Michael Doyle (25 November 1946 – 27 June 2011) was an English footballer, who spent most of his career with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and also played for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Bor ...

Career

Ashton-born Doyle played for Stockport Boys as a junior, joining Manchester City in May 1962. At youth level, Doyle played at right back, but after breaking into the first team he was used in a number of roles. He made his senior debut against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in March 1965, playing wing-half, which was followed by a number of appearances as a forward. However, most of his appearances later in his career were in central defence. Doyle won 5 caps for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

and 8 England Under-23 caps. At club level he played 448 league games for Manchester City, scoring 32 goals, and was voted the club's hardest player in the club's official magazine. He scored for City in the 1970 League Cup Final win over West Bromwich Albion, and captained the side in the 1976 League Cup Final. Doyle made a total of 570 appearances for Manchester City, scoring 41 goals, before joining

Alan Durban William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager of ...

for a fee of £50,000 in June 1978. He slotted into the Stoke defence with ease and was played in 46 matches in 1978–79 as Stoke gained promotion to the First Division, and was part of the defence which kept 21 clean sheets. Stoke fought off relegation in 1979–80 and Doyle was then a regular in 1980–81 making 40 appearances as Stoke finished in mid-table. Following the departure of Durban to Sunderland, Doyle was not wanted by new manager Richie Barker and left for

in January 1982. He spent a season and a half at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

and ended his career with a season at

After football

Mike continued to attend

games regularly after his retirement as a player, but also became a heavy drinker after his playing days were over. In 2007, he attended the Sporting Chance Clinic which helped him give up alcohol for a short time. He died on 27 June 2011 of liver failure after several weeks of treatment in

Tameside General Hospital Tameside General Hospital is an acute general hospital situated in Ashton-under-Lyne managed by Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust. It serves the surrounding area of Tameside in Greater Manchester, and the town of Glossop ...

. Tributes to Doyle were made by his former clubs Manchester City, Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers.

Personal life

Doyle's son, Scott Doyle, is married to Charlotte, the daughter of former teammate

Glyn Pardoe Glyn Pardoe (1 June 1946 – 26 May 2020) was an English footballer who played for Manchester City between 1962 and 1974. He made his first-team debut against Birmingham City in April 1962. At nearly 16 years of age he became Manchester City's y ...

, and his grandson Tommy Doyle plays for Manchester City, and has played for England's U-17 and England's U-16 national side.

Career statistics

Club

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

Anglo-Scottish Cup The Anglo-Scottish Cup was a tournament arranged for teams in the English and Scottish football leagues during the summer for several years during the 1970s. It was created in 1975 as a new incarnation of the Texaco Cup, with a similar format t ...

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA C ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL ...

and

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. I ...

International

Source:

Honours

Club

; Manchester City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

champion: 1965–66 *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

champion: 1967–68 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

winner

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

winner:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

winner:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

winner:

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

; Stoke City *

third-place promotion: 1978–79

Individual

* Manchester City Player of the Year:

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

* Stoke City Player of the Year:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Guardian''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Mike 1946 births 2011 deaths Deaths from liver failure Alcohol-related deaths in England English footballers England international footballers England under-23 international footballers Manchester City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Footballers from Ashton-under-Lyne English Football League players English Football League representative players Association football midfielders Association football defenders FA Cup Final players