Job in football is a joy - Coyle

Published Nov. 26, 2010 1:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Glasgow-born manager believes it is a privilege to be earning a handsome living in the game. "If I hadn't had a career in football I would still have been paying a fiver to play five-a-side," the 44-year-old said as his fifth-placed team prepared to face Blackpool on Saturday. "I know a real job is getting up at five, six in the morning and going out to work. A lot of people do. "It might not be a job they are totally enamoured with but they have a family to look after and bills to pay. "So it is a bad day if you can't come to your work with a smile on your face knowing your job is in football. We are very fortunate. "Nobody gets more down than me when we lose games. I can be unbearable in those type of moments. "But what I do recognise is that when we return to the training ground we are bubbly and ready to go again when something goes against you. I have always done it and always will." Among the crowd at the Reebok Stadium will be his mum Frances and other close family members. Coyle will blow a kiss in their direction before kick-off, proud of the way he was raised in that corner of Scotland. He said: "I had a very good upbringing thanks to my parents. My dad is dead now, god rest him, but my mum is 80 and still travels to the home games from Glasgow. "There were nine of us, five brothers, three sisters and there is a very good support system in place. "Growing up in the area we did you have to earn every bit along the way and I have tried to bring that work ethic wherever I have been as a player and a manager. And equally try and treat people the way to expect to be treated yourself." Bolton go into the match having lost only two league games all season and on the back of a 5-1 victory against Newcastle. Coyle is determined his side kick-on and not rest on their laurels. He said: "It has been very evident since the start of the season how hard the lads have worked. We all all enjoying ourselves at the moment but have to continue this level of performance and perhaps try and improve. "The lads know that is their focus. I stress it to them every day. The great thing is the energy they are showing and the appetite they have to help each other. That shows you we are a real team and can only help in trying to take this club forward." Coyle has nothing but respect for his managerial counterpart Ian Holloway and added: "We like to play attacking football, we like to play with a smile on our face. "We share a lot of common attributes but Ollie would certainly concede I am better looking than him!"