McLeish wants to teach Coyle a lesson
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish is hoping to become the teacher again when his Blues side face Owen Coyle's Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Blues boss signed the now-Clarets manager for Motherwell when Coyle was a player at Bolton in 1997, his faith rewarded with 25 goals in 79 appearances as the club won promotion to the Scottish Premier League.
Now they lock horns for the first time as Premier League managers tomorrow, after playing out two 1-1 draws last season when both teams were chasing promotion from the Championship.
Both achieved that feat in May, Blues at the first attempt after relegation and Coyle in his first full campaign in charge.
Ahead of another battle of the promoted sides, McLeish insists his former player's feats as a manager comes as no surprise.
The Blues boss said: "Owen is a modern breed manager who is always very positive, the cup is always half full, and I'd like to think I've taught him well.
"After working under me for a couple of years, I am sure some things have rubbed off, but he has got his own personality as well. He was always very vociferous in our dressing room, but always in an encouraging way and could already understand then that the manager's lot is not an easy one.
"He was always a guy who would back me in any dressing room point that I had to get across and was always right by your side."
McLeish - for the first time in weeks, can see the St Andrew's treatment room clearing up, with Stuart Parnaby, Franck Queudrue and James McFadden all back in contention to return to the squad.
The manager also expects to have striker Cameron Jerome back after the international break, but record signing Christian Benitez will miss the Burnley trip on compassionate leave back in Ecuador after his father was injured in a car crash.
And they face a side who have made their Turf Moor ground a fortress so far this season, having won all three home games so far.
But the Blues boss is taking a positive mental attitude into the clash.
He said: "Burnley will point to their home form as being different to their away form, but at the same time we have got to go there with the belief we can win that game.
"I don't see why not considering our form and the confidence we have shown in all the other games. The away games are tougher, but we have proved in our away games with Manchester United and Spurs that we can live with them, so why should we fear anything?
"The evidence is there. It is not like we are looking into the land of the unknown."
