When Owen Coyle took over as Bolton Wanderers manager in January, even he might have struggled to believe that within a year his team would be challenging for Europe and his players would be the envy of the top four. Yet here Bolton are, challenging the elite and laying to rest the ‘route one’ tag of the Sam Allardyce era.
Last season, Coyle’s focus was on avoiding the drop and rebuilding confidence. And as he edged Bolton clear of the drop zone, his former club Burnley plummeted back to the Championship. With a proper pre-season under his belt, the targets at the Reebok Stadium are now entirely different.
His arrival provided a fresh start for a number of Bolton players, but no one has profited more from Coyle’s management style than striker Johan Elmander, who has gone from £8.2M flop to goal-scoring sensation. He is among the Premier League’s top scorers and is playing like a man who knows he has his manager’s full backing.
The Elmander-Kevin Davies partnership has been prolific this season, combining for 14 league goals, and Coyle would be within his rights to suggest he has the country’s most in-form strikeforce. The supply lines have been almost as impressive, with Matt Taylor and Lee Chung Yong thriving in a four-man midfield that benefits from the ball-winning prowess of Stuart Holden and Fabrice Muamba. Bolton still like to be direct, but this group of players can get the ball down and play with equal success. Only the top three have scored more goals this season.
Bolton’s current position of fifth is no fluke. It is fully merited. They have already faced Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool – admittedly taking just a single point from the three games – and have very winnable home matches against Blackpool and Blackburn in the coming weeks, with a trip to Eastlands sandwiched in between. Coyle has not only made Bolton a more attractive attacking unit, he has also made the Trotters tougher to beat. One glance at the league table confirms that Bolton have just two defeats in 14 games (to Arsenal and Liverpool) compared to the four suffered by Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham.
And anyone failing to take Bolton seriously cannot have watched their last two home fixtures. After cutting through Tottenham en route to a 4-2 victory on 6th November, the Davies and Elmander double act helped put five past hapless Newcastle last weekend. Plus, Coyle has been able to bring Martin Petrov and Ivan Klasnic off the bench. Belief is high and Coyle’s man-management skills are bearing fruit. His players are motivated, fit and willing to give everything to the cause.
All this makes Coyle one of the leading young bosses in the game today. The latest in a long line of fine Scottish managers, he has come a long way since stints at the helm at Falkirk and St. Johnstone, where he reached the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup. He led Burnley to the Promised Land of the Premier League in 2009 and future silverware surely awaits. Like Sir Alex Ferguson, Coyle looks set to be remembered as a manager rather than a player. He played for 11 different clubs, including Bolton, before hanging up his boots, but taking the Trotters into Europe would be hard to top as a career highlight.
The club’s somewhat precarious financial situation presents the sole dark cloud at the Reebok Stadium as the hectic Christmas period approaches. Bolton are reported to be £93M in debt, which has in turn prompted speculation that key players will be sold to help balance the books during the January transfer window. The likes of Gary Cahill and Elmander seem to be prominent on the wishlists of other top clubs and there are fears that the Bolton squad may look rather different come 1st February.
However, Coyle insists there will be no such sacrifices, with the majority of the debt owed to club owner Eddie Davies, and that, if anything, he will look to add to his squad in January. It is clear that Bolton are heading in the right direction and the Scot will fight tooth and nail to give this group the chance to develop together and reach their full potential. With Liverpool recovering and Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland looking strong, qualifying for Europe will require Bolton to remain in red-hot form – but under Coyle, anything seems possible at the moment.
The 44-year-old has caught the eye to such an extent so far during this campaign that his name will be mentioned for any vacancies at bigger clubs – and it would be no surprise to see him leading a top four team later in his career. But for now, Coyle is focused on Bolton, and only Bolton. If he continues to work his magic, this could be the club’s most memorable season of the Premier League era.
