Coyle keen to get back but willing to wait for right club

Having guided Burnley to the Premier League before reaping more acclaim at Bolton, the former Ireland international was relieved of his duties at the Reebok in October, as Wanderers struggled to adapt to the challenge of the Championship following relegation on the last day of the season.

“Itching? Yeah,” says the affable 46-year-old, “but, what’s the best way to put this — if it was the right opportunity then I would come back in tomorrow, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve had three or four approaches already but I didn’t think they were the right opportunities for me. And the reason I’m saying that, is that it’s got to be a joint effort. I’ve been very lucky to work for good football clubs, with good people, and I would need that again. And the biggest single thing for me is that, when I do come back in, I will be looking for a club as ambitious as I am.

“And that probably goes back to my playing career. I played at 10 stone as a player and for what I had in terms of physique, I think I maximised everything in my playing career, culminating in — and I’m so thankful for it — actually playing for Ireland against Holland when Tommy Coyne scored in Tilburg in the 1-0 friendly before the ’94 World Cup. I’d played all the way through the 21s, 23s and B internationals, this little skinny striker of 10 stone. But I was supremely fit because I looked after myself and I was a very good goalscorer — not lightning quick but I worked my socks off — so I maximised what I had as a player and that’s the same thing I took into coaching and management, trying to get players to have that desire and that hunger to be the best they can be.”