Owen Coyle was once a target for the Celtic Board when they were searching for a manager, now he gives his views on the current Celtic search for a new boss…
The then Burnley boss had just managed to guide the Turfmoor club to the riches of the English Premier League and fancied a tilt at the big time instead. After beating Sheffield United at Wembley in the play-off final, Coyle remained coy on the links and ended up staying put at the Lancashire outift.
Despite this, Coyle is still a fan of the Hoops and has opened up on why he feels veteran boss O’Neill, 74, should get the gig full-time, ahead of the new domestic campaign kick-off in August.
“I had tickets for the Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Dunfermline. But it was my father-in-law John McGrory’s 80th birthday and I wanted him and his son Tony to be together at Hampden to see if Celtic could win the Double. That was important to me and my wife Kerry.
Martin O’Neill should have had unbroken run after replacing Brendan Rodgers
“I thought when O’Neill came in to Celtic last October to replace Brendan Rodgers on an interim basis the club would have left him in place until the summer,” he said.
“If they had done that it would have been a Treble – not just the Double – that Celtic would have won. They were dismissed as possible champions at one stage but Martin always finds a way to win. He is the original safe pair of hands and has provided a bridge between the fans and the boardroom at a time when the supporters have had their fair share of grievances,” Coyle revealed to MailSport.
One of the central concerns of the Celtic support is that of recruitment, with it being so weak of late. Coyle reckons this element of football is crucial at any club the world over.
Martin O’Neill can address Celtic’s recruitment issues over next year
“That’s a subject Martin can address over the course of the next year and it won’t faze him in the slightest. Recruitment is the key element at any club and Martin has Shaun Maloney to assist him in that regard,” he posed. “I remember Sir Alex Ferguson once saying to me: ‘You’ll never get every signing right but if you get seven out of 10 to work then you’ll be doing well,” Coyle cited.
Even though the Scottish coach is now plying his trade over in India, with FC Jamshedpur, he still takes a keen interest in all things regarding the domestic game in Scotland. “I was fascinated by the finish to the title race,” Coyle remarked.
“Derek McInnes was my coach when I was managing St Johnstone and I told the then chairman Geoff Brown that Del should be my successor when I left to take charge of Burnley. Derek’s Hearts side lost the title on the last day because of a stunning game at Celtic Park. Rangers lost their chance when they were beaten by Motherwell at Ibrox in the first game after the split. That sent them into a downward spiral.”
The self-confessed Hoops fan has his own memories of downing the now defunct Ibrox club during their financially doped Nine-in-row run in the 1990’s. “It was a bank holiday Monday,” he recounted. “The game was live on TV and there were celebrations planned for George Square. But Motherwell had targets of our own – and the main one was to avoid the play-offs. Those two goals did the business.”
His old club Motherwell now have the thankless task of finding an heir apparent to the recently departed Jens Berthel Askou, who had been linked with the Scottish Double-winners.
The Danish coach arrived in Scotland last August, and after an initially shaky start, produced some of the finest football Scotland had seen for some years, outside of perennial champions Celtic. The ex-Burnley manager refused to go into detail on how close he came to becoming head bhoy in Glasgow though when pressed.
“I have a good relationship with Dermot and spoke to him a couple of years ago at a European night at Celtic Park,” he revealed.
“We’re fine. What happened then is part of my story and there are some things I reserve the right to keep to myself. I know I have a body of work to look back on with a sense of satisfaction and I have no snobbery about where I go next.
“I’ve won championships at one level or another in Scotland, England and India, and if the right opportunity came along then I would consider it.”
The former St Johnstone boss has received offers to go elsewhere and work, saying: “I’ve had offers to leave India but none were right for me. My son Owen junior works as loans manager with Nottingham Forest and had a good working relationship with Jens when Motherwell had one of Forest’s youngsters at the club this season. It’s a club I know well and have a lot of affection for, and not just because of those two goals at Ibrox.”
59-year-old Coyle is now getting geared up for another season of football in the subcontinent, with a relationship that has lasted years now, with interruptions in-between at times. “I went there for 11 weeks originally and it’s turned into seven years, on and off,” he said.
“It’s such a densely-populated and vast country. If you have an away game on Saturday you have to set out on the Thursday because of the distances.”
The environment does take some assimilation though, with him adding: “At one game recently the temperature was 37ºC and I had to change my top three times during the game. But they are good people at Jamshedpur.
“My assistant Sandy Stewart and myself won them a title, came home for a while and took Queen’s Park to a play-off final against Dundee, before going back to India.”
Paul Gillespie
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