Roy Coyle

Robert Irvine Coyle (born 31 January 1946) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer. Coyle is the most successful manager in the history of the Irish Football League.^[1] He is the Director of Football at Glentoran.

Coyle was a "teak tough" wing-half with Ballymena United, Glentoran, Sheffield Wednesday and Grimsby Town. He won two Irish League titles and played in Europe six times while with Glentoran before winning five Northern Ireland international caps while playing for Sheffield Wednesday.^[2]

Roy Coyle became player-manager of Linfield in 1975. In his first couple of years at the club, Coyle got Linfield into the Irish Cup final but lost to Carrick Rangers A year later they lost in the Irish Cup final again, but this time to Coleraine F.C. The Linfield board decided to give Coyle another chance and that decision proved to be one of the best decisions ever made in Irish League football. Roy Coyle won 31 trophies with Linfield and left the club in 1990 after his contract was terminated.

In 1990, Coyle was appointed manager of County Down club Ards after leaving Linfield but he resigned the following year.

Coyle was appointed manager of Derry City in 1991. He stayed for two years and won the League of Ireland Cup as well as guiding the team to the runner-up position in 1991–92. In 1993, Coyle left and returned to Ards.

Coyle returned to the County Down side in 1993 and won two trophies, the County Antrim Shield and the Irish League Cup. Coyle stayed at the club for four years.

Roy Coyle shocked the Irish League by becoming the new manager of Glentoran after the sacking of Tommy Cassidy. Even though Coyle played for Glentoran, it took some of the fans a while to get used to him after managing their bitter rivals Linfield. Coyle brought that success he had with Linfield and became Glentoran's most successful manager ever by winning 16 trophies with Glentoran. In 2006, after winning the league, Glentoran started to have a string of poor results. The fans started to turn against Coyle and the players. Then an away match to Armagh City saw Glentoran crashing to a 5–2 defeat at Holm Park. At the final whistle, Glentoran fans booed the players and as Coyle walked by, some of the fans nearby shouted "Coyle Out!" Coyle resigned that evening. He was replaced by Newry City manager Paul Millar.

Coyle swapped clubs with Paul Millar who went to be Glentoran's new manager. Coyle only stayed for a couple of months and decided to retire. A year later Coyle was linked to a move to Glenavon but the job went to former Cliftonville and Coleraine manager Marty Quinn.

Coyle returned to Glentoran as the Club's Director Of Football when Scott Young was appointed as the new First Team Manager for the East Belfast club. Coyle took charge of the team during Glentoran's Europa League qualifications while Young was completing his coaching badges. On 14 January 2012, Young resigned from the club, and Coyle was put in charge for Glentoran's game away to Ballymena United a match where the Glens won 3–0 in his first game back at the helm. Coyle also agreed to be caretaker manager at the club until they appointed a new manager. Coyle was in charge of first team duties until 22 February when former Cliftonville manager Eddie Patterson was appointed new Glentoran boss. Coyle returned to his duties as Director of Football.

After Eddie Patterson was sacked as Glentoran Manager on 17 October 2015,^[3] Coyle, still at the club in his role as Director of Football took the reins as Caretaker Manager once again whilst the club searched for a new manager. In August 2016 when Alan Kernaghan resigned as Glentoran manager, Coyle also returned to the role of Caretaker Manager.

Team	Nation	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Win %
Linfield	Northern Ireland	November 1975	April 1990	748	504	122	133	1,677	724	+953	67.38
Ards	Northern Ireland	May 1990	June 1991	49	21	10	18	81	65	+16	42.86
Derry City	Ireland	June 1991	September 1993	68	29	25	14	77	49	+28	46.03
Ards	Northern Ireland	October 1993	November 1997	191	76	32	80	329	316	+13	39.79
Glentoran	Northern Ireland	November 1997	February 2006	446	279	77	90	891	410	+481	62.56
Glentoran (caretaker)	Northern Ireland	January 2012	February 2012	4	2	1	1	7	5	+2	50
Glentoran (caretaker)	Northern Ireland	October 2015	November 2015	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	66.67
Glentoran (caretaker)	Northern Ireland	August 2016	August 2016	5	2	0	3	3	7	-4	40
Total				1,514	915	268	339	2,971	1,504	+1467	60.44

As of 23 February 2024

Coyle is the most successful manager in Irish League history and has won 50 trophies in a success-filled career, mostly with Linfield and Glentoran

• Linfield (November 1975 - April 1990) 31 Trophies
  • Irish League (10) 1977/78, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1988/89
  • Irish Cup (3) 1977/78, 1979/80, 1981/82
  • Gold Cup (7) 1978/79, 1981/82, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1987/88, 1988/89, 1989/89, 1989/90
  • Ulster Cup (4) 1977/78, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1984/85
  • County Antrim Shield (5) 1976/77, 1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84
  • Irish League Cup (1) 1986/87
  • Tyler All-Ireland Cup (1) 1980/81
• Derry City (June 1991 - September 1993) 1 Trophy
  • League of Ireland Cup (1) 1991/92
• Ards (October 1993 - November 1997) 2 Trophies
  • County Antrim Shield (1) 1993/94
  • Irish League Cup (1) 1994/95
• Glentoran (November 1997 - February 2006) 17 Trophies
  • Irish League (3) 1998/99, 2002/03, 2004/05
  • Irish Cup (4) 1997/98, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2003/04
  • Gold Cup (3) 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01
  • County Antrim Shield (4) 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2002/03
  • Irish League Cup (3) 2000/01, 2002/03, 2004/05

• Roy Coyle Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats