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Personal
Fullname: Ronald Coyle
aka: Ronnie Coyle, Huffy Coyle
Born: 4 August 1964
Died: 12 April 2011
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: January 1979
Left: 3 March 1987 (to Middlesborough, did start on loan to them on 9 Dec 1986)
Position: Centre-half, Defender
First game: Dundee 0-1 home 4 May 1985 league
Last game : Dundee United 1-4 away 4 January 1986 league
Internationals: Scotland youth
Biog
A product of Celtic Boys Club, Govan born Ronnie Coyle was a Scotland schoolboy international who signed for Celtic in January 1979.
He had first came to prominence as Scotland’s centre back in the 5-4 schoolboy international victory against England at Wembley in May 1980 when Paul McStay inspired the Scots to victory.
A hard-tackling, no nonsense defender Coyle made his first team debut as a sub in a 1-0 league defeat at home to Dundee on May 4th 1985. He had already established an excellent central defensive partnership with Paul McGugan in a successful mid 1980’s Celtic reserve side.
The centre-half made only one further appearance. He was thrown into the senior team after Paul McGugan broke his foot against Rangers leaving an already sieve-like defense even more open.
He played in the next game, a 4-2 defeat to Dundee Utd at Tannadice on 4th January 1986 on a day where Celtic found themselves 4-1 down at half time. Unfortunately he was up against perhaps the best forward line in Scottish football at that time – Bannon, Gallacher, Kirkwood, Sturrock and Dodds. It also has to be said that he was given little assistance from the experienced Roy Aitken who was well out of form.
He never really got the chance to prove his worth at Celtic and never really recovered from being thrown into a team in a desperate state. The following season he continued with the Reserves before going on loan to Middlesbrough in December 1986. He was eventually sold to Middlesborough for £5,000 in March 1987.
He returned to Scotland to join up with Frank Connor at Raith Rovers in January 1988 and continued to play with Raith right up to 1995 when they won promotion to the Premier Division. He was at Raith Rovers when they defeated Celtic to win the League Cup in 1994/95, but he missed out on a place in the side as an Achilles tendon injury consigned him to the stands. He took part in their European campaign the following season.
He left Raith at the end of that season and had spells with Ayr Utd, Albion Rovers and East Fife before retiring from the game in 1999.
He was later believed to be working in marketing, and was part of a number of former Raith Rovers players who lent weight to the ‘Reclaim the Rovers‘ campaign, taking part in a fundraising walk in the summer of 2005.
In April 2009 Coyle was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia which saw him admitted to the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. The club and his friends stood by him, and a benefit game in 2011 was organised by Raith Rovers against a Celtic side (old players) which included Paul McStay who flew over specially from Australia for the match.
Sadly, Ronnie Coyle died soon after on 12 April 2011. He was only 46.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1979-87 | 2 | – | – | – | 2 |
| Goals | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
Raith Rovers organise re-run of 1994 League Cup Final against Celtic for former defender Ronnie Coyle
Feb 24 2011
Daily Record
Raith Rovers and Celtic will stage a re-run of their 1994 League Cup Final in a benefit match for Ronnie Coyle on Sunday, March 27. The former defender, who made 327 appearances for Raith between 1988-1996 and started his career at Celtic, has battled leukaemia for two years. Coyle, 46, actually missed the shock 6-5 penalty win over Celtic at Ibrox due to injury. The success, under Jimmy Nicholl, took Raith into Europe for the first time.
Nicholl will manage Raith in the Stark’s Park re-match while ex-Raith and Celtic legend Frank Connor will lead the Parkhead side. Ally Gourlay, chairman of Raith’s former players group, said: “Ronnie is battling the disease with all the mental strength he showed as a player.”
Sad passing of Ronnie Coyle
By: Newsroom Staff on 13 Apr, 2011 11:12
EVERYONE at Celtic Football Club is shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Ronnie Coyle. The former Celtic and Raith Rovers player had been battling leukaemia. Sadly, he lost that battle last night (Tuesday) at the age of just 46.
Just over two weeks ago, on March 27, Raith Rovers hosted a benefit game for him involving their 1994 League Cup-winning side against the Celtic team from that game. And among the players taking part was Paul McStay, who had returned from Australia especially to play in the match for his friend.
Ronnie began his playing career with Celtic in 1984 and spent three years with the club, making two first-team appearances. He went on to play for a number of clubs, including a long and successful spell with Raith Rovers.
The funeral for Ronnie Coyle will take place next Tuesday, April 19 with a Funeral Requiem Mass at 10am in St Peter’s Church, Braehead Road, Paisley. The body will be received into the church the previous evening at 6.30pm.
