Chip off old block is plotting Owen goal for the Auld Enemy

OWEN COYLE junior will hope to pick up some inspiration from dad’s work when leading the English amputee football team into the European Championship Finals in September.

The 23-year-old spent a week in India last month as his famous coaching father helped Chennaiyin FC move into play-off contention in the ISL.

Now he is targeting going one better than the runners-up berth England secured at the 2017 Euros in Turkey.

Tied at 1-1 after the 50 minutes in the final, Coyle’s team lost a goal in the dying seconds against the host nation in Besiktas’ Vodafone Arena in front of 44,000 fans.

Owen Jnr (right) has been head coach of the England national amputee squad for three years, also guiding them to sixth place at the 2018

World Cup Finals in Mexico.

Proud dad Owen said:

‘It can’t be often you have a Scots/Irish lad coaching an England team!

‘He was always around us in football anyway and had a real interest from an early age.

‘He felt he had an idea of where he stood as a player, that he could probably play semi-pro in England. But he thought: “If I’m not going to get any higher than that, I want to go into coaching”.

‘When he left school he won an apprenticeship with the Lancashire Football Association as development officer and went on to win Coach of the Year there.

‘That was before his 16th birthday and he progressed from there. He’s a terrific coach in his own right, has been accepted to do his “A” Licence in England and has all the other badges. ‘He’s doing really good stuff — all off his own back. From a father’s point of view, there is more pride involved because he’s not asked for help all the time. That’s worked really well for him.’