But tomorrow marks exactly a year to the day since he took over from the outgoing Steve Cotterill.

The Clarets have endured peaks and troughs in that time, none more so than last week's Carling Cup shootout success at Chelsea.

But Coyle admits he is more pleased with life behind the scenes, and the foundations put in place that will benefit the club long into the future: "To be honest I don't really read in to things like that, but I knew it was coming up to a year.

"I have to say it's flown by, it's been a really quick year, but there are a lot of things that have been put in place that will serve us well for years to come.

"Regardless of whether I've been in the job a year, or the results that have happened in recent weeks, the thing is we are trying to put things into the club that will make it run well for years to come.

"For me there have been a lot of pleasing aspects – to others they might seem little things, but you take enormous satisfaction from them.

"But all we're trying to do is form a winning team on the park that the fans will respond to, and they've been doing that so long may it continue."

One thing that has pleased Coyle over the past 12 months is the influx of youth into the squad.

Jay Rodriguez and Alex MacDonald have both been integrated into the first team, while Adam Kay was included on the bench for only the second time at Stamford Bridge.

And the Clarets boss feels with the additions that have been brought in from other clubs, things are starting to bear fruit: "Any coach or manager will tell you what they want, and tell you they want them yesterday.

"We're trying to move things on, we have taken enormous satisfaction in bringing the young kids through into the team, and I'm pretty sure as they continue developing that there will be even more coming through than there has been.

"We knew Jay could play, that's why we sent him on loan, we've had young Alex coming into the team, albeit stop-start, but he's since been away with Scotland Under 19s.

"But it's great to see the development with the kids, and even the young players we have brought in – the likes of Kevin McDonald, Chris Eagles and Martin Paterson – have complemented what we are trying to do.

"There's been a lot of positives that I have been delighted by, but we are only up and running at the moment and we have to continue that improvement."