Owen Coyle

Owen Coyle

Personal information
Full name	Owen Columba Coyle
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	St. Johnstone (player/manager)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of January 4, 2007

Owen Columba Coyle (born July 14, 1966 in Paisley, Renfrewshire) is a Scottish-born footballer who played international football for the Republic of Ireland, and a football manager. He is currently player-manager of St. Johnstone in the Scottish Football League First Division.

Career

Player

A prolific striker, Coyle began his senior career with Dumbarton in 1985, where he played alongside his brothers Joe and Tommy. In 1988 he joined Clydebank, then in March 1990 a £175,000 transfer took him to Airdrieonians. This move was instantly successful, Coyle scoring a hat-trick on his debut and going on to finish as the Scottish League's top scorer for 1989-90. Over the next two seasons his goals helped Airdrie to promotion, a Scottish Cup final appearance, and European football. In the summer of 1993, Bolton Wanderers paid £250,000 to sign Coyle, and his two year spell in England included promotion and a brief chance to play in the Premiership. However, in October 1995, a £400,000 transfer fee took him to Dundee United, where he was once again part of a promotion-winning side.

Coyle's next moves were to Motherwell in January 1997 and then on to Dunfermline Athletic in March 1999. After losing his place in the Dunfermline team, he went on loan to Ross County prior to rejoining Airdrie in 2001. When they went into liquidation in 2002, Coyle joined Falkirk, being promoted to co-player-manager alongside John Hughes in 2003. After leaving this post he returned to Dundee United, primarily in a coaching capacity but also registering as a player. A lack of first team opportunities, however, led to him being loaned out to Airdrieonians' successors, Airdrie United, and this move was subsequently put on a permanent basis.

Manager

In April 2005, Coyle was named as the new manager of St. Johnstone. He is also still registered as a player, although his appearances at first team level are now extremely sporadic.

In March 2006, he was awarded Manager of the Month for the Scottish First Division for his team's performance. This was the first time he had been awarded the accolade.

In November 2006, Coyle led St. Johnstone to a 2-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup. It was their first win over the Glasgow club in 35 years.

On March 30, 2007, Coyle was awarded his second Scottish First Division Manager of the Month award of the 2006/7 season.

On April 14 2007, St. Johnstone lost 2-1 to Celtic at Hampden in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.

Coyle signed a one-year extension to his contract with St. Johnstone in July 2007, which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2009/10 season.

International career

Despite being born in Scotland Coyle was never picked by that country, so he played for the Republic of Ireland, earning one international cap, against Holland in a friendly in Tilburg in April 1994.

Statistics

Managerial career

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Falkirk		January 31 2003	May 20 2003	19	12	3	4	63.15
St. Johnstone		April 15 2005	Present	84	40	26	18	47.61
			Career	103	52	29	22	50.49

Source

Trivia

• Made an appearance in the Scottish football film A Shot at Glory, in 2000, alongside The Godfather star Robert Duvall and Michael Keaton.

External links

• Owen Coyle at Soccerbase
• Owen Coyle management career statistics at Soccerbase
• St. Johnstone's official site profile
• Owen Coyle at IMDb