Roy Coyle

Last updated

Roy Coyle
Personal information
Full name Robert Irvine Coyle
Date of birth (1946-01-31) 31 January 1946 (age 78)
Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
East Belfast
Ballyclare Comrades
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1966–1969 Ballymena United 38 (3)
1969–1972 Glentoran 128 (6)
1972–1974 Sheffield Wednesday 40 (0)
1974–1975 Grimsby Town 24 (1)
1975–1980 Linfield 125 (4)
Total355(14)
International career
1973 Northern Ireland 5 (0)
Managerial career
1975–1990 Linfield
1990–1991 Ards
1991–1993 Derry City
1993–1997 Ards
1997–2006 Glentoran
2006–2007 Newry City
2012 Glentoran (caretaker)
2015 Glentoran (caretaker)
2016 Glentoran (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Robert Irvine Coyle (born 31 January 1946) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer. Coyle is the most successful manager in the history of the Irish Football League. [1] He is the Director of Football at Glentoran.

Contents

Playing career

Coyle was a "teak tough" wing-half with Ballymena United, Glentoran, Sheffield Wednesday and Grimsby Town. He won two Irish League titles and played in Europe six times while with Glentoran before winning five Northern Ireland international caps while playing for Sheffield Wednesday. [2]

Management career

Linfield

Roy Coyle became player-manager of Linfield in 1975. In his first couple of years at the club, Coyle got Linfield into the Irish Cup final but lost to Carrick Rangers A year later they lost in the Irish Cup final again, but this time to Coleraine F.C. The Linfield board decided to give Coyle another chance and that decision proved to be one of the best decisions ever made in Irish League football. Roy Coyle won 31 trophies with Linfield and left the club in 1990 after his contract was terminated.

Ards

In 1990, Coyle was appointed manager of County Down club Ards after leaving Linfield but he resigned the following year.

Derry City

Coyle was appointed manager of Derry City in 1991. He stayed for two years and won the League of Ireland Cup as well as guiding the team to the runner-up position in 1991–92. In 1993, Coyle left and returned to Ards.

Return to Ards

Coyle returned to the County Down side in 1993 and won two trophies, the County Antrim Shield and the Irish League Cup. Coyle stayed at the club for four years.

Glentoran

Roy Coyle shocked the Irish League by becoming the new manager of Glentoran after the sacking of Tommy Cassidy. Even though Coyle played for Glentoran, it took some of the fans a while to get used to him after managing their bitter rivals Linfield. Coyle brought that success he had with Linfield and became Glentoran's most successful manager ever by winning 16 trophies with Glentoran. In 2006, after winning the league, Glentoran started to have a string of poor results. The fans started to turn against Coyle and the players. Then an away match to Armagh City saw Glentoran crashing to a 5–2 defeat at Holm Park. At the final whistle, Glentoran fans booed the players and as Coyle walked by, some of the fans nearby shouted "Coyle Out!" Coyle resigned that evening. He was replaced by Newry City manager Paul Millar.

Newry City

Coyle swapped clubs with Paul Millar who went to be Glentoran's new manager. Coyle only stayed for a couple of months and decided to retire. A year later Coyle was linked to a move to Glenavon but the job went to former Cliftonville and Coleraine manager Marty Quinn.

Return to Glentoran

Coyle returned to Glentoran as the Club's Director Of Football when Scott Young was appointed as the new First Team Manager for the East Belfast club. Coyle took charge of the team during Glentoran's Europa League qualifications while Young was completing his coaching badges. On 14 January 2012, Young resigned from the club, and Coyle was put in charge for Glentoran's game away to Ballymena United a match where the Glens won 3–0 in his first game back at the helm. Coyle also agreed to be caretaker manager at the club until they appointed a new manager. Coyle was in charge of first team duties until 22 February when former Cliftonville manager Eddie Patterson was appointed new Glentoran boss. Coyle returned to his duties as Director of Football.

After Eddie Patterson was sacked as Glentoran Manager on 17 October 2015, [3] Coyle, still at the club in his role as Director of Football took the reins as Caretaker Manager once again whilst the club searched for a new manager. In August 2016 when Alan Kernaghan resigned as Glentoran manager, Coyle also returned to the role of Caretaker Manager.

