THIS time of year is when a football manager really earns his salt.

When a team is safe from the drop and can’t win the title or qualify for Europe, and the season is in danger of petering out, then the boss must keep his players going.

And there’s no one better at doing that than Owen Coyle.

I know from playing alongside the gaffer what a winner he is and there’s no way he will let nine months of hard work and progress go to waste in the final three games of the season.

Owen will treat these as three cup finals and get the best out of his threadbare squad.

I’ve heard people talk about the prize money and that you get an extra £750,000 for every place you finish higher but that will not even come into it.

We’ve been in the top eight for most of the season and there’s no way they will want to chuck that away now.

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Blackburn was disappointing, especially for the fans, because you never want to lose a derby.

But I’ve never known an injury list like we’ve got at the moment since I’ve been at the club.

We’ve already got one of the smallest squads in the league and it has just been decimated by injuries.

Daniel Sturridge, Mark Davies, Gretar Steinsson, Stuart Holden and Sam Ricketts were all missing at Ewood Park and I think it showed.

Blackburn were desperate for the points in their relegation battle and the conditions weren’t great, but we still had our chances and just didn’t take them.

Now the players must pick themselves up for Sunderland on Saturday – and I’ll guarantee Owen Coyle is the man to do it.

THE relegation fight is one of the tightest in living memory – and I’m so glad we won’t be involved.

I was looking at the table on Sunday night and any one from six could go down.

It’s going to go down to the final day of the season and it just shows that, with three games to go, how far this club has come that we’re not anxiously looking over our shoulders as we have been in the past.

After years of being involved in a scrap come the end of the season, we’re only looking one way – and that’s up. We’ve been in the top 10 all year and that’s where we want to finish. That will be a tremendous achievement and one everyone at the club – manager, staff, players and fans – deserve after a great effort.

As for those fighting for their lives, I just couldn’t say who will go down. It’s going to be a nervy finale and, with everyone still to play each other down there, it’s just too close to call.

It’s the same at the top, with Arsenal beating Manchester United to give Chelsea new hope.

Those two play each other on Sunday and what a game that will be. Obviously if United win their games they’ll be champions but anything can still happen.

It’s so difficult to say who will lift the trophy but I’d go with United. Well, my head says United but my heart says Chelsea!

No matter who gets promoted and who gets relegated it just shows why this is the best league in the world. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

How many other leagues will go down to the last weekend of the season with so much still to play for?

People talk about La Liga being best but, take away Barcelona and Real Madrid, and the Spanish league is no different from Scotland with only two teams being able to win it. Nobody wants that.

THERE is one benefit of having so many injury problems and that is it gives some of the fringe players a chance.

There are a handful of players out of contract at the end of the season and they will be desperate to show the manager what they can do.

But Owen Coyle and his staff will not just be looking at how they perform on the pitch, they’ll be assessing them every day in training.

They work with these players week in week out, and will know if they have the commitment and desire to earn a new deal and stay at the football club.

When I was a Bolton player we all wanted to stay because we knew the club was going places. The current crop of players will be no different. Now it’s up to them to prove they deserve to be part of it.

WHILE the team never really turned up at Blackburn, the fans certainly did.

More than 3,500 made the trip to Ewood Park and they never stopped singing.

It was great to see the biggest crowd of the season against Arsenal at the Reebok following the defeat at Wembley the week before.

The supporters won that game for us because the players were out on their feet by the end.

Now we need them to see us home for the rest of the season – starting with Sunderland on Saturday.

The fans have been brilliant all season and they can really make a difference in the remaining games and, more than anyone else, they deserve to finish as high as possible in the table.

IT was strange to see Jussi Jaaskelainen sat on the bench in Saturday – but the goalkeeping position was in safe hands with Adam Bogdan.

It was great he got a chance to show what he can do and I thought he did really well at Blackburn.

The manager showed how much faith he has in Adam by letting Ali Al-Habsi go out on loan to Wigan at the start of the season.

Jussi is still one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and has many years left in him but, as far as ginger-nut Adam is concerned, the future is definitely orange!