Owen Coyle did a lot of things wrong at Bolton Wanderers. He oversaw the club stripped of its' assets, including the sale of one Gary Cahill, naively set out his team to be humiliatingly thrashed 5-0 in an FA Cup semi-final by Stoke, and ultimately guided the club out of the Premier League and into the Championship abyss. However, what Coyle did do well during his time at the Reebok Stadium was implement an attractive style of football, and use the club as a platform for up-and-coming youngsters to sparkle. Daniel Sturridge and Jack Wilshere, in particular, will have nothing but good things to say about Bolton when their careers are finished, with Coyle allowing them the opportunity to flourish during loan spells when first-team opportunities were restricted elsewhere. In a similar fashion, Coyle tried to repeat the trick with a player who looks destined to become one of the finest midfield technicians in the world in Thiago Alcantara. In the summer of 2011, the Bayern Munich playmaker was just a 20 year old Barcelona fringe player when Coyle dipped his nose into the market. Bolton chairman Phil Gartside even flew to Spain for talks, in an effort to thrash out a potential £5 million move for the highly-rated Spanish starlet. Thiago was obviously not swayed by the lure of swanning up next to Fabrice Muamba and Nigel Reo-Coker in the middle of the park, and instead opted to cut his teeth at the Nou Camp.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
