ISL: How Owen Coyle scripted Jamshedpur's league win

It's the time of the year when calls for scrapping the Indian Super League's playoffs format get louder. Why not crown the winners of the league stage as the season's ISL champions, they ask. After all, they deserve to be the champions after proving themselves over 20 matches. This time, the table topper's claim to the crown has been all the more special considering Jamshedpur FC's phenomenal rise under Scottish manager Owen Coyle has enthralled Indian football fans.

When Coyle was signed as head coach of Jamshedpur FC in 2020, the team had finished eighth the previous year and it looked like mediocrity would be its permanent status. But Coyle got down to business, and in just two seasons, Jamshedpur has won the ISL League Winner's Shield, and moves into the playoffs, where they will play Kerala Blasters FC on March 11.

The manager famously helped Burnley earn promotion to the English Premier League after 30 years in 2010. In his next brief stint at Bolton Wanderers, he regularly upset the giants in the league and developed players who could shine on the big occasion.

It has always been about brief, impactful stints for Coyle. Throughout his 22-year playing career as a striker, he moved around frequently, never spending more than three years at a club.

He continued that streak when he landed in India in 2019, coaching Chennaiyin FC to the ISL final in his first year. His fast-moving, attack-minded team lost to the counterattacking ATK in the final.

Coyle's football does not boast of any textbook football philosophy. He improvises with the players at his disposal, prefers forward passes and wide play. His teams don't usually sit back and defend, but Coyle analyses the strengths and weaknesses of his players and decides how to make the most of the situation, rather than enforcing a style of play on them.

There are two elements to his managing that have particularly helped his side emerge at the top of the pile in a closely fought season.

First, Coyle infused a positive attitude into a squad at a time when the league was cordoned off from the world for months on end due to the pandemic. He would constantly play up his players at press conferences, encourage them on the sidelines and even ensure that they were kept happy and active in the bio-bubble. 

Coyle got the families of the players to send special messages to them during Christmas, which was widely appreciated. The positivity was also visible on the pitch as players in their body language and the drive to win. Players could often be seen going and hugging Coyle to celebrate goals. This mentality has helped the team emerge out of the gloom of the bio-bubble fresher and sharper.

The other piece of managerial skill that came to the fore was his ability to get the best out of players considered rejects by other teams. Goalkeeper T.P. Rehenesh, left-back Ricky Lallawmawma and defender Laldinliana Renthlei, Coyle's three most-used players this season, were considered surplus to requirements by their previous ISL teams. 

Rehenesh has the highest minutes to goal ratio in the league, putting him in a comfortable position to land the Golden Glove award. His defence has conceded the least goals (21) in the league this season.

Ritwik Das, the Bengali winger who scored the only goal in the final league win over ATK Mohun Bagan, made only four appearances for Kerala Blasters last season but has been a regular feature under Coyle.

Then there are the two relatively unknown foreigner attackers who lit up Jamshedpur's season. Nigerian striker Daniel Chima Chukwu and his partner-in-crime Greg Stewart have scored 19 of Jamshedpur's 42 goals this season. Both players were brought in this season.

Stewart is likely to be handed the player of the season award for his 11 goals and 10 assists. He has been a revelation for the side and has become the star of the league in no time.

These are pieces that Coyle has put together to forge a winning side. The side now faces another resilient side in Kerala Blasters, who finished 10th last season and are looking for that elusive ISL trophy. Coyle, as is his wont, has full faith in his band of overachievers to go all the way.