kevin doyle

gimmick

Talk around these parts is that Arsenal are keeping tabs on Doyle already.

One way or another he will be playing premiership football next season. I hope he doesnt go to a big club too early though a lá Liam Miller.

Töpher

He's in the Sky Sports top scorer list that appears on Sky Sports news every 5 minutes or so. Must be 5th or so in the league now, 8 goals.

//edit: 7th (3 goals behind Akinbiyi who is top scorer so far). Ahead of Clinton Morisson in the scorers charts too.

mchurl

hopefully he doesnt do a "Miller" on it and not get regular first team football. I think he would be better off staying at reading even if they dont go up for at least another season after this to really help him to develop

KdjaCL

Hes gone beyond developing now , its games at a high level that he needs. If reading go up they will be dead certs to come straight back down, if hes goe to Arsenal hes going to a club that can spend 20 million on a player at any time. They will more than lilkely loan him out to someone.
Maybe an Arsenal fan could say who was the last player they signed from lower divs in england and got a game.

hehehe

Yeah I was trying to get a sneaky look on the big screen, after it but we kicked off so I didn't get to see it so I'll be checking it in the morning!"

kdjac

MrJoeSoap

Customary "Doyle scored again today" post.

Was also taken down while clean through, offending player got a straight red. Reading are now 20 points clear in the automatic promotion places. Doyler for Ireland!

Championship Table:

1 	Reading 	24 	10 	1 	1 	30 	9 	8 	4 	0 	"18 	3 	36 	59
2 	Sheff Utd 	24 	10 	2 	0 	25 	6 	6 	3 	3 	21 	15 	25 	53
3 	Watford 	24 	5 	4 	3 	19 	14 	5 	5 	2 	20 	17 	8 	39
4 	Leeds 	        23 	6 	3 	2 	17 	11 	5 	3 	4 	11 	10 	7 	39
5 	Stoke 	        24 	5 	1 	6 	16 	18 	7 	0 	5 	16 	16 	-2 	37
6 	Wolverhampton 	24 	5 	5 	2 	12 	7 	3 	6 	3 	17 	13 	9 	35

Top Scorers:

1  	Marlon King  	Watford  	12
2 	Ade Akinbiyi 	Burnley 	11
3 	Cameron Jerome 	Cardiff 	10
4 	Dean Ashton 	Norwich 	9
5 	Carl Cort 	Wolverhampton 	9
6 	Kevin Doyle 	Reading 	9
7 	Steven Kabba 	Sheff Utd 	9
8 	Ashley Young 	Watford 	9
9 	Sambegou Bangoura 	Stoke 	8
10 	David Healy 	Leeds 	8
11 	Rob Hulse 	Leeds 	8
12 	Dave Kitson 	Reading 	8
13 	Neil Shipperley 	Sheff Utd 	8
14 	Dele Adebola 	Coventry 	7
15 	Paul Gallagher 	Stoke 	7

		

Taken from the royals.org forums:

"Doyle: 8 - took his goal well. Showed good touch, good ability in the air, good passing. Decision making spot on. Only shaded by Harper in MOTM stakes."

"Doyle - 8 - Another who was full of running and worked hard. Showed a lot of pace and strength and was always looking to take on his marker. Beautiful finish for the goal. "

"Then a piece of magic from Doyler, game up, cigars out and THAT'S WHY WE'RE TOP THE LEAGUE."

Töpher

Ahead of David Healy, level with Dean Ashton. Legend player Doyler is proving himself to be, though is that any surprise to anyone had actually seen him play before his move?

Raskolnikov

At least two of the goals scored by Kitson were penalties which Doyle created. He's certainly proving himself to be of a Championship pedigree, I just hope he can make the step up to Premier League standard.

Jivin Turkey

It is exiting to see a young player doing so well. While I've only seen highlights from matches he's played, according to reports he definitely looks like he may have what it takes to make the next step up, which looks likely the way Reading are playing.

MrJoeSoap

Jivin Turkey wrote:

which looks likely the way Reading are playing.

I never like jumping to conclusions this early on but I'd put my house on Reading going up. They're 20 points clear of 3rd place, and playing some great football.

Serbian

The match report on the Guardian website gives Kevin Doyle the Man of the Match performance.

eirebhoy

Serbian wrote:

The match report on the Guardian website gives Kevin Doyle the Man of the Match performance.

The keeper that saved the peno (Colin Doyle) is also Irish and from reading that report it seems he played well too.

Kingp35

MrJoeSoap wrote:

I never like jumping to conclusions this early on but I'd put my house on Reading going up. They're 20 points clear of 3rd place, and playing some great football.

