Coyle puts Bolton affection on hold

26 December 2009 12:50
Coyle starred as a striker for Bolton from 1993 to 1995, when the club were based at Burnden Park, however his allegiances are firmly with near-neighbours Burnley now.[LNB]The former St Johnstone boss has many happy memories of Bolton from his playing days but those will all be forgotten when his former club visit Turf Moor on Boxing Day.[LNB]Coyle sees similarities between his former and current clubs, whom he believes have contributed greatly to the English game.[LNB]"Bolton are a fantastic club with great supporters and have a lot of similarities with ourselves," he added.[LNB]"We are two clubs from the old school with tremendous history and tradition."[LNB]However with the situation so tight in the Barclays Premier League table - five points separate 12th from bottom - there is no place for sentimentality, not even at Christmas.[LNB]"I enjoy any game that we go and represent the club, play to our maximum and win three points," said Coyle.[LNB]"The Boxing Day game presents that opportunity against a club very close to my heart.[LNB]"I had a lot of fantastic times at Bolton and loved every minute.[LNB]"The team I played in was an exciting one which gained promotion to the Premier League and had tremendous cup runs.[LNB]"They were great times, really happy days, but my focus is on Burnley.[LNB]"Our priorities are to get three points for Burnley and make sure we continue to turn up."[LNB]Coyle wants to sign off in style from a year which has seen the Clarets win promotion to the Premier League and pull off a number of shocks in the top flight - the biggest being the defeat of champions Manchester United in their opening home match of the campaign.[LNB]The one stain on their season so far is their poor away record, which has seen them take just one point from a possible 27, but on that front 43-year-old Coyle is confident they can improve.[LNB]Coyle said: "Boxing Day is a fantastic fixture with everyone in good spirits but what we have to make sure is that they leave in good spirits and to do that we have to get to our best.[LNB]"I have to make sure that although we have had a great 2009 we end it in good fashion, take it into 2010 and go and replicate another brilliant year.[LNB]"I'm disappointed with the points we haven't gathered in our away games but if you look at the performances the margins are very fine.[LNB]"We are very close to getting those points on the road and we are on course to achieve our goal, which is to remain in the Premier League."[LNB][LNB]

Source: Team_Talk