Coyle's Army

[ClaretTony]

Just been doing some clearing out and found this at the bottom of a drawer. Does anyone still have their Coyle's Army t-shirt?

coyles army.jpg (199.34 KiB) Viewed 3858 times

[Foshiznik]

I do! I had mine in light blue though and I use it more for decorating/gardening nowadays but had pride of place at the time!

[bfcjg]

Blimey I'd forgotten about that t-shirt....thankfully.

[ClaretTony]

I do! I had mine in light blue though and I use it more for decorating/gardening nowadays but had pride of place at the time!

Mine's light blue too

[beddie]

I’d completely forgotten about those. I didn’t buy one but it’s great to see it.

[Fretters]

I've never seen that.

Coyle, Ade, don't know, Thompson (?), Blake (?), don't know, Marney.

Can anyone fill in the blanks and confirm the others?

[claretburns]

I've never seen that.

Coyle, Ade, don't know, Thompson (?), Blake (?), don't know, Marney.

Can anyone fill in the blanks and confirm the others?

First one definitely Ade, 3rd from the left is Paterson maybe?

Definitely not Marney, he wasn't signed until summer 2010 by Laws.

[burnmark]

Think the last in the line is Unsworth.

[burnmark]

The third player is (I think) Stanislav Varga who we signed on loan from Sunderland.

[Fretters]

First one definitely Ade, 3rd from the left is Paterson maybe?

Definitely not Marney, he wasn't signed until summer 2010 by Laws.

Ha, you're bang on about Marney, and I was absolutely convinced on that one!

[burnmark]

Is it Andy Cole next to Akinbiyi?

[wilks_bfc]

Wasn’t one Alexander?

[DingleDangle]

Could it be: Akinbiyi, Cole, Varga, Blake, Gray, Unsworth?

[DingleDangle]

Or, if not Gray, then Lafferty?

[Vegas Claret]

somewhere I still have my Jimmy Mullen one !

[ClaretTony]

The stupid boy is Kyle Lafferty

[Fretters]

The stupid boy is Kyle Lafferty

It's uncanny.

[Foshiznik]

Mine's light blue too

Ah yes, on second viewing i see the light blue. Thought it looked beige/cream on first viewing.

[Foshiznik]

I think the pretense of the shirt was the amount of older players we had at the time. Certainly my favourite Claretsmad/UTC t-shirt over the years.

I joined just after the Custard world T-shirts had sold out in around 2005/6?

[ClaretTony]

Ah yes, on second viewing i see the light blue. Thought it looked beige/cream on first viewing.

It's the pic as much as anything - it's definitely the blue one.

[Guller Bull]

Think I might still have a Custard World one somewhere unless I used it clean the bog at some point.

[Rammy1968]

Great season under Coyle probably one of the best I’ve experienced if not the best, culminating with a win at Wembley to secure the Prem dream. Shame he was such a shister otherwise he would have been lorded as one of the Burnley greats. UTC

[Fretters]

Great season under Coyle probably one of the best I’ve experienced if not the best, culminating with a win at Wembley to secure the Prem dream. Shame he was such a shister otherwise he would have been lorded as one of the Burnley greats. UTC

He's a great to me as I genuinely believe we wouldn't have had the subsequent Premier League seasons without his achievement. We'd have never signed the likes of Trippier, Ings, Shackel etc. without that first promotion and we'd have had a similar existence to PNE or, hilariously, Blackburn.

Speaking of the latter, we may now also sit alongside them as one of only 7 of the 92 football league clubs to have never played at the new Wembley.

[Conroy92]

Great season under Coyle probably one of the best I’ve experienced if not the best, culminating with a win at Wembley to secure the Prem dream. Shame he was such a shister otherwise he would have been lorded as one of the Burnley greats. UTC

It was a fantastic season with the cup run too.

But personal preference was the "22 22 undefeated" season under Dyche. I'm not sure that season will ever be eclipsed in my lifetime.

[ClaretTony]

He's a great to me as I genuinely believe we wouldn't have had the subsequent Premier League seasons without his achievement. We'd have never signed the likes of Trippier, Ings, Shackel etc. without that first promotion and we'd have had a similar existence to PNE or, hilariously, Blackburn.

Speaking of the latter, we may now also sit alongside them as one of only 7 of the 92 football league clubs to have never played at the new Wembley.

I think you are living in a different world if you think we signed those players on the back of that season. It's just not so. For many reasons we'd no money and those three signings came about because of generous directors.

[ClaretTony]

Think I might still have a Custard World one somewhere unless I used it clean the bog at some point.

You can't clean a bog with custard.

[Rammy1968]

It was a fantastic season with the cup run too.

But personal preference was the "22 22 undefeated" season under Dyche. I'm not sure that season will ever be eclipsed in my lifetime.

Yes I must agree that also was a great season and we built on that and remained in the Prem under Dyche for several seasons. To be fair we have been lucky in the past 10/15 years some great promotion seasons and good seasons in the Prem.

