Transfer window pain for Doyle

FOR most of the summer, the expectation was that he would be back in the Premier League by now, leading the line at Villa Park maybe, or playing a role in the Roy Keane revolution on Wearside.

Instead, Kevin Doyle is still at Reading. Still in the Championship. Until January at least. It may not be where he saw himself this time last year, but he was mighty relieved as transfer window shut at midnight on Monday.

“It was four months of this, that and the other so I am glad it is over either way. Especially the last month, it has been wrecking my head a bit. It is nice to get it out of the way and concentrate on doing the business for Reading, getting back to the Premiership that way.”

Three times during the off-season he was certain he would be changing postal codes but, in the end, his head was fried by the whole weary saga. He is happy now just to sweep it under the carpet and move on.

His situation isn’t unique at Reading. Steve Coppell had been fairly sure that Doyle would be around a while longer but the same couldn’t have been said for Stephen Hunt.

Everton jumped in late with a bid to sign the midfielder but Coppell had already stamped Ibrahim Sonko and Nicky Shorey’s passports back to the Premier League and held his ground on Hunt. The trickle could not become a torrent.

“We need every player if we are to get back up and Hunty is a massive player for us,” said Doyle. “To lose him would have been disappointing. I’m sure if I looked like going, he would say the same thing. He was back on the left wing on Saturday as well so he will be happy with that. He had been playing left-back for a few games.”

Doyle too was a happy camper at the weekend. Goals have been hard to come by for the Ireland striker for at least the last 12 months so to bag three of them against Crystal Palace was manna from heaven.

Palace boss Neil Warnock said afterwards that Doyle would never score an easier hat-trick but do you think he cared? Plans are already afoot to mount the match ball in a case in his living room.

“It was definitely nice to get it. It was my first goal at the (Madjeski) Stadium for a while and it was my first professional hat-trick, which I will never forget. My last hat-trick was for St Pat’s U21s when I was 17. That is seven years ago.”

Giovanni Trapattoni will hope to profit from his rising fortunes. Doyle has started all three of the Italian’s games so far but admits that he found it tough reporting for international duty in the months after relegation.

He is careful not to fan the flames of optimism too high now however. One hat-trick doesn’t fulfil his season’s quota and he is equally guarded when discussing the air of optimism surrounding the national set-up right now.

“With new managers it starts off happy and then it depends on results. It’s from now on really that counts. It thing happened with Steve Staunton. We won our first game 3-0 and it was brilliant. Now it is up to us to perform and keep everyone on our side. To do that we need to get results.”

Georgia and Montenegro have the potential to create problems for an Irish side not noted for its ability on the road and Doyle admits that he would readily accept four points here and now were they on the table.

No-one likes to benefit from the misfortune of others but the decision to switch the Georgia tie from Tbilisi to Mainz is an undoubted boon to Irish hopes, a fact Doyle accepts.

“We are not going on a six-hour flight to Georgia, which will help us. There will be more Irish fans. It should help us. It is an advantage. I was happy when I found out it was going to be in Germany.”

Regardless of venue, Ireland will need to tighten the nuts and bolts at the back and shed their tendency to squander leads if the week-long mission is to be judged a success.

“We practiced set pieces and shape for the whole week in Portugal. (Trapattoni) is a stickler for that organisation and it does help if it is drummed into you every day. It is nearly automatic.

“It’s about not conceding goals first and scoring second. We have gone ahead in games way from home and conceded but it is just about getting that first away win, whether it is a one-nil or a scrappy last-minute goal.”