2–1 to Celtic at Hampden in the semi-final.^[14]

In the same season, Saints also competed for the First Division championship and promotion to the SPL. On 30 March 2007, Coyle was awarded his second Scottish First Division Manager of the Month award of the 2006–07 season.^[15] Saints took the title fight with Gretna to the final day of the season, and only a last minute goal by James Grady that gave Gretna victory at Ross County denied Saints promotion.

Coyle signed a one-year extension to his contract with St. Johnstone in July 2007, which would have kept him at the club until the end of the 2009–10 season.^[16] In the early part of the 2007–08 season, Coyle led Saints to the 2007 Scottish Challenge Cup Final. He accepted an offer from Burnley in the week before the final and left the club. Coyle's assistant Sandy Stewart took charge of the team for the final, which was won 3–2 against Dunfermline Athletic.

Burnley[link]

On 21 November 2007, Burnley were granted permission to discuss their managerial vacancy with Coyle after a compensation fee was agreed with St. Johnstone.^[17] He was appointed as Burnley's new manager the following day.^[18] Coyle was given a reference by then Scotland manager Alex McLeish to support his Burnley application, and was also recommended by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside after they appointed Gary Megson as their new manager, as Coyle was Gartside's 2nd choice for the Bolton job after Megson.^[19]

In September 2008, former England striker Andrew Cole credited Coyle as the reason he re-thought his decision to retire from playing at the end of the 2007–08 season. Cole spent three months on loan at Burnley that season, and Cole stated, "I went to Burnley and spoke to Owen and got a great vibe. He brought the best out of me and made me feel a lot younger than my age."^[20]

He won the September 2008 Championship Manager of the Month award after leading Burnley to 5 wins and a draw, which included a League Cup win over Premier League side Fulham. In November Burnley secured a victory over Premier League side Chelsea on penalties at Stamford Bridge to put them in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. In the quarter-final, Burnley defeated Arsenal 2–0. They were knocked out in the semi-finals in dramatic fashion, after overturning a 4–1 deficit by winning 3–0 at Turf Moor after 90minutes. Burnley were little more than three minutes away from a famous win and a trip to Wembley, when Roman Pavlyuchenko scored to win the tie in extra time for Tottenham Hotspur.

Burnley, under Coyle, won promotion to the Premier League by beating Sheffield United 1–0 in the Championship Play-off Final at Wembley Stadium on 25 May 2009.^[21] The 2009–10 season was the first time Burnley had played in top tier of English football for 33 years. Coyle has added to his squad by signing Tyrone Mears from Derby County for £500,000 & Steven Fletcher from Hibernian for a club record fee of £3,000,000 and also David Edgar signed on a free transfer from Newcastle United on 1 July 2009.

After speculation linking Coyle with the vacant manager's position at Celtic, on 18 June 2009, Coyle signed a contract extension at Turf Moor to stay with Burnley until the end of the 2012–13 season.^[22]

On 19 August 2009, Burnley defeated the defending Premier League champions Manchester United 1–0 at Turf Moor in their first top-flight match at home for 33 years.^[23] They went on to win their first four home games with wins against Everton 1–0 Birmingham 2–1 and Sunderland 3–1 and lose their first 5 away games.

Bolton Wanderers[link]

In January 2010, Bolton Wanderers expressed their interest in Coyle becoming their new manager to replace the recently sacked Gary Megson, with Coyle expressing a desire to leave Burnley and take up the position.^[24] On 5 January, Burnley's chairman announced that Coyle had left the club.^[25] On 8 January, Coyle was appointed as Bolton manager.^[26] His first game in charge was a 2–0 home defeat to Arsenal.^[27] He achieved his first win on 23 January 2010, 2–0 in the FA Cup 4th Round at home to Sheffield United and achieved his first league victory against former club Burnley, 1–0 on 26 January 2010.^[28] He achieved his first away victory at the club on 6 March, 2–1 at West Ham United. Coyle's first signings for the club were Stuart Holden from MLS side Houston Dynamo on a short-term contract and Manchester City winger Vladimir Weiss and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere on loan until the end of the season. Coyle achieved his goal of keeping Bolton in the Premier League by finishing 14th with 39 points, nine clear of relegated Burnley.

On 1 July, he signed Martin Petrov from Manchester City and Robbie Blake from Burnley on free transfers, making them his first summer signings. Coyle also later signed Marcos Alonso from Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee and also brought Ivan Klasnić back to the club on a free transfer after spending the previous season on loan at the Reebok. In January 2011, he made two further signings, buying David Wheater from Middlesbrough and signing Daniel Sturridge on loan from Chelsea until the end of the season.

On 13 May 2012, Bolton were relegated to The Championship, following a 2–2 at Stoke City on the final day of the season.

Statistics[link]

Manager[link]

As of 13 May 2012 (UTC)^[29]

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Falkirk		31 January 2003	20 May 2003	&1000000000000001900000019	&1000000000000001200000012	&100000000000000030000003	&100000000000000040000004	&1000000000000006315999963.16
St. Johnstone		15 April 2005	22 November 2007	&1000000000000007000000070	&1000000000000003600000036	&1000000000000002000000020	&1000000000000001400000014	&1000000000000005142999951.43
Burnley		22 November 2007	5 January 2010	&10000000000000116000000116	&1000000000000004900000049	&1000000000000002900000029	&1000000000000003800000038	&1000000000000004224000042.24
Bolton Wanderers		8 January 2010	present	&10000000000000115000000115	&1000000000000003900000039	&1000000000000002200000022	&1000000000000005400000054	&1000000000000003390999933.91
Total				&10000000000000320000000320	&10000000000000136000000136	&1000000000000007400000074	&10000000000000110000000110	&1000000000000004250000042.50

Honours[link]

As a player[link]

Falkirk

• Scottish Football League, First Division - Winner, 2002–03

As a manager[link]

Burnley

• The Championship Playoffs - Winner, 2008–09

Bolton Wanderers

• Premier League Manager of the Month November 2010, March 2012

Outside of football[link]

Coyle was born in the ‘Little Donegal’ area of Glasgow to parents from Ireland and is a frequent visitor to Gweedore, County Donegal.^[30] He made an appearance in the Scottish football film A Shot at Glory, in 2000, alongside The Godfather star Robert Duvall, Michael Keaton and Ally McCoist. He has been described as a committed Christian and teetotaller.^[31]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Owen Coyle career stats at Soccerbase
• Owen Coyle management career stats at Soccerbase
• Owen Coyle at the Internet Movie Database