There are few people in the history of our domestic game who can say they
have contributed as much to the cause as Roy Coyle.
And there is certainly not a manager who has savoured the phenomenal success
he has enjoyed while barking orders from the sidelines.
Coyle is the first to enter the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Hall of
Fame and no-one could question his place at the top of the list.
Capped five times for Northern Ireland, he has an extraordinary record in a
results-based business populated by trigger happy chairmen. He collected 49
trophies with Linfield, Glentoran, Derry City and Ards, including 13 league
titles and seven Irish Cup triumphs with the Big Two.
Coyle began his career with Ballymena United and moved to Glentoran who
transferred him to Sheffield Wednesday in the 1972-73 season. Then came a
spell at Grimsby Town before he returned as Linfield's player/manager — a
move which was to launch an historic era for the Blues.
And as the trophies began to mount up, so did respect for the man who was to
become the most successful manager in local football.
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