Swindon Town are delighted to announce the loan signing of striker Eoin Doyle from Bradford City.
Signing on a year’s loan, Doyle links up with Richie Wellens for the second time after previously playing under him at Oldham Athletic.
The 31-year-old striker has over 250 league appearances totalling 93 goals in England and Scotland during his ten years as a professional.
Born in Dublin, Doyle started his career in his native Ireland playing for Shelbourne, his boyhood side, before moving to Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers.
His first move outside of his homeland took him to Scotland and Hibernian amid rumours from Championships clubs. Doyle scored 14 goals in his 38 starts in the SPL and, following the end of his contract, moved south to Chesterfield where Paul Cook was manager – a familiar face as they had worked together at Sligo Rovers.
Doyle’s first season for the Spireites was a successful one – his 13 goals helped Cook’s Chesterfield to promotion from League Two at the second time of asking as well as a trip to Wembley in the Football League Trophy.
The 31-year-old went from strength to strength starting the following season in scintillating form – seven goals in six games including a hat-trick against Scunthorpe and another one three days later against Preston resulted in Doyle winning the League One Player of the Month in his first 30 days in the division.
His form earned him a move to the Championship at the end of the 2014/15 campaign – Cardiff City came calling as he made another step up. Doyle’s time in Wales only lasted a season, however, as he signed on-loan at Preston North End as the next season started before making his move permanent another year on.
Loan spells at Portsmouth and Oldham followed and it was his time at Boundary Park with Wellens as Gaffer that reignited his goalscoring form.
Wellens’ free-flowing Latics enabled Doyle to bag 12 in 17 games in a red-hot burst of form under the now-Swindon boss.
At the end of his loan spell, Doyle moved on to League One Bradford City and scored 11 goals in 42 games at Valley Parade during a difficult period for the Bantams.
Upon signing, Doyle said:
“I’m excited to go and happy to be here. I’ve played under the manager before so know what he’s about and looked at the squad he’s built so far, it’s young and energetic which is positive, and I’m looking forward to adding to it.”
Upon reuniting with his former goal-getter, Wellens said:
“Eoin’s a player that we expect to score goals at this level. He scored 30 with Chesterfield when he played in this division previously. We believe he could play in the league above which is why we spent so long trying to sign him.”
