Championship decider matches EPL play-off for excitement for Queen's Park boss Owen Coyle

Friday night’s Championship decider matches the £100m+ English Premier League play-off game excitement for Queen’s Park manager Owen Coyle.

The former Burnley boss was in the dugout when the Clarets were promoted to England’s top flight in 2009 and he is now hoping to do the same with the Spiders 14 years later.

But Coyle, who has also had spells Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn, is hoping to avoid the playoffs this time around by beating Dundee in the final league game of the season.

The Dens Park side currently lead the way for the single straight promotion spot, but Queen’s Park are only two points going into the final day decider at Ochilview Park in Stenhousemuir.

The 56-year-old insists he turned down top flight jobs “all over the globe” to take the reins at lesser Hampden, which is currently under reconstruction, and is as excited as he has ever been during his long managerial career.

He said: “I came here for a reason, I could be working at that level very easily, I’ve turned jobs down in the last few years, all over the globe.

“I came here because of the plan that’s in place, what we want to do and build a club for years to come.

“But is it the same excitement? Absolutely. I’m as excited about Friday as I was with taking Burnley to the Premier League in the playoff final.

“In a game worth £100m or whatever, It’s even more now, because of the finances. Football is the same game,
obviously there are different levels, but it’s the same thing with those 90/95 minutes.

“You want to win games and come the end of the season, when we’ve worked so hard, because this isn’t over
one or two weeks, this is what we’ve built since coming last year. Being 27 points behind Cove in the league, 21 behind Airdrie to get into the playoffs.

“We played an Airdrie team we hadn’t beat in six attempts, we found a way to win those playoffs and come into the league. So a year later not only are you out of the league, that you probably shouldn’t have been, you have a chance to go to the top league.

“So everybody at the football club, and I say everybody, has worked ever so hard, but we do have that opportunity we don’t want to pass.

“Dundee have the same thing. They know they have that fall-back position, of a draw being enough for them.

“For us it’s very clear, that’s win. Win and you’re the champions.”