Q&A with Owen Coyle

Speaking at the League Managers Association meeting, the Scot spoke openly about his future plans for the club.

What is your footballing philosophy? How do you like teams to play? Ideally we would all like to play like Barcelona, but for me the league we’re in; the Barclays Premier League, is the best league in the world. I think ultimately the way Arsenal, pass and move is a skill that certainly pleases me, and one I would like to evolve to. I think we’re a million miles from that at the moment, but in answer to your question, that’s the way I like to see football played. Down to the ground, very expansive, the best sight in football is seeing the ball hit the back of the net. Second to that I feel it’s a winger going at full-back, getting by him, and all of a sudden, everybody’s on their feet. We’re here to entertain and I think the more entertaining match-winning players we have in the team, the better we’ll all be. So it will be a very expansive style of football. Ultimately you need the right personnel, the right players in the right positions to do that.

You mentioned Arsenal, you’ve had Jack Wilshire here, Daniel Sturridge and now of course you’ve got Gael Kakuta? Do you think the willingness of clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea to loan you these players, demonstrates that Bolton is a good place to learn your trade? Well I would hope so, and I think it’s more than learning your trade I think we have to obviously look to do the best by our own club, now there are terrifically gifted young players out there at league clubs which Arsenal and Chelsea and Manchester United and these clubs are. There’s no shame in any of these players not making the starting eleven at such a young age; but if we feel that they are capable of playing in our team, then I would do everything I can to bring them to the club. I’ve also brought Dedryk Boyata in from Manchester City as well on loan and we like to utilise the loan market it. There are very gifted players, Jack Wilshire, and Daniel have come on at such a speed now, that Jack’s probably an integral part of the England team, let alone the Arsenal team and Daniel Sturridge for me will go onto be a world class striker. So if we can play any small part in their development then great. I always feel when you get that quality of player coming to your club; it’s a win, win, win situation. It’s certainly a win for us at Bolton Wanderers because he’s a gifted young player who has a real desire to improve. The parent club whether it be Arsenal, Chelsea or whoever, then get the benefit of them coming back a better player. The player themselves really evolves and takes confidence from it and you’ve seen particularly those two young lads, Jack Wilshire and Daniel to level they play at now. So I always feel in that scenario it’s always a win, win, win situation.

Do you see Bolton’s style evolving so much over the next few seasons? If so how? Yea we’d love to, there’s no doubt about it. I think there’s always perceptions of football and Bolton have been tagged rightly or wrongly as a one-dimensional team that just play the ball from back to front, and I honestly think they did the club a disservice with that, but that was the name it was given. All we’ve tried to do is to try and make sure we have more facets to our play, more flavours if you want; that we’re not predictable. That’s all we’re trying to do, we’re just trying to get better year by year and hopefully as time goes, and you’ll see a more fluid, better passing game. You can’t come in and click your fingers and think it falls into place; you have to work at it very hard and as I say, try and improve on it slowly as you go.

It has been quite an achievement for Bolton to be established in the Premier League this long. What do you think Bolton can go on and achieve in the current climate with the way football is at the moment? It’s a very good question, because I think we all know the finances involved in football and Manchester City, good luck to them. If you’re able to go and spend 300 million on players in the last couple of years, and you look at what the other clubs have spent, you look at Liverpool who have spent 100 million since January. Manchester United spent nearly 50 million over the summer on terrifically gifted players, Ashley Young, and Phil Jones that came in from Blackburn. So the elite clubs do have that wealth that comes from fantastic benefactors and owners. For clubs like ourselves, you still need to reach for the sky, you still need to believe that you can improve your club, and for us getting into the top half of the table and looking to cup competitions and everything else. The bottom line I feel as a manager regardless of what club you’re at, your job is to improve a football club from one year to the other. I think I have done that to this point, and I’ll strive to continue to do that.

In 2006 Bolton finished sixth and they got into Europe. With the rise of Manchester City now, do you think finishing in the continental places is still an ambition for the club? Well it’s always an ambition for any of the clubs, but I think if we all concede and look at the Barclays Premier League, we could probably name the six clubs that fill the top six slots barring a real loss of form for those clubs, or injuries or things that can happen in football sometimes- uncontrollable. I don’t think there’s any reason why any club whether it be Bolton or any other in the Premier League, shouldn’t aim in getting as high up in the table as they can. Everton have done it before. David Moyes, a friend of mine did an unbelievable job, so it can be achieved, but I think you need a lot of factors coming together. I think you need to stay injury and suspension free with your key players and you have that run of form that we all need in this league. There’s no reason why as I say before that we believe we can do that and look to achieve that.

One factor that can come into play is the financial fair play regulations which are new. How do you think that will impact on clubs who are outside the European competition? Do you think it will make a fairer playing field? I think it is going to be very intriguing that’s for sure. I’m all for fair play, I think that goes without saying. I think as well, ultimately we as a club have to work inside our own means anyway and I think that can only help clubs in terms of the balance of the league. It might help. I think even in the big scheme of things in the big picture it will help clubs to hopefully not get into financial trouble and they’re able to run well and viable for years to come. I think the important thing that we have to remember is that we all want to win games. The fans are paramount to any club, the managers such as myself, the chairman, the owners will come and go but the one constant at any club is the supporters. I think anybody has to make sure that the football club runs for years to come. The supporters are the integral part, the fabric that keeps it all together. So there must regardless of who you support, there must be a club for the supporters, so it’s important that you run your club well.

On a bit of a broader theme, would you describe yourself as a keen student of foreign football? I am a keen student of football, whether it be foreign or otherwise. As much as people think when you leave your training ground and switch off, you don’t. We’re all back home taking in games. Not over Europe, but all over football and that’s the beauty of how much technology has moved on. I mean I could watch any given game at anytime anywhere in the world, and we love doing that, because we all like to see the different styles, the different flavours that continental teams have and obviously our home grown. As I say before we have the best league in the world. I think we all accept that Barcelona are the top team at the moment in world football. In terms of the level of competition in the Barclays Premier League and how tight it is and everything it brings with it then there is no doubt that we have the best product. It’s always great to see the other countries and clubs within that country how they’re going about it.

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