How Close Were Reading FC To Losing Kevin Doyle To Spurs?

Now retired, Kevin Doyle has revealed a near-miss transfer opportunity that would have seen the Irishman leave Reading for Tottenham Hotspur.

Back in the Steve Coppell days, the Royals were hardly famous for their transfer deadline day dealings and, such was their intent to keep it quiet as the clock ticked down, Spurs couldn’t get hold of anyone at the club in January 2008 as they’d all turned off their phones.

Doyle recounts the story on former international teammate Keith Andrews’ show, as quoted by HITC.

“I remember at Reading on transfer deadline day, getting a call actually to go Spurs: ‘Kevin, we can’t get through to your club. They’ve all turned off their phones’. Spurs had just sold Berbatov to Manchester United and they were desperate to get someone in, and I was at Reading doing well.”

“We’d been given a couple of days off. [Coppell] had told everyone at Reading to shut their phone off once the day before had gone; he said there’s no one coming or leaving.”

Thus, Reading could have cashed in on Doyle the year we went down anyway. Not like they knew that at the time. So, sorry Spurs, your only memory of Kevin Doyle will have to be this video.