Davies staying was 'no-brainer' - Coyle
8:00am Friday 3rd February 2012 in Sport By Marc Iles
OWEN Coyle has told Kevin Davies he will get chances to prove he’s still the main man.
The Wanderers boss has assured his club skipper that he still has a major role to play after an unsettling transfer window, during which his future at the Reebok seemed in doubt.
Sunderland had a bid rejected last week for the 34-year-old, who has been central to the Whites’ fortunes for the last eight seasons.
And Coyle claims that can still be the case, even though he has started on the bench for the past eight Premier League games.
“He wants to be at Bolton, I want him at Bolton and it was a no-brainer what was going to happen in the January window,” said the manager.
“Sunderland were accredited with an initial interest through the media before I got a phone call but we said to them I wanted him to be here and he wanted to be here.
“He is bursting to play and the experienced players have a big part to play with the younger ones and that keeps David Ngog on his toes and allows us to change systems as well.”
Coyle praised Davies’s performance off the bench against Arsenal, and also referred to some of his other senior players such as Zat Knight and Martin Petrov in his summation of the competition for places that has emerged recently in his squad.
“They all know they are going to have to continue to be at their best,” he said. “Earlier in the season, because of the numbers we had missing, there wasn’t the competition we have now. Maybe subconsciously, some players thought ‘I’m going to be in the team regardless because there’s no-one there to take my place’.
“Now they know there is someone there waiting. And with the lads we have added, the competition is going to be intense.
“i want to make sure as manager that if someone is not at their best then there is someone poised to come in and do so.
“There is a lot to play for between now and the end of the season.”
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