As much as I hate to admit it I will have to agree. They have been streets ahead of every other team in the league so far this season and will definitely go up. Doyler has done very well this season so far, one of the best in the league but certainly not the best

therecklessone

Reading are 20 points clear of Watford (3rd) and Leeds (4th, with a game in hand) with 22 games remaining. It will take a collapse of epic proportions for them to avoid automatic promotion.

eirebhoy

Aye, I'd advise people to take the free money being offered on Betfair for Reading to be promoted. €1,000 returns €100. Just like Putting €1k in the bank for 5 months and getting 10% interest.

MrJoeSoap

Sharp-shooter Doyle in no mood to rest on his laurels
Friday December 23rd 2005

Doyle's move from Leeside has proved one of the bargains of the season

Eoin Dunne

FESTIVITIES will be strictly low-key this Christmas for Reading striker Kevin Doyle.

Twelve months ago turkey and ham would have been on the menu at the family home in Killurin, Co Wexford, as he enjoyed a well-earned break after a successful season with Cork City.

This time around it will be a very different scenario, as Christmas Day will begin with a light training session at Hogwood Park, Reading's training ground. After a bowl of pasta, the footballer's staple diet, Doyle and his team-mates will make the short trip through the midlands to Wolverhampton, where Mark Kennedy and co await for a St Stephen's Day encounter.

It's a downside of being a professional footballer, but that is about the height of displeasure in Doyle's life at present as he continues to light up the Championship. When he made the switch from Leeside, back in July, even the most optimistic observers in Eircom League football could not have predicted how well the young striker would do.

He is currently the fourth most prolific marksman in the league, on nine goals, and only has three less than top scorer, Marlon King. Four goals in as many games during November, has seen the 22-year-old become the focal attacking point of a team that occupies top-spot in the Championship and it has even taken the man himself by surprise.

"I always hoped," acknowledged Doyle this week. "But I probably never expected to be playing as much in the first half of the season, as I had to settle in and get used to the place. I hoped in the second half that I would get a good chance, but it has all come sooner than expected really."

Grasping

It may have, but Doyle is grasping the opportunity and doing his utmost to live up to the high standards he has set himself.

Steve Coppell has always been known for his shrewdness in the game, but Doyle's transfer fee of €117,000 is the deal of season by some way, considering a club would be expected to pay over a million pounds for the striker's services now.

Still, it could have been considered a risk by some untrained eyes when the deal went through. There are examples of many failed adventures across the Irish Sea, but as the standard of domestic football continues to rise, that quotient will hopefully decrease. Coppell, for one, took the risk and Doyle is indebted to him for that.

"He came and watched me play a couple of times when I was in Cork, which was nice of him. Instead of relying on a scout he came and watched me himself. He's been very good to me. He gave me my chance and he wasn't afraid to put me in at the start of the season when one of the players got injured."

Doyle had been a regular in the Irish under-21 set-up under Don Givens, but recent history would suggest that while he was plying his trade at Cork the step up to senior grade may not have come easily. Jason Byrne and Glen Crowe had featured in squads before, but two caps between them has been the subtotal of their efforts.

Four months after Doyle left for the Championship, he was included in Brian Kerr's final squad as Ireland manager. A reflection of the Wexford man's rapid progress or the poor regard held for the Eircom League, take your pick, but it is fair to say that Doyle is now in the best form of any Irish striker.

Competition

The new international manager, whoever that may be, will need to give youth a chance and quickly as Ireland build for the European Championship qualifiers. At 22, Doyle enters the category and his progress is important for offering genuine competition for places up front.

As a teenager, Doyle was called-up for a trial with Wexford's under-21 footballers, but never made it as his mind was set on pursing a soccer career.

Having had many days in Croke Park supporting his native county's Gaelic stars, it would be tremendous to experience the occasion on the pitch and away from the stands. He is hopeful of that happening, but is well aware that things can easily change.

"It all depends on how I am playing when the squad comes round," he says. "If I'm still playing alright and Reading are still doing well then I have a chance, but basically my form at the time will dictate if I'm picked, so it's up to myself to keep going."

For now the international stage can wait. Another more pressing dream needs to be addressed and that is playing in the Premiership. Reading are currently 20 points clear of third placed Watford in the Championship and six ahead of Sheffield United who occupy the other automatic promotion spot.

With half the season gone that is a comprehensive cushion and promotion is certainly a realistic aim.

Wolves, Derby and Leicester will pose the threat over the festive period. A healthy accumulation of points would be a perfect conclusion to the year. It's been a good one for Doyle but 2006 could be a whole lot better.

http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stories.php3?ca=12&si=1532483

Decent article on him.

ctrl-alt-delete

doyle gets himself another, reading 1-0 leicester

a chance to see him on new years eve on sky sports, derby v reading live at 5:15

Töpher

He's on fire. No surprise, but when you think he wasn't the best striker playing in the league....

wheres me jumpa

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

doyle gets himself another, reading 1-0 leicester

a chance to see him on new years eve on sky sports, derby v reading live at 5:15

cheers for the heads up, cant wait to see him in action, havent seen him since i started this thread.

radiospan

He's the joint-second top scorer in the Championship now with 10, two goals off the top.

watman

Kevin Doyle is the best striker i have seen at the Britannia this season. Pitty he choose reading ahead of us stokies but fair play to him and his team , they will be premiership next season without a doubt - I just hope Doyler dont cause our defense as many problems when we travel to reading in april

MrJoeSoap

Even myself, the most optimistic of EL fans, can't believe how well he's doing. Every time he scores or gets man-of-the-match I feel like pinching myself.

