Coyle relishing return to face former club

Ross County manager Owen Coyle is relishing his first competitive return to McDiarmid Park since leaving St Johnstone when he faces his former club in the Premiership tonight.

Coyle was Saints manager between 2005 and 2007 before leaving to join Burnley, who he went on to steer into the English Premier League.

Since winning promotion under his successor Derek McInnes in 2009, Saints have consolidated their position in the upper half of the top-flight.

Coyle is full of admiration for his former club and feels there are parallels with the Staggies, who he joined as manager last month as replacement for the sacked Jim McIntyre.

Coyle said: “It will be my first competitive game back. I always took my teams back in pre-season – Burnley and Bolton Wanderers – because of the relationship I had there with really good people.

“Steve Brown, the chairman, has learned many things from his father, Geoff, who, first and foremost, is a wonderful man – an outstanding football man.

“As a person, he is very similar to Roy MacGregor in many ways, particularly in what he has done for the club.

“Everybody knows the finances these two men have poured into their clubs, but what they’ve also poured in is heart and soul because they’re passionate about it.

“Those are the type of chairmen a manager enjoys working for because they tell us straight. If there was something Geoff Brown wasn’t happy about – and Roy is the same – they would tell me straight away.

“That’s a great way to be because managers know exactly where they stand.

“Whether you are 51 or 35, that’s the type of person you want to work for – and a big reason why I’m here.

“I know where I stand and know they will always back their managers. They give everything they have got to try to make the club better.

“When I took over, St Johnstone had nearly been relegated from the Championship. There was a lot of work to be done. We had to put the building blocks and infrastructure in place first.

“What you want to create is that consistency, year after year, and to be fair St Johnstone have done that.”

A victory tonight would be enough to move County to within a point of Tommy Wright’s men who are sixth in the table.

The Staggies manager is hopeful defender Marcus Fraser will be fit after suffering a head wound during Saturday’s win against Hamilton, while French midfielder Christopher Routis remains short of fitness after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Owen Coyle: put the building blocks in place at Saints.