With George Burley shown the exit as Scotland manager at the beginning of the week, along with assistants Terry Butcher and Paul Hegarty, Coyle was always going to come into the frame at some point; it was inevitable.

Other names mentioned include Craig Levein, John Collins, Jim Jefferies, Gary McAllister, Jimmy Calderwood, Joe Kinnear, Darren Ferguson, Billy Davies, Joe Jordan and Rangers boss Walter Smith, who recently ruled himself out of the running.

The 53-year-old former Ipswich and Hearts boss, who was contracted to 2012, left the post after 22 months following a poor sequence of results which ended with a 3-0 friendly defeat against Wales in Cardiff.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Burnley boss will celebrate two years at the helm at Turf Moor and to put rumours to bed he insists: "I love it at Burnley Football Club".

The fact that Coyle, linked with the vacant managerial post at Celtic in the immediate aftermath of Burnley's play-off win at Wembley in May, is being connected to these high calibre posts is testament to his achievements since moving to East Lancashire following Steve
Cotterill's departure in November 2007.

But, despite sympathy for Burley, Coyle has shot down the speculation: "Without going overboard about it and to put some closure on this just now, we've a big big job to do here in the Premier League and I don't want any distraction on that ahead of the Aston Villa game on Saturday; simple as that.

"I'm the Burnley manager, I've been in the position before where there has been advances from other clubs and I've always said I love everything that I'm doing at the football club and that remains the case.

"I think that should tell everyone my feelings.
"I love it at Burnley Football Club, my job is here, and that's what I'll look to continue to do."

He added: "George Burley is a nice man and with the nature of football, we know how it works, we know the nature of the beast, we know it's a results driven business and if you're not picking up results ultimately somebody is going to pay a price for that, and normally we find that's the manager. We're all aware of the highs and lows in football but I wish George all the best and I know he'll look to bounce back quickly."

Clarets captain Steven Caldwell, awarded just one start under Burley's international regime in the 4-0 World Cup qualifying defeat at Norway, admitted he would love to see a manager of Coyle's capabilities at Scotland, but wouldn't like to see him leave Turf Moor.

"Well, they're just rumours, you know, it's just speculation and because of the job we do everybody wants to talk about these kind of things and keep it highlighted.

"We just like to play football, train hard, try to work hard and we're not worried about Scotland or thinking about Scotland, we're more concerned about Aston Villa on Saturday.

He added: "It would be a double-edged sword, wouldn't it? I love working with the gaffer day-in, day-out and I would be extremely disappointed if I couldn't do that.

"But from an international point of view it would be
pleasing to have him in that sense but you know there's many good managers out there.

"I think our manager is extremely important to this football club and I sincerely hope he stays for a long long time.
"It's the most enjoyable time I've ever had in my career; I love working,

"I love playing games and I just want it to continue for as long as possible."