Coyle for County as club push the boat out
It makes absolute sense and is a great shout by Roy MacGregor
ROSS COUNTY are set to break the bank to unveil Owen Coyle as the club’s new manager within the next 24 hours. The former Burnley boss emerged as the preferred candidate to replace Jim McIntyre after positive discussions with Staggies chairman Roy MacGregor.
It is believed personal terms have been agreed, with more talks taking place last night as the Highland outfit close in on their man.
And Sportsmail understands the Dingwall club are poised to make Coyle one of the top four best-paid managers in the Premiership.
That will leave only Brendan Rodgers, Pedro Caixinha and Derek McInnes being paid more in the top flight, with the Aberdeen boss understood to earn £300,000.
Barring any hitches, County hope to have the 51-year-old in charge for Saturday’s vital match against fellow strugglers Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Coyle was most recently in charge of Blackburn Rovers until his sacking in February.
He started his coaching career as player-manager at Falkirk, steering the Bairns, in tandem with John Hughes, over the line to the old First Division title.
He has since managed St Johnstone, Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Houston Dynamo. In 2009, he turned down the chance to succeed Gordon Strachan as boss of Celtic.
Coyle applied for the Hearts job, following Ian Cathro’s sacking in the summer, and was briefly linked with a return to Falkirk this week after Peter Houston’s exit.
Now he is poised to kick-start his coaching career in the top flight with County as he returns to Scottish football for the first time since leaving Saints in 2007.
Coyle, who had a short spell as a player at the Dingwall club on loan from Dunfermline in 2000, is expected to bring in his longterm assistant Sandy Stewart.
McIntyre was axed last Sunday with the Staggies sitting tenth in the Premiership after losing five of their past six matches.
The 45-year-old, who steered County to League Cup glory and a top-six finish in 2016, was left ‘very sore’ at what he saw as the ‘harsh’ decision to sack him after three years in the post.
McIntyre guided the Dingwall club to a seventh-place finish last season but chairman MacGregor was alarmed by the team’s dismal start to this campaign. He did not feel McIntyre was delivering a fair return after being backed financially to build the strongest squad in the club’s history.
MacGregor said: ‘I had to make a judgment call on whether this was the right time, seven games in. Over the last two or three games, I didn’t see anything that gave me that encouragement it was going to turn.
‘In many regards, Jim has done a wonderful job and naturally he felt he should have been given a bit more time.
‘Ultimately, you’re judged by results and we haven’t had them in the last while.
‘It’s not a nice job but my responsibility, sadly, is to the punters and shareholders. If I don’t see it going right, and my fellow directors don’t see it going right, I have to make a judgment call.’
MacGregor insisted there had been no covert moves to identify a replacement but has wasted no time closing in on Coyle and offering him a lucrative pay packet.
Meanwhile, ex-County boss Neale Cooper has no doubt Coyle is the right man for the job after watching him lift the Dingwall dressing room out of the doldrums as a striker there in the early 2000s.
Cooper signed Coyle on loan during the club’s first season in the First Division and, following home hammerings to Inverness Caley Thistle and Livingston, was impressed by the newcomer’s immediate impact on the team.
‘It’s a wee bit strange to think he’s now going back there as manager,’ said the Aberdeen legend. ‘It’s a great shout from Roy. If I’m honest, I was a bit shocked when I heard but only because I hadn’t thought of him as a possible candidate. When I was told, it made absolute sense.
‘Everyone knows how well Owen has done in England at a very high level in management and there was a time he might have seemed a little bit out of reach for County.
‘We brought Owen in on loan from Dunfermline as a player and he did a great job. It was just his experience, at that stage in his career, and how it rubbed off on the rest of the lads, as well as how well he played.
‘Some players you never think would be managers but Owen was always that type. He was thoughtful and a leader in the changing room and on the pitch.’