SOCCER:KEVIN DOYLE recalled with a grin yesterday watching the 1990 World Cup finals as a six-year-old and, later, reading Mick McCarthy's autobiography, Captain Fantastic, in which he recounted his experiences in that tournament. "He didn't have to say it was all that time ago," said the Wolves manager, feeling his age, but he was amused by the notion that, 19 years on, his club had just broken its transfer record to sign this fan of his literary works.
After four seasons with Reading, the middle two spent in the Premier League, Doyle has returned to the top flight of English football, signing a four-year contract with Wolves who were promoted as winners of the Championship last season.
The fee of €7.6 million is the highest ever paid by the club, and the highest ever received by Reading. It is also more than Wolves’ entire outlay on new signings in advance of their last Premier League campaign in 2003-04, their thriftiness then contributing to their subsequent relegation.
Once Reading missed out on promotion from the Championship, losing to Burnley in the play-off semi-finals last month, Doyle’s departure seemed inevitable, despite the Wexford man signing an extension to his contract in November. But a release clause left the way open for Doyle to leave the club if its valuation of the player was met, and while speculation linked him with Aston Villa, Everton, Tottenham, Fulham and Sunderland, amongst others, it was Wolves who moved the quickest.
“The fact that they put in a phone call to Reading and had a bid accepted, without me ever knowing about, the day the season was over made me see how keen they were,” said Doyle, who scored 55 goals in 154 league games for Reading, having signed from Cork City in 2005.
“I was expecting another long summer, so when someone is that keen and shows that much interest it really makes you feel happy about yourself and makes you want to play for that club.
“I came here a couple of weeks ago, was shown around, told about the history of the club and had a great conversation with the manager. It made it a lot easier for me. It was an easy conversation I had with him; sometimes they can be awkward, but we rambled on for a couple of hours, not just about football but everything. I made my mind up that day.”
“We sat in my office for nearly two hours chatting away,” said McCarthy. “There was no forced conversation – How are you? Have you got a wife? Are you married? Have you got kids? – it wasn’t one of those. It was just a good hour or two chatting about football and chatting about life. I enjoyed it and I think Kevin must have done because he’s come back and signed for me and for Wolves.
“I think it’s a real coup for us, I’m delighted. For me his character has always stood out – he shows a great desire on the pitch, puts his shift in, he’s got good technical ability and wherever he’s played he’s scored goals, at club and international level.”
Wolves chairman Steve Morgan described Doyle’s arrival as a “statement of intent” by the club, who have also signed Serbian midfielder Nenad Milijas for €3 million. “He’s a hell of a player, I’ve said before that we’re not coming up to the Premier League to be also-rans, we’re coming up to make our mark.”
Meanwhile Reading director of football Nick Hammond wished Doyle well, paying tribute to his contribution to the club over the past four years. “He has been a fantastic player for us and I would like to wish him every success in his future career.”
Doyle, who described his time at Reading as “the best four years of my life so far”, will travel to Australia next week for pre-season games with Wolves, along with his new Irish clubmates Andy Keogh, Kevin Foley and Stephen Ward, his home debut likely to come in early August in a friendly against Real Valladolid at Molineux.
While no date has yet been set the 25-year-old also revealed yesterday that Wolves will play Wexford Youths in a friendly. “That was something I wanted,” he said, “I look forward to it, I haven’t played a game in Wexford since I was 16.”
The future of Doyle’s former Reading team-mate Stephen Hunt, who expressed his intent on returning to the Premier League last month, remains uncertain, however, with no club as yet prepared to activate the €5.9 million escape clause that Reading have in place.
Elsewhere, Richard Dunne, for now, remains a Manchester City player, despite much talk of an imminent move to Sunderland or Tottenham, while the sizeable Irish contingent at Sunderland – among them Paul McShane, Daryl Murphy, Anthony Stokes and Roy O’Donovan – awaits newly installed manager Steve Bruce’s decision on their futures.
Burnley have had a reported €1 million offer turned down by Hamilton Academical for Republic of Ireland under-21 international James McCarthy. Portsmouth and Celtic already had bids rejected by the Scottish Premier League club.