[Herts Clarets]

He's a great to me as I genuinely believe we wouldn't have had the subsequent Premier League seasons without his achievement. We'd have never signed the likes of Trippier, Ings, Shackel etc. without that first promotion and we'd have had a similar existence to PNE or, hilariously, Blackburn.

Speaking of the latter, we may now also sit alongside them as one of only 7 of the 92 football league clubs to have never played at the new Wembley.

Are you suggesting we have never played at the new Wembley? 2009 play off plus we played Spurs there twice when they were having their new stadium built. I know Rovers haven't and aren't likely to in the near future, unless they make the League One play off final in a couple of seasons, presuming they haven't gone bust by then.....

[Fretters]

Are you suggesting we have never played at the new Wembley? 2009 play off plus we played Spurs there twice when they were having their new stadium built. I know Rovers haven't and aren't likely to in the near future, unless they make the League One play off final in a couple of seasons, presuming they haven't gone bust by then.....

No, I was talking about if we'd never had Coyle's season.

[Fretters]

I think you are living in a different world if you think we signed those players on the back of that season. It's just not so. For many reasons we'd no money and those three signings came about because of generous directors.

If we hadn't gone up in 2009 we were heading for administration. We were already under an embargo. In my opinion there's no way we'd have been singing those players, plus Marney etc. had that happened.

[ClaretTony]

If we hadn't gone up in 2009 we were heading for administration. We were already under an embargo. In my opinion there's no way we'd have been singing those players, plus Marney etc. had that happened.

I’d check things out if I were you. We had no money left. We were virtually back where we started.

[Fretters]

I’d check things out if I were you. We had no money left. We were virtually back where we started.

I know that, but we'd have surely been further behind without the £60m + parachute money?

Are you really saying that if we'd not been promoted, with relegation and a likely relegation to league one (see PNE) looming, we'd have still gone up in 2014? It's a difference of opinion, but I couldn't disagree more.

Furthermore, Howe said he only left Bournemouth for us because we'd just been in the Premier League. So, there'd have been no Howe or the players he brought in.

I know you really dislike Coyle and hate to give him credit. But come on.

[Devils_Advocate]

I dont think we'd have had Fletcher, Mears and Eagles if it wasn't for Coyle

Without the Promotion money and the Fletcher profit I dont think Laws would have been able to sign Fox, Marney, Wallace and Iwelumo and I dont think Howe would have been able to sign Austin

The money made from selling Fox, Mears, Eagle and Iwelumo will have gone along way to giving Howe the funds for signing Ings, Mee, Trippier, Shackell and Vokes

So I would say the Premier League season and the money it provided to buy and sell the above players provided the funding to build a team of Marney, Wallace, Ings, Mee, Trippier, Shackell and Vokes and there is a good argument that we would have had little to none of those players had we not won promotion.

We might have been back where we started money wise but we had the above players plus the money from Austin which Im sure would have helped fund the wages of those players and potentially of free signings such as Jones and Heaton.

What Dyche did with that team and the little money he had was miraculous but had we not got promoted there is no way we would have seen all the above players come into Burnley in the few years before Dyche

[Fretters]

I dont think we'd have had Fletcher, Mears and Eagles if it wasn't for Coyle

Without the Promotion money and the Fletcher profit I dont think Laws would have been able to sign Fox, Marney, Wallace and Iwelumo and I dont think Howe would have been able to sign Austin

The money made from selling Fox, Mears, Eagle and Iwelumo will have gone along way to giving Howe the funds for signing Ings, Mee, Trippier, Shackell and Vokes

So I would say the Premier League season and the money it provided to buy and sell the above players provided the funding to build a team of Marney, Wallace, Ings, Mee, Trippier, Shackell and Vokes and there is a good argument that we would have had little to none of those players had we not won promotion.

We might have been back where we started money wise but we had the above players plus the money from Austin which Im sure would have helped fund the wages of those players and potentially of free signings such as Jones and Heaton.

What Dyche did with that team and the little money he had was miraculous but had we not got promoted there is no way we would have seen all the above players come into Burnley in the few years before Dyche

You've put it far better than I have!

[claretonthecoast1882]

Had Mullen & Stan not got us out of the 2 lower divisions we might never had got Coyle so perhaps it is down to Mullen rather than Coyle

[Fretters]

Had Mullen & Stan not got us out of the 2 lower divisions we might never had got Coyle so perhaps it is down to Mullen rather than Coyle

Both of them, along with Stan. They all played their part on the journey.

[Bordeauxclaret]

If we ran out of money it’s a good job someone previously won us £60m +.

Surely you can’t just discount that because you don’t like him?

[ClaretTony]

I know that, but we'd have surely been further behind without the £60m + parachute money?

Are you really saying that if we'd not been promoted, with relegation and a likely relegation to league one (see PNE) looming, we'd have still gone up in 2014? It's a difference of opinion, but I couldn't disagree more.

