Coyle making way for Reid?

St Johnstone have rejected a request from the Clarets to talk to Owen Coyle about the managerial vacancy at Turf Moor.

A official statement said: 'Compensation was offered if it transpired Mr Coyle was later appointed as Burnley manager.

'However, permission to negotiate has currently been refused and the two clubs are unable to reach agreement.'

St Johnstone confirmed Burnley chairman Barry Kilby had been refused permission to talk to 41-year old Coyle.The Scottish club said in a statement:

'Prior to permission being given, St Johnstone sought to agree a compensation figure particularly as Owen's contract was extended in the summer to 31 May, 2010,'

'The figure offered by Burnley FC fell far below St Johnstone's valuation of Owen.

'St Johnstone FC does not wish to impede Owen's progress but Burnley's offer proves that their value is much lower than ours.'

It remains to be seen whether this is the end of the matter with wild speculation doing the rounds at the moment that Butnley may be tempted to go with Pater Reid instead, possibly even with Adrian Heath making a return to Turf Moor as his assistant. That would be controversial, but Peter Reid is actually my pick of the bunch assuming we cant get Jewell. I beleive we need someone who has experience of getting teams out of the Premiership, and he certainly proved that at Sunderland with two promotions to the top flight with a bit of yo-yoing thrown in. He also managed two consecutive seasons in 7th place in the top flight before things went a bit pear-shaped after 2002. His last 18 months at Sunderland plus spells at Leeds and Coventry have been less than impressive and he has spent the last few seasons as a TV pundit mainly on Sky Sports