Normally you take rumours in the media with a pinch of salt but when the journalist is Alan Nixon, who has close connections with Owen Coyle you tend to sit up and take note.
In the Mirror today he states that Bolton chairman, Phil Gartside was given permission to speak to Coyle by Burnley operations director Brendan Flood over the weekend and that the two met up in Glasgow.
Coyle was supposed to be up in Scotland for a family reunion according to Sandy Stewart who in Coyle’s absence was given the onerous task of speaking in the post-match interview following the MK Dons victory on Saturday.
Sadly for Clarets fans, Nixon goes on to say that Gartside managed to persuade Coyle to come to Bolton with the expectation that he will be in charge by the time Bolton face Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday night. Some baptism of fire!
More worrying still is the reason stated by Nixon which apparantly had nothing to do with the salary side but all to do with the superior budget Bolton would have to buy new players compared to the pathetic one available at Turf Moor. It is well known that Bolton a club also struggling for survival in the Premier League have a budget three times that of the Clarets. It would appear Coyle has been frustrated by the lack of ambition shown by the Board with their shoestring budget giving him an uphill battle to compete in the top-flight.
Of course there is no official announcement yet so a lot of this is conjecture at the moment but with Nixon saying it and also now Sky Sports suggesting a similar story it looks like it’s the end of the road for Coyle as Clarets manager.
If this is true it will be a huge body blow to Clarets fans. I will not repeat my personal thoughts on the matter other than to say I will be very disappointed by Coyle’s decision if true and even more annoyed with the club for the way they have handled the whole affair.
I guess I just have to accept that all managers have ambition and that once again words have a hollow meaning and there is no such thing as loyalty. We used to live in a better world! Life will go on for Clarets fans as it always does but if Coyle goes which is looking increasingly likely, this will hurt big time and will be a severe knock to our chances of surviving in the Premier League with all the financial benefits that would provide.
This article is purely the individual opinion of the Editor and has no bearing on any other Clarets organisation of which he is involved
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