Robert Irvine Coyle (born 31 January 1946) is a Northern Ireland former international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Coyle is the most successful

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

in the history of the

Irish Football League Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

. He is the Director of Football at Glentoran.

Playing career

Coyle was a "teak tough" wing-half with Ballymena United,

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. He won two Irish League titles and played in Europe six times while with Glentoran before winning five

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

international caps while playing for Sheffield Wednesday.

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 Ards (or ARDS, ARDs) may refer to: Medical * ARDS, Acute respiratory distress syndrome * ARDs, age-related diseases Places * Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland ** Ards (territory), several historical territorial divisions on the Ards Peninsula ...

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 The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

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 The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

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 Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

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, 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

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

*Linfield ''(November 1975 - April 1990)'' 31 Trophies ** Irish League (10) ''1977/78, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1988/89'' **

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

(3) ''1977/78, 1979/80, 1981/82'' ** Gold Cup (7) ''1978/79, 1981/82, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1987/88, 1988/89, 1989/89, 1989/90'' **

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football' ...

(4) ''1977/78, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1984/85'' **

(5) ''1976/77, 1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84'' ** Irish League Cup (1) ''1986/87'' **Tyler All-Ireland Cup (1) ''1980/81'' *Derry City ''(June 1991 - September 1993)'' 1 Trophy **

(1) ''1991/92'' *Ards ''(October 1993 - November 1997)'' 2 Trophies **

(1) ''1993/94'' ** Irish League Cup (1) ''1994/95'' *Glentoran ''(November 1997 - February 2006'') 17 Trophies ** Irish League (3) ''1998/99, 2002/03, 2004/05'' **

(4) ''1997/98, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2003/04'' ** Gold Cup (3) ''1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01'' **

(4) ''1998/99, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2002/03'' ** Irish League Cup (3) ''2000/01, 2002/03, 2004/05''

References

External links

Roy Coyle
Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats {{DEFAULTSORT:Coyle, Roy Living people 1946 births Men's association football midfielders Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players League of Ireland managers Ards F.C. managers Derry City F.C. managers Linfield F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. players Glentoran F.C. managers Linfield F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Northern Ireland men's international footballers Association football managers from Northern Ireland Newry City F.C. managers Northern Ireland men's amateur international footballers Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland English Football League players NIFL Premiership managers Men's association football player-managers NIFL Premiership players