I couldn’t hide my disappointment as Owen Coyle decided to leave his post at Burnley to become the new manager of Bolton.

Coyle is a former Bolton player and scored a memorably helped them gain promotion in the nineties. In this the fans of Bolton will always hold a special place for him and must have been overjoyed at his appointment.

My issue was though if a manager always leaves a club after being the driving force for their small emergence, then the likelihood is that team will go straight back down again, making any progression they did make become short-lived.

Coyle gained many fans for obviously leading Burnley to the Premiership through the playoffs and their superb cup runs last season, especially making the semi-finals of the Carling Cup where they were only just ousted by Tottenham. But what helped these things stand out also were the neat passing football that Burnley seemed to possess where you would expect them to not be afraid to always knock the ball long or be physical. If he could have kept Burnley up this season he would have gained even further praise.

Coyle said on his arrival at Bolton that “I have an unbelievable challenge ahead here at this magnificent club, with a magnificent stadium, and I have to take that on”. Coyle is by no means a greedy man as he rejected a move to Celtic in the summer before Tony Mowbray was appointed there. Coyle was actually a Celtic supporter as a boy, so it furthers baffles me as to why he would reject them and go to Bolton later on.

I’m not saying if he had stayed at Burnley that they would’ve definitely stayed up but a few people would possibly say both teams have a similar chance of staying in the Premiership this year. Burnley have had a decent season at home and that form could be what could save them from the drop, they have already beaten the likes of Manchester United and Everton at home.

Bolton as they have been in the Premiership for a lengthy amount of time will have more money then Burnley but I cannot think the amount will be so much superior to Burnley that he could get in the players that will definitely guarantee their Premiership status.

Good luck to Coyle anyway, I feel he has a chance to progress as a good manager, I just hope the Burnley fans can be as rational as that for his own sake. Somehow though I don’t think so and if Burnley stay up and Bolton go down I feel they will take great satisfaction.

Daniel Dwamena