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Every single time Bolton Wanderers travelled to Burnley's Turf Moor following Owen Coyle's departure from the Clarets to the nearby Trotters, the majority of the stadium was united in screaming one word: "Judas." There were signs aplenty from the Burnley faithful as the vitriolic atmosphere was palpable on just about every occasion. When Burnley beat Bolton on two of the three occasions that they faced each other following Coyle's switch, the (arguably deserved) smugness was unavoidable.
Now, Burnley are once again without a manager as Eddie Howe, the man that led the Clarets to an opening day win at home against the Wanderers, has left Turf Moor. The management cited "personal and family reasons" for Howe's departure as he returns to his roots to manage Bournemouth. The Cherries had agreed to a relatively sizable compensation package for Burnley as they now have to look for a new man to lead them.
A number of the suspected candidates are familiar to Bolton Wanderers fans as Mick McCarthy, Michael Appleton, Alex McLeish, and Owen Coyle. That last one, yeah, he's the favorite in the betting. It remains to be seen if the Burnley fans will be able to forgive the man that left them in the middle of their first Premier League season after leading them to the top flight for the first time in ages. Yet, despite the hatred that a lot of the fans still do feel, the experts regard him as the "perfect candidate."
Speaking about the odds, Sky Bet football trader Chris Spicer said about Coyle:
"Coyle looks the perfect candidate given his previous work at the club but the nature of his departure raises questions, with the Clarets fans making their feelings perfectly clear when he took over their rivals.
"Our punters seem to have no such concerns, backing him in from 4/1 from the moment we opened the market.
"With Burnley at the wrong end of the table they will need their new manager to quickly re-ignite their season, but Charlie Austin is in lethal form and there's plenty of other talent in that squad to work with."