The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Celtic Football Club are with Ronnie’s family and friends at this extremely sad time.
Raith mourn death of former player Ronnie Coyle after leukaemia battle
April 2011 The Scotsman
RAITH Rovers are mourning the passing of one of their legends following the sad news that Ronnie Coyle lost his battle with leukaemia late on Tuesday night, aged just 46.
With 327 appearances for the Fife club, the former Celtic youngster was a key player in an era when the club won two First Division titles, stunned Celtic to win the League Cup and then shocked everyone else when they had the audacity to take a 1-0 lead against Bayern Munich in the Uefa Cup. Although he never claimed to be the most talented, he will be remembered as a committed contributor to a club he said bestowed him with his favourite football memories.
It is just over two weeks after almost 3,000 people turned up at a benefit match in honour of a player who was unflinching and even hot-tempered in his younger days, but who will be remembered for his warmth and good humour and an unwavering will to win.
Unfortunately, after two years of fighting his acute illness, he lost the final battle and passed away quietly at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, leaving behind his wife Joan and three children.
A popular figure among fans and former team-mates, he was immediately forgiven for his slip which allowed Jurgen Klinsmann to equalise on that memorable night in Germany. Forgiven by everyone other than himself, though, according to former colleague Colin Cameron.
“He always used to get cut up about that. The boys never for one minute held it against him, but he was an honest pro and he still took it on his shoulders.
“When we all came back into dressing room at the end of that match we could see it was playing on his mind so we all made a point of going over to him and telling him we didn’t blame him in any way, and it says a lot about him that he was quite humbled by that.
“He did beat himself up about it. He was the type of guy that would take everything on his shoulders; he was a lovely guy.
“I’m just glad we all got together with him at the benefit match and had a chance to have a laugh and talk about old times. Those are more memories we will treasure.”
Describing him as a father figure, Cameron says one mark of the man was his willingness to guide the younger players in the squad: “He had a firm hand, but, at the same time, he would be there to put an arm around your shoulder if things weren’t quite going for you.
“Coyley was the butt of a lot of the jokes for us younger guys – guys like myself, Stevie Crawford, Jason Dair – but he took it all in good spirit because he knew that we looked up to him.”
And while he was a centre-half who took no nonsense, he was also more skilled than many gave him credit for, according to Craig Brewster.
“He was talented, but he wanted to beat two or three people in his own box! He was one of the traditional, playing centre-halves. But one day I wound him up so much in training that he just volleyed me off the ball, booting me up the arse, warning me not to do that again. So he was tough as well.”
Charged with halting the opposition he was never slow to retell tales of his own scoring exploits, though. “He always claimed he scored one of the greatest goals in Scottish football history,” laughs Brewster, reliving fond memories of his friend.
“When we played St Mirren in the first game of the season after they had just been relegated (in 1992], we beat them 7-0, but he scored the third goal and it was the only one that mattered! It was a peach, and he did dribble the length of the pitch before slotting it home. He said it was Baresi like. He thought he was Baresi! He wasn’t, but he was a wonderful man.”
Until you crossed him. A winner to his core, Gordon Dalziel remembers his travelling companion’s reaction when he beat him in a golf competition. “The best thing about that time wasn’t the memories on the pitch, it was the banter and the bond we had as a squad,” said Dalziel.
“I travelled to training and games with Ronnie and one day we were all travelling back after I had won at golf and I was really rubbing it in because I knew he hated to lose. I was going on about the Pringle I had won as a prize as we were driving over the Forth Road Bridge and he asked to see it. He said he was thinking about buying one for himself, but when I gave him it, he quickly opened the window and threw it out and I never saw it again!”
A winner but also a team player and a loyal friend. When Jimmy Nicholl guided Raith into the 1994 Coca-Cola Cup final, Coyle was ruled out with an Achilles injury, but despite his non-participation and the fact that it was his close friend Paul McStay whose spot kick was saved in the penalty shoot-out to give Rovers victory, he still listed that day one of his favourite football memories. It summed up the man and the bond he enjoyed with his team-mates.
Which is why they all turned out on 27 March in his honour.
The fundraiser was a recreation of that cup final with all the original combatants in attendance, including McStay who flew over from his home in Australia to take part and with one or two special guests, including Gary Pallister and Denis Irwin.
Signed by Frank Connor, his former mentor at Celtic in January 1988, he was at the club for eight years, leaving to sign for Dalziel at Ayr United. But he was always fondly remembered in Kirkcaldy, and, while they will mourn his passing, colleagues and fans remain grateful that they had their chance to relive memories and express that affection before it was too late. “That day meant so much to him,” said Brewster. “And to us all. He was still up at 4am, he didn’t want to miss thing. I don’t think any of us wanted it to end.”