Do any non-EL fans feel any different about the league now that he is doing so well?

wheres me jumpa

how about a sticky for all the irish championship players?

kevin doyle has recieved a lot of interest. id love to hear more about alan quinn, owen garven, even the great liam miller and of course our new recruit lee trundle!

MrJoeSoap

wheres me jumpa wrote:

of course our new recruit lee trundle!

Whose new recruit? Doesn't he still play in League One with Swansea?

redspider

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Even myself, the most optimistic of EL fans, can't believe how well he's doing. Every time he scores or gets man-of-the-match I feel like pinching myself. Do any non-EL fans feel any different about the league now that he is doing so well?

Its great to see Doyle doing well, for himself, for Ireland international potential and also for the LOI. But his success does still not reflect well on the LOI and still wont change my and many other people's perception of the league.

I have no doubt though that many players in the LOI can make the grade in England, especially in the championship. The English clubs would be wise to try and pick the best of the talent that comes up. Djugarden though is not a place to go to!

But a good quality league will allow players with talent to shine. You could say that a poorer league will keep back the good players. So, one argument is that the LOI may have been keeping Doyle back from developing as a player.

But overall, I think his success can only be a good advertisement for LOI and for Irish soccer. Players that dont make the under-age system in England can be developed in Ireland and the creme can be picked off for a career in England. I think many more will be looking at players now, especially if he des well next year in the top-flight.

However, managers and owners know taht for every player that comes good, such as a Roy Keane, an Ian Wright, and a Kevin Doyle if he maintains it, there are many more players that dont do as well.

Fair play to Doyle so far, and one to watch for Ireland, thats for sure.

redspider

MrJoeSoap

But do you not think that there are more players like Kevin Doyle, of a high standard, playing in the eL and worthy of support?

It may take a player going to England and being shown every week on SkySports to get the domestic league noticed, but if thats what it takes...

wheres me jumpa

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Whose new recruit? Doesn't he still play in League One with Swansea?

theres talk of him playing for ireland! i believe a campaign was started on this forum.

MrJoeSoap

wheres me jumpa wrote:

theres talk of him playing for ireland! i believe a campaign was started on this forum.

Ah yeah I remember that. Thought you meant he had moved clubs. Don't think he'll be getting a call-up anytime soon though, certainly not ahead of Doyle anyway (if there is any justice in the world).

//edit: Shane Long made his debut for Reading as a sub last night.

Töpher

MrJoeSoap wrote:

But do you not think that there are more players like Kevin Doyle, of a high standard, playing in the eL and worthy of support?

It may take a player going to England and being shown every week on SkySports to get the domestic league noticed, but if thats what it takes...

Honestly, there are better players than him here. No doubt in my mind about that, but hardly surprised he's doing so well. Joint second top scorer in the Championship now in no shock at all. To think if he was still here, doing exactly what he's doing there, you'd have people who'd never seen him play dismissing him as "shíte".

Looking forward to seeing him next year in the Premiership.

Jonny Arson

Einst&#252 wrote: »

Looking forward to seeing him next year in the Premiership.

I'll raise a glass to that!

MrJoeSoap

RTE wrote:

Doyle to set new goalscoring target

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/1229/doylek.html

Reading striker Kevin Doyle reached his target of 10 goals for the season to set the Championship leaders on their way to a 2-0 victory over Leicester last night and immediately set a new target.

The Wexford native said: "That's my target for the season. Now I will have to set a new one."

Doyle, who joined Reading from Cork City, has played a vital role in a Royals side which stretched their winning league run to 10 successive games and their unbeaten run to 25.

His manager Steve Coppell said: "The first goal was a relief and I couldn't see us losing after that. Kevin took it very well. It's hard when you have that much time to think and he did very well to tuck it away."

"He had been playing league football for Cork City for five months when he came to us so he was up to speed already and didn't really need the pre-season training."

A few others from today:

http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=28014&pt=s
http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/sport/Full_Story/did-sg4M-2dfDiRwUsg7OWirIStPSk.asp
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/28/SOCCER_Reading_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/12/29/sfgrea29.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/12/29/ixfooty.html

Töpher

He could genuinely hit 20!

eirebhoy

wheres me jumpa wrote:

theres talk of him playing for ireland! i believe a campaign was started on this forum.

