TEAMtalk Soccers: FL Manager award

26 May 2009 08:42
This TEAMtalk Soccers category was a closely-fought race this season, but it is Burnley boss Owen Coyle who scoops the honour. A few eyebrows were raised when Clarets chairman Barry Kilby poached Coyle from St Johnstone as he sought a replacement for Steve Cotterill late in 2007. Little was known about the once-capped Republic of Ireland forward, who had a modest career as a player with Bolton and Dundee United. But Coyle showed promise by guiding the Clarets from the depths of the table to a respectable mid-table finish in his first six months in charge. But Coyle clearly had his sights set higher and the £3million invested in striker Martin Paterson from Scunthorpe, mercurial midfielder Chris Eagles from the Manchester United academy and Dundee prospect Kevin McDonald were arguably three of the best buys of last summer. And the trio certainly have played their part in helping the Clarets enjoy one of their best seasons for many a year, finishing fifth in the Championship and successfully securing promotion to the Premier League following Monday's 1-0 win over Sheffield United in the play-off final at Wembley. But if their displays in the Championship were good, their efforts in the cups - and the Carling Cup especially - were simply on another level. Manchester United eventually emerged as League Cup winners this season, but it is the giant-killing exploits of the Clarets en-route to the semi-finals which will live longest in the memory. Coyle's battlers beat Fulham in the third round of the competition, before knocking out Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the next round on penalties after holding them to a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes. Arsenal were the next to fall by the wayside in the quarter-finals - despite the fact that their cup youngsters had previously swept aside all before them in the competition. So it was on to a two-legged date with Spurs in the semi-finals, but a second-half surrender at White Hart Lane in the first clash, where they let slip a 1-0 half-time lead to go down 4-1, appeared to kill dreams of Wembley. A three-goal swing against Premier League opponents was asking an awful lot but goals from Robbie Blake, Chris McCann and Jay Rodriguez levelled the aggregate scoreline and took the match into extra time. Had they held on through extra-time, Burnley were heading to Wembley on the away-goals rule, and just two minutes remained before late strikes by Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermain Defoe and broke their hearts and instead took the north Londoners into a second successive final. But whilst it was Tottenham heading to Wembley, it was the heroic efforts of Coyle's side which really caught the eye. These results can certainly give the Clarets plenty of hope ahead of their first season in the top flight for 33 years - and add into the mix that they also accounted for West Brom in the FA Cup - then there is clearly much to look forward to next term. As with any club promoted to the Premier League, the Clarets face a huge battle in staying among the elite. But with his 2008/09 heroics and now a TEAMtalk Soccer under his belt, Coyle can certainly rest assured his place at the top table is fully warranted. So while Coyle is quite rightly rewarded for a terrific season, the likes of Exeter manager Paul Tisdale, Wolves gaffer Mick McCarthy, Leicester chief Nigel Pearson and Brentford boss Andy Scott can all consider themselves unfortunate not to be rewarded. We'll start with the claims of Tisdale, who deservedly wins the first of our runners-up prizes after guiding the Grecians into League One - just 12 months after their elevation back into the Football League. Many would argue that League Two was only a 20-team division this season, due to the points penalties which befell Luton, Rotherham and Bournemouth and more recently Darlington. But you can only beat what's in front of you and Tisdale's achievements in taking the Devon club to back-to-back promotions is a tremendous feat. The likes of Leeds, Norwich and Southampton all await Exeter in the forthcoming campaign, and although you'd expect a third straight promotion to be beyond them, you wouldn't rule out the Grecians holding their own and avoiding an immediate return to League Two under Tisdale's guidance. It's also been a season to remember for Mick McCarthy and Wolves. True, McCarthy has had some money to spend, but his efforts in guiding the Black Country club back into the big time after a five-year absence deserve a mention, because it's a job with added expectancy. But Wolves have handled that heat to lead the Championship from start to finish and a seven-point margin of victory is testimony to their domination this term. Similarly, the job Nigel Pearson has done at Leicester should be applauded too after they swept all before them to return to the Championship at the first attempt. Pearson was harshly cast aside by Southampton last year, and although he'd never say it, you could forgive the former England Under-21 coach for having the last laugh at the reversal of fortune. Our final nominee was Brentford's rookie boss Andy Scott, who in his first full season in management has guided the Bees to the League Two title and back into the third tier of English football.

Source: Team_Talk