BRIAN Laws hasn’t needed to stock up on Irn Bru for Owen Coyle’s return to Turf Moor. There are still leftovers from the New Year.

“There are a couple of cans we need to get rid of because nobody likes it!” smiled the Burnley boss, who stepped in when the Scot took off in January.

“It’s an acquired taste.”

The same could be said of Coyle in this neck of the woods.

Once labelled ‘God’ by the Clarets crowd, he was dramatically down-graded to ‘Judas’ when he defected to Bolton Wanderers halfway through the Premier League season.

Upon beating Burnley in their first reunion, at the Reebok just days after his departure, Coyle retaliated by suggesting he was more like ‘Moses’ for “leading them from the wilderness to the promised land”.

“It’s been a biblical week,” said Laws, who changed Burnley’s travel plans to Crystal Palace because of the Pope’s visit to the capital.

Coyle has since spoken of his regret at coming out with that statement.

But Laws wants his players, many of whom played under the former striker and achieved promotion, to have no regrets tonight.

He is especially keen for them to take the attention away from Coyle, who he admits was a tough act to follow.

“Whenever the manager leaves it’s either because he’s successful and moves on to what they believe is bigger and better, and there’s the other side where they’ve had a dreadful time and they’ve been given the sack,” said the 48-year-old.

“I’ve come into the former where he’s been successful, and it is very hard because the standards are set – a very high standard at that – and it’s very hard to maintain.

“It’s not a situation where the chairman’s had to make a decision, the manager’s made it.

“I think that’s why there is such added spice in this game than any other.

“I don’t know how (Owen’s) feeling but I would imagine he’d be looking forward to coming back, but there’ll be a part of him that will be dreading it as well,” added Laws, who sent a text to his counterpart after the draw that simply read ‘Ouch’.

“Let’s hope it’s ‘ouch’ at the end of the game as well.

“I think the fact that it’s Bolton is one thing with it being a local derby, but with the added ingredients of former players and manager coming to the ground adds more to the occasion.

“But it’s not Owen Coyle I’m concerned with, it’s my team – that we go into the game in the right attitude and not get involved in the emotions of it.

“This game has too many elements to it, we have to make sure we concentrate on the main one and that is to get a result to take us into Saturday’s game.

“We’ve got a good home record and we want to keep that intact, it doesn’t matter if it’s a cup game or not.”

But after reaching the semi-finals two seasons ago, Laws knows the value Burnley put on this competition.

“History over the last couple of seasons suggests this football club approaches these games in the right manner,” he said.

“We’ve had a good success rate in the competition. We’ll certainly be putting the best side we can out to win the game.

“I know Owen will want to do really well and will put out a strong team, as he’s always approached these kind of games.”

Coyle orchestrated scalps over Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal in 2008/09 before being pipped at the penultimate hurdle against Spurs, in the semi-finals.

Laws is confident it’s a feat that can be replicated, if not bettered, by a Championship team this term.

“There are going to be many big teams knocked out of this competition, and I still state that there will be a Championship side that does well,” he said.

But Laws cannot escape the fact there is more at stake tonight than a place in the fourth round.

“It’s going to be a hell of a spicy game,” he said. “Owen might get booed on and I might get booed off.

“But if we can match the standard we set at Palace on Saturday we’re in for a cracking game.”