I wouldn't call him a new recruit though, he's always been Irish.

wheres me jumpa

eirebhoy wrote:

I wouldn't call him a new recruit though, he's always been Irish.

irish as in "irish"!

eirebhoy

wheres me jumpa wrote:

irish as in "irish"!

As Irish as Kilbane, Connolly, Breen. He's not PP like Morrison and Holland.

dcarroll

eirebhoy wrote:

Aye, I'd advise people to take the free money being offered on Betfair for Reading to be promoted. €1,000 returns €100. Just like Putting €1k in the bank for 5 months and getting 10% interest.

or jus like someone putting €250,000 on Milan to win the Champs League at half time, to about €10,000 i think it was
Free money yeah

Serbian

MrJoeSoap wrote:

A few others from today:

http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=28014&pt=s
http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/sport/Full_Story/did-sg4M-2dfDiRwUsg7OWirIStPSk.asp
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/28/SOCCER_Reading_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/12/29/sfgrea29.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/12/29/ixfooty.html

The guardian has a match report too.

Reading -vs- Leicester Match Report
"At about the time Kevin Doyle was leaving Cork City for Reading in the summer for a fee of £78,000, Rio Ferdinand was demanding wages of £120,000 a week at Manchester United. Some time next season the England defender should be marking a striker who last night provided a spectacular backdrop to what is proving the story of the season in the Championship." more...

Slash/ED

redspider wrote:

Djugarden though is not a place to go to!

Why not? Champions of Sweden who just sold a player who is being outstanding in the German league, and who have a realistic chance of making the champions league group stages if luck goes with them. I think they've three or four players who are likely to goto the world cup in '06.

MrJoeSoap

Yeah, being touted as a replacement for Soren Larsen is a pretty big compliment in my books!

watman

Link from todays Independent - Top 20 players outside Premiership

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/article335579.ece

MrJoeSoap

Nice link, cheers.

Jonny Arson

watman wrote:

Link from todays Independent - Top 20 players outside Premiership

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/article335579.ece

6: Kevin Doyle (Reading)

Nationality Irish. Age 22. Position Striker.

Value £2.5m

Buyers? Aston Villa, Everton, Birmingham

Probably the Championship discovery of the season. A £70,000 signing from Cork City, he is the form striker with six in the last nine games. Said an envious Joe Royle: "He's mobile, quick, very fit and wants to score. To get a front-line striker for £70,000..."

Cork sold Doyle for 90,000 euros now he's worth 3.6 million euros..... 40 times the amount they sold him for in matter of months! :eek:

If I was a Cork fan I'd be sick.

Slash/ED

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Cork sold Doyle for 90,000 euros now he's worth 3.6 million euros..... 40 times the amount they sold him for in matter of months! :eek:

If I was a Cork fan I'd be sick.

Just wait until you see Wesos value this time next year.

Jonny Arson

Slash/ED wrote:

Just wait until you see Wesos value this time next year.

I don't want to think about it!

Nunu

It's 11 league goals now. A bullet header from close range against Derby. Reminding me more and more of Solskjaer every time I see him.

watman

Shane Long came on in the second half and scores - 2-2 88 mins

homerjay2005

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Cork sold Doyle for 90,000 euros now he's worth 3.6 million euros..... 40 times the amount they sold him for in matter of months! :eek:

If I was a Cork fan I'd be sick.

i think they are more proud than sick, i no id be, its always nice to see one of your players doing well, im sure nobody in cork is begrudgeing him......proves roddy collins wrong anyway, saying that the players in the irish league would only be division 2/3 average players.

radiospan

homerjay2005 wrote:

i think they are more proud than sick, i no id be, its always nice to see one of your players doing well, im sure nobody in cork is begrudgeing him......proves roddy collins wrong anyway, saying that the players in the irish league would only be division 2/3 average players.

Roddy Collins was probably talking about the average eL player. Kevin Doyle was one of the best players the eL had.

As a City fan I'm delighted he's doing so well, and it would to see him to see him play for Ireland in March. It was always clear he'd move on to better things after City.

treefingers

homerjay2005 wrote:

i think they are more proud than sick

nope, sick to my stomach! most people here are...

(nice to see him do well though - great fella)

MrJoeSoap

Reading thread about Shane Long:

http://forum.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32169

They're stuck between Doyle and Long for the MOTM (Long is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, he only played 20 minutes!).

http://forum.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32309&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

They're having a great laugh over the value of the Doyle deal and the "Buy one get one free" Shane Long! I would be too if I was in their shoes I suppose!

therecklessone

There'd better be a huge sell on clause in both the Doyle and Weso transfers, cos the money up front is an insult to the league, and the players themselves.

EL teams need to be smarter in the transfer market, or our best talent will continue to leave for a pittance while our top clubs do nothing but tread water year after year.