Return trip for Wolves' Kevin Doyle set to trigger Italian job memories

Nov 1 2009 by Bill Howell, Sunday Mercury

KEVIN Doyle’s first memories of seeing football on TV were the World Cup finals of 1990, then at the age of 16 he spent two months in Torino’s Academy.

As far as Italian Job’s go it was certainly no Michael Caine, mini cars and gold bullion.

Now the man responsible for unearthing and nurturing that talent and then sending him into Europe to hone his skills has tipped the Wolves striker to take the Premier League by storm.

Wolves travel to Doyle’s boyhood club Wexford Youths to play a friendly at Ferrycarrig Park, 7.30pm, tomorrow night as part of the £6.5 million deal which took Doyle to Molineux in the summer.

The club is the brainchild of construction magnate Mick Wallace who was one of the first to recognise the striker’s prodigious talent at an early age.

“I first saw Kevin play when he was 10,” said Wallace.

“I’ve managed the county 18 team for the last 19 years, and when Kevin was 15, I picked him for the squad.

“We used to go to Italy every Easter for about ten days and the Italians liked him so much on the one occasion that they kept him! 

“He stayed there for three months at Torino’s Academy which was very good for him and stayed with him.

“It made him think a little bit differently about the game in terms of the Italian approach and coaching which was different to what it was like for young players in Ireland.

“You could always tell he was something a bit special.

“I remember being asked about him when he was 16 and I said I’d walk 100 miles to watch him play – he was that good.”

Doyle moved to St Patricks’s and then on to Cork before Steve Coppell signed him for £78,000 in June 2005.

He has been a massive success at Wolves with key goals against Fulham, Sunderland and Everton in seven starts.

Wallace tips Doyle to make the step up to one of the Big Four in the Premier League if his eye-catching improvement this season continues.

“Kevin’s a phenomenal player and I honestly think people don’t realise how good he actually is,” he said.

“The likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool wouldn’t consider him now but I think they are wrong.

“I would guarantee that the more he steps up the better he is going to be – he’s a superb player.”

Doyle earned plaudits for his decision to stay on his feet against Villa under Richard Dunne’s clumsy early challenge.

“His attitude is spot-on as well,” says Wallace.

“He’s just himself, he’s never changed, and is still an honest, sensible lad and a country boy at heart.

“Not only has he made it to a very high level in the game but he’s a great ambassador because he behaves so well.

“He’s a gentleman and that’s really important as well.