FORMER Wanderers boss Owen Coyle has been heavily criticised for a “cakes and Irn Bru” approach to training during a short stint as manager of Ross County.

Midfielder Michael Gardyne has laid into the ex-Bolton striker, who took charge of the Dingwall club for five months but managed just four wins in 21 games.

Ross County began the season with co-managers Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds but looked to Coyle – who had been successful north of the border with Airdrie and St Johnstone – to revive their fortunes in the SPL.

Gardyne admitted players were culpable for the club’s eventual relegation but had few positive words to say about Coyle’s brief reign.

“The first sacking of Jim McIntyre was maybe a bit unfair then Coyle came in. Hopeless,” he told the Daily Record.

“It was all right for a couple of games and then we didn’t work on enough things to prepare for games.

“We were training for cakes and Irn-Bru every day when we needed to be preparing for big games in the Premiership.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of people I knew he had at Burnley and they said they had seven or eight captains in their team that got them through.

“His track record wasn’t great. He had a couple of relegations under his belt. But I don’t want to bad-mouth him too much because it’s all about the players. We need to look at ourselves as well.”

Coyle managed Wanderers between January 2010 and October 2012, guiding the club to safety in his first part-season and then the FA Cup semi-final in his first full campaign.

But 2011/12 proved to be a horrible year for Coyle and Bolton as they dropped out of the Premier League, after which a gamble to sustain an expensive squad in the Championship quickly backfired.

Coyle left Wanderers in October 2012 and has subsequently managed Wigan Athletic, Houston Dynamo and Blackburn Rovers.