Owen Coyle's Sacking Almost Ruined A Midweek Golf Game For The Lads

"I think it all came as a shock to a lot of players, even though there had been a lot of speculation,"

Kevin Davies said in an interview with the Bolton News. Owen Coyle had called the first team into the dressing room at the club's Euxton training ground on Tuesday morning and revealed the news that he, Sandy Stewart, and Steve Davis were relieved of their duties by the club.

"They are top blokes and we have all enjoyed working under them for the last three years. You have to take some responsibility as players for that happening, but we have to move on.

"It won't be long before they get back into football and I'll look forward to seeing them doing what they enjoy."

Owen Coyle is apparently high on the list to replace Giovanni Trappatoni as the manager of the Republic of Ireland National Team should Trap be sacked if results continue the way they are currently going for the Boys in Green. Coyle, who was an Ireland U21 player (despite being born in Scotland), earned one cap for the full national team in a friendly against the Netherlands.

Regardless of managerial speculation for other posts, Davies continued:

"He was as positive as ever, came round and shook everyone's hand and I think most of the boys were in a position to sit down and have a chat with them too," he said.

"We didn't train that day. We had the opportunity to go home but there were eight of us due to play golf.

"We weren't going to go but I said it would give us an opportunity to chat about things, and if someone had something to get off their chest, that would be a time to do it. We went, had a good chat, and we know it's time to move on now."

A golf game. In the middle of the week. What a tragedy. It's probably a good thing that Sammy Lee and Jimmy Phillips are having them run two-a-day training sessions.