CHRIS Eagles has revealed he suffered his own hacking nightmare while playing for Burnley in the Championship.

The versatile front man leapt at the chance to link up with his former Turf Moor boss Owen Coyle after a season spent being kicked from pillar to post in the second tier.

Eagles finally completed a £2.75million move with Clarets team-mate Tyrone Mears yesterday, despite having already turned out in a pre-season friendly at Bury.

And the former Manchester United man is ready for more of the rough stuff if it means he can become a regular in the Wanderers line-up.

“Last season in the Championship there were some good players but I got kicked quite a bit,” he said. “It will be nice to play real football for a change.

“It got to the point where we played some teams and they were just stood on me. There was off-the-ball kicking and elbowing.

“I like that though, I suppose it shows they were targeting me and, hopefully, this season they will do the same.”

Eagles scored 15 goals from midfield for Burnley last season and helped knock Wanderers out of the Carling Cup with a virtuoso performance in front of a packed house at Turf Moor.

That display, said the 25-year-old, was motivated partly because of Coyle’s interest in signing him – yet nearly 12 months down the line, he was facing up to another season of football in the Championship.

“It was getting touch and go,” he said. “The market was not really kicking off and I hadn’t heard too much.

“There was speculation about Everton and I just told my agent to ring if there was anything serious.

“I was at Torquay when I got the phone call about Bolton’s interest.

“I thought it was family but it was my agent to say they had agreed a fee and Tyrone was in with the deal.

“Within 24 hours it all flipped. I missed six days of training and when I came on the other day at Bury, I was blowing a bit.

“Everton were interested but as soon as Bolton made a serious bid, there was no real question, to be honest.”