The funeral will take place at 10am on Tuesday ,19 April at St Peter’s RC Church, 154 Braehead Road, Paisley, followed by a service at Woodside Crematorium at noon.
Ronnie Coyle – Obituary
The Herald
Published on 14 Apr 2011
RONNIE Coyle, who has died aged 46 of leukaemia, was a footballer who began his career at Celtic but who made a name for himself with Raith Rovers and played a significant part in the 1994 League Cup run that ended with the Kirkcaldy team beating the Glasgow outfit in a memorable final.
As a schoolboy at St Gerard’s Secondary, in Glasgow, he lived for football and dreamed of the day he would don the famous Celtic hoops.
He was good enough to win Scotland Under-15 schoolboy honours in 1980 and was, along with Paul McStay, with whom he struck up a life-long friendship during these school days, John Robertson, John Sludden and Ally Dick, one of the stars of the Scotland team which beat England 5-4 in a memorable televised schools match that year.
He was also playing alongside McStay for Celtic Boys Club, so it was no surprise when he moved on to the Celtic staff. But his hopes of matching the prodigy McStay’s deeds for the club were to be unfulfilled.
He made a couple of first team appearances, making his debut in a 0-1 loss to Dundee at Celtic Park on May 4, 1985, before making his second and last appearance in a 2-4 loss to Dundee United at Tannadice on January 4, 1986. But, after a loan spell with Clyde, he was released and went to England, to join Middlesbrough, before moving on to Rochdale.
He returned to Scotland in the summer of 1988. Frank Connor, his mentor at Celtic Park, was now manager at Raith and he brought Coyle home. He had found his place and over the next eight years he donned Rovers’ blue shirt more than 250 times, forming an excellent central defensive partnership at Stark’s Park with Shaun Dennis.
Coyle made his Raith debut on the opening day of the 1988-89 season, in a 1-3 defeat at St Johnstone. He scored the first of his nine goals for the club in a 3-0 win over Clydebank towards the end of that season as things began to look up for the club.
Twice he helped the Fifers win the First Division title, but, although he played his part in the team getting there, he missed the high spot of his years in Kirkcaldy, the 1994 League Cup Final win over his boyhood heroes Celtic.
An Achilles tendon injury consigned him to the Ibrox stand for that game, which must have been a difficult one for him to watch – the drama of the 120 minutes of play, then the added tension of the penalty shoot-out, during which his great friend McStay, now Celtic’s captain, saw his penalty saved by Scott Thomson, before Rovers triumphed to kick-off a memorable celebration back in the Kingdom.
That victory earned Raith a crack at Europe and the Uefa Cup. Coyle was not going to miss out this time. They were beaten 2–0 by German side Bayern Munich in the first leg, which was played at Hibs’ Easter Road ground. In the second leg they led 1–0 at half time against all odds, before eventually losing 2–1.
From Raith Rovers he moved to Ayr United, signing for the Honest Men in March 1996 before making his debut in a 2-2 draw with Stirling Albion the next day. The following season was in his only full season at Somerset Park and during it he was a key player as the Honest Men won the Second Division title, playing in 30 of their 36 league fixtures.
From Ayr he moved on to finish his career in the bottom flight of senior Scottish football, firstly with Albion Rovers, then East Fife and finally Queen’s Park.
In retirement Raith’s place in his heart was such that, when the club faced closure in 2005, he flung his weight behind the Reclaim the Rovers campaign and took part in the fund-raising effort with a marathon walk which helped keep the club alive.
But in 2009 he collapsed at home and was diagnosed with leukaemia. He battled the disease with all the passion he had shown on the park. In March 2010 he received an emotional returning hero’s welcome when he was able to take in a Raith game at Stark’s Park, but he and his family accepted his case was hopeless. His death came just over two weeks after an emotional benefit game for him, at Stark’s Park, brought together most of the players from that 1994 League Cup Final.
Paul McStay even made the long trip from Australia to pay tribute to his old friend, while other former team mates travelled from all parts of the UK to honour their friend.
Ronnie Coyle was a good if not great player. He fulfilled a childhood ambition when he played in the Celtic first team; he played in three famous matches – that 5-4 Wembley victory and the two Uefa Cup clashes with Bayern and represented Scotland at youth level.
But what really won him admiration from the football public was his courageous but ultimately unsuccessful, battle leukaemia.
Ronnie Coyle is survived by his wife Joan and their three children, Kevin, Briony and Georgia.