Furthermore, Howe said he only left Bournemouth for us because we'd just been in the Premier League. So, there'd have been no Howe or the players he brought in.

I know you really dislike Coyle and hate to give him credit. But come on.

Nothing to do with Coyle at all, we were in a state. We had to take Mee & Trippier on loans and then got them cheap with huge sell ons because we had no money. I believe they came because of a favour from John WIlliams who was then at City. As Dyche once said, he arrived and asked where the Premier League money was and what benefits there had been. No money left and no benefits. Remember, Dyche got us promoted with just one transfer fee paid out and that was for Barnes in January.

I know how we afforded Austin and Shackell too and it wasn't because we'd been in the Premier League.

[Fretters]

Nothing to do with Coyle at all, we were in a state. We had to take Mee & Trippier on loans and then got them cheap with huge sell ons because we had no money. I believe they came because of a favour from John WIlliams who was then at City. As Dyche once said, he arrived and asked where the Premier League money was and what benefits there had been. No money left and no benefits. Remember, Dyche got us promoted with just one transfer fee paid out and that was for Barnes in January.

I know how we afforded Austin and Shackell too and it wasn't because we'd been in the Premier League.

I know we were in a state, I remember my mum coming home from a meeting - you were likely there too (supporters' committee?) Not sure how it all came to light at that time, but we were skint.

But I still don't think we'd have gone up under Dyche without that promotion as we'd have been starting from even further behind.

[ClaretTony]

But I still don't think we'd have gone up under Dyche without that promotion as we'd have been starting from even further behind.

WIll never, ever agree with that. We hadn't a pot to p in.

[paulatky]

It was a fantastic season with the cup run too.

But personal preference was the "22 22 undefeated" season under Dyche. I'm not sure that season will ever be eclipsed in my lifetime.

Wasnt it 23 23 undefeated ?

[Herts Clarets]

Wasnt it 23 23 undefeated ?

Indeed it was. Sung loud and proud at Charlton as we won the league

[Foshiznik]

I think we can at least all agree that the last 10-15 years have been extremely successful for our little East Lancashire town football club.

[Fretters]

WIll never, ever agree with that. We hadn't a pot to p in.

We were cash poor but had much stronger assets (players) than if we hadn't gone up which, as DR says, we traded to our advantage over the next few years.

Anyway, agree to disagree eh!

[bfcjg]

I think we were under an embargo as well?

[ClaretTony]

We were cash poor but had much stronger assets (players) than if we hadn't gone up which, as DR says, we traded to our advantage over the next few years.

Anyway, agree to disagree eh!

Believe what you want to believe Fretters but what I've said is correct

[KRBFC]

Great season under Coyle probably one of the best I’ve experienced if not the best, culminating with a win at Wembley to secure the Prem dream. Shame he was such a shister otherwise he would have been lorded as one of the Burnley greats. UTC

He’s a great to me, magical season that I don’t think will ever be matched. That Spurs semi final was truly incredible, I went to the away leg and the atmosphere throughout was great but even the most optimistic thought the tie was beyond us at that point.

I still don’t think iv seen such an average looking bunch produce such thrilling no fear football before.

It’s a shame Kilby didn’t back him in the January, I think we’d have stayed up with Weiss, Wilshere and Holden incoming.

[Fretters]

I think we were under an embargo as well?

We were, for missing installments on Eagles and possibly Paterson, I believe. We would have been absolutely knackered without that promotion and we'd have lost some key players. Sheffield United and Preston, who both lost in those 2009 play offs, were playing in League One not long afterwards.

[ClaretTony]

We were, for missing installments on Eagles and possibly Paterson, I believe. We would have been absolutely knackered without that promotion and we'd have lost some key players. Sheffield United and Preston, who both lost in those 2009 play offs, were playing in League One not long afterwards.

You need to take a look at how things were when Dyche took over.

1. Players went for nothing at end of 2012/13 because we could only afford reduced wages.
2. Marney & Wallace accepted reduced terms.
3. Austin sold on eve of season, otherwise we would have been in serious trouble.
4. No money at all to sign players so all new players were on free transfers and low wages.
5. Money raised from a share fundraiser organised by John B that allowed us to sign Ashley Barnes for £450,000.

The club was in a serious, serious mess in 2012/13.

[Fretters]

You need to take a look at how things were when Dyche took over.

1. Players went for nothing at end of 2012/13 because we could only afford reduced wages.
2. Marney & Wallace accepted reduced terms.
3. Austin sold on eve of season, otherwise we would have been in serious trouble.
4. No money at all to sign players so all new players were on free transfers and low wages.
5. Money raised from a share fundraiser organised by John B that allowed us to sign Ashley Barnes for £450,000.

The club was in a serious, serious mess in 2012/13.

I know it was and I've not said it wasn't. I've just said it would have been even worse without the promotion, something I'm not sure anybody could argue with. Like, you reference Marney and Wallace above - they wouldn't have even been playing for us.