Owen Coyle to take over at Bolton?

Is it true that Owen Coyle is going to move from Burnley to Bolton? To be honest, it probably will happen, but in my opinion it is not a good move for a gifted manager like Coyle. This past summer, I played with Ventura County Fusion versus Coyle’s Burnley team, and boy was I impressed. At that stage, Burnley were people’s favorites to drop straight back to the Championship. But after that game, I was left with no doubt that Burnley would be one of the better battling teams in the relegation fight, led by manager with a desire to prove his hame at the highest level. Today, they stand in 14^th place with 20 points from 20 games and in prime position to avoid the drop. That is if they can continue to maintain an extremely impressive home record (19 points at home). Coyle has indeed done a terrific job with an underrated team.

But now, relegation zone Bolton Wanderers have come knocking…and it looks like Coyle is ready to bite! My problem with this move is simple; why leave a hard working battling team who are poised to finish in mid table, for a move to a team that is completely underachieving with overpaid players? El Hadji Diouf being the prime example of this. Since Big Sam left Bolton a few seasons back, the team has failed to grow in any capacity. And with the club’s current problems, I would not fancy being the man to step into the helm. One thing that will entice Coyle is the fact that Bolton is only 2 points off safety, and he would have the advantage of stepping in just before the transfer window opens. If Coyle does move on, it will probably result in a drop in confidence for the Burnley boys, but I still wouldn’t expect them to roll over and die. And if Bolton do get their man, be ready for some big changes within the club over the next month (let's hope Coyle has some sort of a transfer kitty).