Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt on 'special' time with Reading: ‘I wish I knew it wasn’t a normal season’

Ahead of the 2005/06 Championship campaign, Kevin Doyle signed for Reading from Cork City for just over €100,000. Stephen Hunt was 24 and had endured eight seasons of struggle at Crystal Palace and then Brentford. Then everything changed

PLUCK OF THE IRISH: Reading’s Stephen Hunt and Kevin Doyle join forces in a bid to thwart Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra in a Premier League clash in 2008. The Royals’ promotion to the top flight was a stunning development. Picture: John Peters/Getty Images

tT was the season that changed the course of their careers, and their lives.

Ahead of the 2005/06 Championship campaign, Kevin Doyle signed for Reading from Cork City for just over €100,000. He was 21 years old and an unknown back-up. He ended the season as the club’s player of the year, joint-top scorer (18 goals) and a Republic of Ireland international.