Kevin Doyle has said that he thinks that the best route for young Irish footballers is pursuing a career in the League of Ireland, rather than a Premier League academy.
Speaking on the Keith Andrews Show, Kevin told Keith and Dave about his experiences in the domestic leagues, before going on to forge a successful career in England and Major League Soccer.
“Going to St Patricks Athletic was a big deal for me. If you’re from Waterford, you can see people whether it was [Stephen] Hunty or John O’Shea – there’s always someone whose route you can follow. No one from Wexford has ever become a professional soccer player when I was at that age, so going to St Pat’s was a big thing for me. I wasn’t thinking of across the water, I was solely thinking ‘Can I get in the St Pat’s starting XI?’”
“I was not panicking [...] I was not thinking I need to be in England by this age or that age. I thought that if I can get into a League of Ireland team and do it there then my chance might come. Then I moved from St Pat’s down to Cork City. I had different chances to go on trials when I was younger, but for whatever reason I didn’t get to take up the opportunity.”
Kevin believes that young Irish footballers would do well to spurn the approaches from English academies, and look to further their career through game time in the League of Ireland.
“ I don’t think it’s right for a 14 or 15 year old to be leaving their family. In an ideal situation, if you see a route where you can still see a route where you can stay in Ireland where there’s a good coaching setup then [that’s preferable].”
“The [LOI] is improving all the time... Wexford now have an under-13s, an under-15s and under-17s side. If you can see that pathway, where everyone has good pitches, good structure, good coaching – they all have to have those in place. Why wouldn’t you do that now? If you can’t make the grade at those levels, there’s no point in going to England.
Keith gave his thoughts from his experience of moving to England at fifteen years old, and the dangers involved with young footballers being discarded by Premier League academies.
“Imagine going from ten, twenty, thirty grand a week to a grand a week at Accrington Stanley. Where’s your head?”
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