Managerial statistics

TeamNationFromToRecord
GWDLFAGDWin %
Linfield Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland November 1975April 19907485041221331,677724+95367.38
Ards Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland May 1990June 1991492110188165+1642.86
Derry City Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland June 1991September 1993682925147749+2846.03
Ards Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland October 1993November 1997191763280329316+1339.79
Glentoran Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland November 1997February 20064462797790891410+48162.56
Glentoran (caretaker)Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland January 2012February 2012421175+250
Glentoran (caretaker)Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland October 2015November 2015321031+266.67
Glentoran (caretaker)Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland August 2016August 2016520337-440
Total1,5149152683392,9711,504+146760.44
As of 23 February 2024


Managerial Honours

Coyle is the most successful manager in Irish League history and has won 50 trophies in a success-filled career, mostly with Linfield and Glentoran

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glentoran F.C.</span> Association football club in Northern Ireland

Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours, making them one of the most successful teams in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linfield F.C.</span> Association football club in Northern Ireland

Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club, based in south Belfast, which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, Linfield was founded in 1886 by workers at the Ulster Spinning Company's Linfield Mill. Since 1905, the club's home ground has been Windsor Park, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland national team and is the largest football stadium in Northern Ireland. They train at Midgley Park which is beside the stadium. The club's badge displays Windsor Castle, in reference to the ground's namesake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballymena United F.C.</span> Association football club in Northern Ireland

Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The club has been managed by former captain Jim Ervin since 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliftonville F.C.</span> Association football club in Northern Ireland

Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club is a professional association football club playing in the NIFL Premiership – the top division of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club was founded in September 1879 by John McAlery in the suburb of Cliftonville in north Belfast and are the founders of football in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleraine F.C.</span> Association football club in Northern Ireland

Coleraine Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club, playing in the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club, founded in 1927 hails from Coleraine, County Londonderry, and plays its home matches at The Showgrounds. Club colours are blue and white. The club won the Irish League title once and the Irish Cup on six occasions, most recently in 2017–18. They are also the only Irish League club to have won two successive all-Ireland competitions, lifting the Blaxnit Cup in 1969 and 1970. The club share a rivalry with Ballymena United.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crusaders F.C.</span> Association football club in Northern Ireland

Crusaders Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1898, is based in north Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview.

The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. Prior to the break-away from the Irish Football Association by clubs from what would become the Irish Free State in 1921, the Irish Cup was the national cup competition for the whole of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland Football League Cup</span> Football tournament

The Northern Ireland Football League Cup is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Northern Ireland Football League. It is the third-most prestigious competition in domestic Northern Irish football after the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup. It should not be confused with the Irish League Floodlit Cup which ran from 1987–88 to 1997–98. Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup does not have a berth for UEFA Europa Conference League qualification. The cup has been operated by the Northern Ireland Football League since the 2013–14 season when it took over the administration from the Irish Football Association (IFA), after which the cup was renamed to the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup.

Robert Wright "Roy" Walker is a football manager and former player. His most recent job was as manager of NIFL Premiership side Ballymena United.

Edward Patterson, better known as Eddie Patterson is the former manager of NIFL Premiership clubs Cliftonville and Glentoran. He was relieved of his duties as Glentoran manager on Saturday 17 October 2015. Despite winning two Irish Cups in three years, the club highlighted deteriorating league positions and performances as the main reason for his dismissal.

The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Football Association, often plus intermediate teams who qualify via the Steel & Sons Cup, depending on the numbers required. For the 2010–11 and 2011-12 seasons, only the winners took part.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Jeffrey</span> Northern Irish footballer and manager

David Jeffrey is a Northern Irish former football player and manager. He managed Linfield between 1997 and 2014 and Ballymena United from 2016–2023. Jeffrey began his professional playing career with Linfield, following a spell in the Manchester United youth team, and also played for Ards and Larne.

Glenn Ferguson is a Northern Irish former football player and manager.

Martin "Marty" Quinn is a former Irish League footballer and a current manager. Quinn is well known for leading Cliftonville to become Irish League champions in 1998, and leading Coleraine to Irish Cup glory in 2003.

The George Wilson Memorial Cup is a competition open to the reserve football teams of member clubs of the NIFL Premiership. Initially it was open to all members of the B Division, both "attached and unattached", but since 1977–78 it has been limited to reserve sides only. It has not been played since 2019.

Arthur Stewart was a Northern Ireland international footballer who played with, among others, Glentoran, Derby County and Ballymena United in the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, he won seven full international caps for Northern Ireland as well as five amateur caps and five inter-league caps for the Irish League.

Jody Tolan is a Northern Irish former semi-professional footballer.

David Rainey is a retired footballer from Northern Ireland who played as a striker, and is currently assistant manager at Crusaders.

Scott Young is a Scottish former professional footballer, turned manager.

Isaac McCandlish McDowell was a Scottish footballer and football manager who played as an inside-right for Dunoon Athletic, Glasgow Perthshire, Airdrieonians, Dumbarton, King's Park, Cowdenbeath, Port Vale, Coleraine, Linfield, and Ards. He later managed Ards, Linfield and Glentoran.

References

  1. ↑ The Irish League's Most Successful Managers Irish League Greats, 26 December 2007
  2. ↑ Roy Coyle at National-Football-Teams.com
  3. ↑ "Patterson sacked as Glentoran boss". BBC Sport. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
Preceded by Newry City FC manager
2006-2007		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.