Another continent, another time zone, another flight. All in a day’s work for Kevin Doyle, the Ireland and Reading striker, whose feet have barely touched the ground since, two years ago, he swopped the obscurity of Cork City for a jet-setting lifestyle in England.
Doyle was off again last night, hopping aboard a plane at Heathrow for the 11-hour non-stop slog to South Korea, where Reading will take part in the pre-season Peace Cup tournament.
Illustrating the rise and rise of Doyle - and the Berkshire club - a business-class seat will help to ease his long-haul aches.”I’ve had so much travelling over the past few years that I’ve got used to it,” Doyle said. “I now seem to be going somewhere with Ireland or Reading virtually every month. If I thought about it too much, it would probably freak me out. I just keep going and enjoy it.”
After Reading’s creditable eighth-place finish in the Barclays Premiership, their first campaign in the top flight, Doyle needed a break. “The Premiership is draining, more mentally than physically,” he said. “Every game is so big: the build-up, the interviews, getting tickets for people. When it was over, it was a bit of a relief.”
Not that the summer offered much respite. Doyle went on Ireland’s two-match tour to the United States, earning two caps and scoring one goal, and also had to endure a four-day stag trip to Marbella ahead of the wedding of his brother, Padraig.
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“It was sunny but we didn’t see much of it,” he said.
The weather was less agreeable when Doyle spent a week on holiday in Portugal with his girlfriend, Jenny. “It rained solid for three days,” he said. “But it was just nice to get away from everything else. It’s been a hectic summer but, to be honest, I feel fresh now and can’t wait to get going again.”
Doyle was speaking at the launch of “Reading Between The Lines”, a book chronicling Reading’s impressive progress last season.
The Irishman features prominently in a chapter on the 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United, when he scored a penalty against the club he idolised as a schoolboy in Wexford. As a queue of fans snaked around the bookshelves, Doyle chatted amiably and signed autographs.
The Peace Cup, which offers a prize of £2 million to the winners, could provide another invigorating chapter in Doyle’s upwardly mobile career. “We usually go to Sweden for pre-season but this will be a totally different experience,” he said.
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“We’re a Premiership team now and we’ve got to be playing in this sort of competition. It’ll take us away for two weeks, get us fit and sharp and we’ll know where we’re at pretty quickly.”
Bolton Wanderers also headed East, via Paris, to Seoul yesterday, with Sammy Lee, the new manager, contemplating his first season at the helm since succeeding Sam Allardyce in April. With Lee persuading Nicolas Anelka, the moody France striker, that his future lies at the Reebok Stadium, he has made a promising start.”I had a very positive conversation with Nicolas and he has given me his commitment,” Lee said. “I know he has ambitions of playing in the Champions League again, which I hope can be achieved with us.”
Seongnam Ilhwa, the Korean side, provide Bolton with the opposition in their opening Group A match on Thursday. “We’re travelling a long way so it will be tough,” Kevin Nolan, the Bolton captain, said. “But it should be good for us and it shows how far we have come as a football club when we get invited to play in tournaments like this.”
Reading open their group B schedule against River Plate, the Argentinian club, in Suwon on Friday. Again, like Bolton, it highlights how quickly they have risen up the global food chain. “River Plate first up,” Doyle said. “It’s usually Didcot Town.”
Peace Cup schedule:- Reading: July 13 v River Plate (in Suwon), July 16 v Lyons (Seoul), July 19 v Shimuzu S-Pulse (Goyang). Bolton Wanderers: July 12 v Seongnan Ilhwa (Seoul), July 14 v Chivas Guadalajara (Daegu), July 17 v Racing Santander (Goyang). Final: July 21 (Seoul).