Revenge mission is on agenda for Quinn

Manager Owen Coyle and his former club Burnley stopped Quinn achieving his dream of a return to the Premier League last season.

The Blades lost 1-0 to the Clarets in the Wembley play-off final and were subsequently condemned to a third consecutive season in the Championship.

Coyle, meanwhile, has been mixing it with the game’s elite but quit Burnley two weeks ago to accept a new challenge with their Lancashire rivals.

Quinn, who this week extended his deal with the Blades until summer 2011, admits that losing to Burnley was one of the biggest disappointments of his career.

For that reason alone, he would love to deny Coyle his first victory as Bolton manager and secure a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup at his expense.

“It would definitely be nice to get one over Owen Coyle because I will never forget the disappointment of the play-off final,” he said. “At the final whistle, I just buried my head in my hands and couldn’t get down the tunnel quick enough. I wanted to dig a hole and jump into it.

“I don’t know if it will feel like revenge because it is not Burnley we are playing this weekend – but it would still be nice to get one over him.”

Coyle’s reign at the Reebok Stadium has opened with back-to-back defeats against Premier League leaders Arsenal which means he may view today’s game against the Blades, who are sixth in the Championship, as the ideal opportunity to secure a first win.

Quinn, however, insists that the Blades will be no pushovers.

“Everyone knows that our first choice is the league this season but I don’t think an extended Cup run will get in the way of that,” he said.

“The squad is looking a lot stronger now that everyone is fit and we are on a good run of form.”

The Blades, who have lost only once in the last 12 games, inflicted an FA Cup defeat on Bolton just two seasons ago, in one of their final games under the guidance of Bryan Robson. Quinn not only played in that tie but also set up the winning goal for winger David Carney.

“We have been there before and done it – so why can’t we do it again?” Quinn said.

“They have just played two games against Arsenal this week so I am sure they will be feeling a bit tired and we are going to try to capitalise on that.”

With 90,000 in prize money on offer to the winners of the tie, victory would help manager Kevin Blackwell in his search for new players.

However, the Yorkshire Post understands there is also a possibility of a Sunderland player joining the Blades as part of the Matthew Kilgallon deal.

Games against the Blades, meanwhile, always have an extra significance for Bolton captain Kevin Davies – who grew up supporting his hometown club but who was rejected by the Bramall Lane club as a teenager.

Now 32, Davies has clocked up over 550 appearances in a career which initially started at Chesterfield before spells at Southampton (twice) and Blackburn Rovers.

He moved to Bolton seven years ago and is likely to lead the forward line this afternoon.

“I always believed Sheffield United thought highly of me when I was about 13 or 14, but then I had a dip in form for a few months and I was told at 15 that I wasn’t being taken on,” he said.

“It was probably a blessing in disguise for my career because I went and had trials with Chesterfield and three or four months after that I was playing in the first team.”

Bolton defender Gary Cahill also has a soft spot for the Blades as it was a loan spell at Bramall Lane three seasons ago that provided a platform for his career to take off.

Cahill, who hails from Dronfield, spent nearly four months on loan from Aston Villa and his performances for the Blades led to a 4.5m move to Bolton.

He is now regarded as one of the best defenders in the Premier League and a contender for this summer’s England squad for the World Cup.

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