The same prejudices used against Walker were always evident in Doyle's distractors too, but kind of by using reverse logic. While Walker is accused of being lazy, Doyle was just a headless chicken who ran a lot. Both are simplistic nonsense, but of course they are the terms that football supporters like to base their opinions around.
Doyle was in his mid 30's when apparently he found his 'natural' level. However, in reality his natural level at his peak was lower/ mid table Championship whether you like it or not, as that is where he played in those peak years. While playing for us in his first spell he was also hamstrung mostly by having poor options alongside him, be it a disinterested Stephen Hughes, Sideways Sammy or ageing has beens like Cameron or MIchael Hughes. When he got to play alongside half decent players like Wise, Gudjonsson & Stephen Hughes (first season only), both he and the team performed better. While he might not have been good enough to have been part of an upper level Championship team, if he had been part of either of our relegated squads I doubt we would have gone down so meekly as we did.
Anyhow nice to go back in time and re-visit arguments from yesteryear. Can we discuss the merits of Carl Baker next