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We'd gone through the two week period of names being thrown into the ring. Sheffield Wednesday wouldn't let us talk to ex-Claret Brian Laws, phone calls as I left Leicester were trying to confirm another former Claret Micky Phelan as the new boss, just a couple of days before the appointment Peter Reid looked a certainty with Adrian Heath as his number two.
Mike Newell wanted the job, even more worrying was the news that Carlton Palmer did, and the fans choice was Paul Jewell who, according to speculation, priced himself out.
Just hours after Cotterill's departure the name of Owen Coyle was passed to me. I knew the name from his time at Bolton but I didn't know he was still involved in football, let alone manager of a club. Just as it was with Laws we were refused permission to speak to him but once compensation was agreed it was just a matter of confirming everything.
So a year ago today Coyle became Burnley manager and after completing his move to Burnley he said: "My message to the fans would be come and support us and give us all your encouragement. Players respond to support and encouragement and we will be trying to give every effort to go and win football games for you.
I am delighted to take this opportunity, and delighted is an understatement, I just can't wait to get going now. Leaving St. Johnstone was a wrench because of everything I have done at that football club, but as soon as Burnley came on the scene it was a no brainer for me and the sooner I could get down here and get going the better. In the end it was just too great an opportunity to turn down and there was no chance of that happening."
He came in at a time when we were facing something of a difficult run of fixtures. Stoke at home were first, but in his first five games we were also facing away trips to Watford, Charlton and Wolves.
We played well against Stoke and were unfortunate to only get a point from a 0-0 draw, but those three away games, I don't think any of us could believe it. We were happy to get what we could from them but we won not one, not two, but all three of them, and in some style.
Burnley were moving up the league and we were all getting possibly over confident, and that confidence was dented twice within a week of the Wolves game when we lost twice at home and on both occasions to the club at the bottom of the league, first QPR and then Preston.
For some time there was a pattern. We'd play well and get within a win of the play off places then lose. We just couldn't quite get ourselves into the top six. We had our moments, no doubt about that, the win at QPR stands out, but then there were the lows such as the New Year's Day defeat at Blackpool.
Despite lots of publicity we failed to strengthen the squad in January other than loans and eventually the season did what most others have done in recent years, it petered out and we finished in the bottom half of the division.
Stan Ternent once said we should judge him once it was his own side, and in the summer Owen Coyle started to do that. Players such as James O'Connor, John Spicer, Jon Harley and David Unsworth left as we brought in six new players ahead of the kick off at Sheffield Wednesday.
Then, it all went wrong. Two horrible performances saw us concede seven goals. That was followed up by a 0-0 draw against a Crystal Palace side down to nine men and another 0-0 draw in a horrible performance against Plymouth when Chris Eagles was sent off.
The last thing we wanted then was a trip to Nottingham Forest, one of those grounds where we never win. Steven Thompson had signed from Cardiff and made his debut on the day the season started to turn round.
We won the game 2-1, it was a fully deserved win, and what's happened since is really beyond our wildest dreams. We've lost only twice since, and those were the away games against surely the best two sides in the division Reading and Wolves.
The league table sees us go into today's game against Doncaster in fourth place and we're still in the Carling Cup and facing a quarter final against Arsenal after having a fantastic night beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the last round.
We've had some good home results, and some of the away games have been memorable. It's been so good Robbie Blake's even been dropping his shorts to celebrate his goals.
Since Owen Coyle walked in to Turf Moor we've played 48 league games. 19 of them have been won, 13 drawn and 16 lost giving us 70 points. There's also been the cup wins and to date only Arsenal and Chelsea have even scored a goal against us in the cups.
This week Coyle said: "It has been a really quick year and for me there have been a lot of pleasing aspects. There have been a lot of things we have put in place which will serve us well for years to come and that's what we are trying to do. People might perceive them to be little things, but we take a lot of satisfaction from that.
"All we are trying to do is get a winning team on the park which the fans will respond to, and they have been doing that so long may it continue."
Back in December last year, on the first occasion I spoke to Owen, I asked him about youth development. He was so positive, and said he felt it was the way forward and again this week he's said: "I took enormous satisfaction for getting the young kids in the team and I'm pretty sure that as they continue to develop they will feature in the team even more."
That's music to my ears, and long may that continue. In other conversations I've had with him I've found him to be very amiable. I got on very well with Steve Cotterill but we had our moments. And there were certainly many of those moments with Stan Ternent. I'm not so sure it's possible to have such an argument with Owen Coyle.
But it is his work within the club, his work with the team that matters, and he can have as many arguments with me as he likes if he keeps us up there in the league. Right now, life as a Burnley fan is good, we're all enjoying it and long may that continue. Here's to an even better second year.
I'm still not so sure though about the label of the 'New Shankly' given to him by Brendan Flood at the time of his appointment. He's Scottish, I'm sure he still likes to join in the 5-a-sides, and I'm sure he can motivate, so he does have things in common with the former Liverpool manager. He will have been flattered by it but I don't think there'll be another Shanks.
Owen Coyle became the first Burnley manager to win at Chelsea since Jimmy Adamson in 1971. Give him, and that victorious team the welcome they deserve this afternoon.
