Photo from St Patrick’s Athletic’s website.
The striker from Firhouse revealed that he had offers from several other clubs, yet had decided on St Patrick’s Athletic despite familial ties to Shamrock Rovers through his partner.
“I had to march into the house there yesterday with a big bag of scones as a peace offering” the 33-year-old laughed.
Doyle, a prolific goal scorer in the UK at several clubs including Bolton and Hibernian, refused to reveal any personal goals for the upcoming season but one would have to imagine that Doyle has his eye on the top scorer prize given his goal scoring record across his career. Doyle explained how he had always wanted to return to the League of Ireland and wanted to do so while he felt that he could still contribute effectively.
“I didn’t want to come back at 36, 37 and there’s no value to me”. Both him and his manager Clancy both stated their desire to be competitive in the league this season after an impressive 2nd placed finish last year for the club under previous manager Stephen O’Donnell.
Doyle revealed that previous club Bolton have asked him to do a bit of scouting for them and to recommend any good young players to them so it will be interesting to see in the next couple of years if we see any players from the league heading over to Bolton. St Pats have a number of good young players such as Irish under-19 international James Abankwah.
He has experienced most of what football has to offer in the UK. And this experience may prove vital to Tim Clancy and his squad as they look to close the gap on Shamrock Rovers.
“I’ve done it all really: promotions, relegations, bought, sold, left out in the cold, brought in out of nowhere. I’ve experienced it all.”.
12-years on from the 2010 FAI cup final, Doyle still looks back fondly on it as a huge moment in his career. St Pats themselves have fond memories of the Aviva from their recent cup final success which they will be keen to replicate as soon as possible.
He didn’t hold back at all with his praise for the league. “I think the way teams play now is a lot better than what it was”. For a striker, teams playing better football can only be a good thing in terms of more chances being created.
Scoring goals is something that Tim Clancy and his Drogheda United side did last season, only outscored by 3 other sides despite finishing in 7th. Combining Doyle and Clancy could very well turn Pats into real contenders.