Actions speak louder than words for Doyle

The new captain wants to lead by example, and that includes staying off Twitter, writes EMMET MALONE

IT’S NOT an approach that everyone who has passed through the Ireland squad over the last few years would necessarily endorse, but Kevin Doyle reckons the ribbing that James McClean has been receiving from his fellow players since Friday’s ill-advised post-match tweet will end up helping to cement the 23-year-old’s place in Giovanni Trapattoni’s set up.

“Yeah, we found out about it almost straight away and we said it to him, that it wasn’t acceptable and he knew that,” said Ireland’s captain for tonight’s game against Oman in Craven Cottage. “He tried to delete it, he closed down his Twitter account and in the end it’s probably helped to integrate him more into the group because we’ve all been taking the piss out of him since.

“I think in general it causes more problems than it solves. I don’t think all that many of the lads are on it to be honest and when you’re in a bad mood after a game it would probably be smart to turn off your phone.

“But we’ve got to remember that James has had such a meteoric rise. It’s barely six months since he came into the Sunderland squad and now look at him. To deal with all of that at his age is difficult but this will help him. It’s not great for him in the short term but in the longer term it might well end up standing to him.”

The Wolves striker said that the other players have been considering asking McClean to sing for them again (every new player in the squad has to when they first arrive) as a forfeit for the offence. “He didn’t like it the first time around as I remember, he was very nervous; I think he was almost crying.”

Doyle seemed confident, though, that none of this would have an adverse effect on the Sunderland winger who has, to be fair, generally seemed more than capable of fighting his own corner.

The Wexford man, meanwhile, is keen to see the younger players who are getting a chance to impress this evening do well. He has, he admits, never really come across Robbie Brady or David Meyler prior to the last while but both have impressed him in their different ways over the past couple of days.

“I’ve followed David’s progress and it’s good to see another ex-Cork City, another ex-League of Ireland player doing well,” he says. “He was telling me about the two cruciate injuries; I’ve never had an injury like that and, touch wood, don’t really know what it would be like mentally never mind physically, but he’s come back twice which says something about the determination he possesses. If he can do that you’d have to think he can handle anything the game will throw at him over the next few years.

As for Brady, he says: “He’s got quite a reputation what with the record number of goals for the under-21s and he’s always talked about as having a great future at Manchester United. He’s looked good on the training ground anyway. There’s no shyness about him either; he’s settled right in and shown everyone what he can do.”

The decision to hand Doyle the captain’s armband this evening is, of course, an indication of how much more experienced he is than most of Giovanni Trapattoni’s other starters in this, his 51st game as Ireland manager.

It is probably also a reward to some extent for the impact he made on Friday night in Astana where he played a key part in Ireland’s remarkable late charge. “I enjoyed the half hour,” he said last night with what must have been just a little understatement. “The manager told me to be ready; that there was a fair chance I’d come on and I was glad to be able to make an impact.”

Quite what difference he can make as skipper tonight even he seems slightly unsure of but he is, he says, grateful to receive the honour for a second time.

“It’s a privilege more than anything, I suppose,” he says. “I’m not the loudest on the pitch but then it’s not always about who the loudest is. What I’ll try to do is lead by example and if it turns out anything like last time then that would be great but I’m very proud whatever happens.”