Mike Doyle died on this day in 2011.

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On the anniversary of his death, nobody has ever manifested the true hate we all feel for the rags more than Mike Doyle.

He stated many times how he hated their preferential treatment in the press, he hated their fans growing up so much that as a schoolboy it made him reject them and Wolves in favour of us, that's despite both their youth setups being seen as the best places to develop at that time.

He grew up in not far from where I live now in Reddish Vale, and called it at the time "a breeding ground for glory hunting reds", he despised the glory hunting attitude of the local lads there.
He's admitted that as a younger lad he used to go to watch both, but luckily for us his hatred of the rags grew as he did.

Mike's most famous outburst had one paper running the headline "Doyle hates United", it came after he and other City players still in Europe saw only a small paragraph for us and a big headline for them.

"We were on our way back from Belgium," said Doyle.
"We had beaten Liege 3-0 in the European Cup Winners' Cup and were the last British club in Europe, yet when we got the early editions of the papers, we were given a small paragraph."
"The headlines on the back were about United, who weren't doing particularly well as I recall, who had won a meaningless testimonial or friendly match. Both Mike Summerbee and myself were livid and told the journalists on the plane exactly what we thought."
"One reporter asked why didn't I express my views in an interview. So I did and the next day the headline was: `Doyle Hates United!'"


When asked about his hatred of the rags, Doyle said..
"People used to say I hated United but it was more of a dislike, they used to get so much coverage at a time they weren't a good side it used to rile me and the rest of the lads. We were winning everything in sight but we never got the credit we deserved."
"We were a far better side than they were and that includes the likes of Bobby Charlton, who was a fantastic player.. and George Best. Best never gave us a problem because Tony Book always marked him out of the game."

Doyle said his favourite City moment was scoring a header in a 4-1 derby win at the swamp, he also stated how gutted he was after the rags got relegated, just because we were always guaranteed 4 points against them every season.

We only lost 1 derby out of 16 with Mike Doyle in the side, he would always drum up his hatred for them in the run up to a derby, in the press he always belittled them and hilariously always had their fans rattled.
You could say the rags arses fell out big time at the thought of facing Doyle, there's never been a City player who hated them more despite Mike saying it was more of a dislike.

What a leader he was and what a legend Mike Doyle is, if any one player had blue blood coursing through his veins every time he played for us it was him.
 
He used to have a car shop on Oldham Rd in Ashton when I was a kid in the early 1970's,he waved to me once when I was with my dad in his car, he used to drink in the Oddfellow Arms in Ashton.
Years ago I was walking to my sisters on Curzon rd and my walkman dropped away from my earphones and dropped to
the floor,while I was picking it up he was walking past with his dog,surreal moment,I just said " up the blues " and he said hi and smiled.
He hated the cunts nearly as much as I do.

He was an Ashton lad too as far as I know
 
My Grandad's favourite City player. I read a very old copy of his autobiography years ago - his hatred of United was biblical and something that we should all aspire to live up to. A great man.
It was published 2003 no? Or did he write an earlier one?
 
On the anniversary of his death, nobody has ever manifested the true hate we all feel for the rags more than Mike Doyle.

He stated many times how he hated their preferential treatment in the press, he hated their fans growing up so much that as a schoolboy it made him reject them and Wolves in favour of us, that's despite both their youth setups being seen as the best places to develop at that time.

He grew up in not far from where I live now in Reddish Vale, and called it at the time "a breeding ground for glory hunting reds", he despised the glory hunting attitude of the local lads there.
He's admitted that as a younger lad he used to go to watch both, but luckily for us his hatred of the rags grew as he did.

Mike's most famous outburst had one paper running the headline "Doyle hates United", it came after he and other City players still in Europe saw only a small paragraph for us and a big headline for them.

"We were on our way back from Belgium," said Doyle.
"We had beaten Liege 3-0 in the European Cup Winners' Cup and were the last British club in Europe, yet when we got the early editions of the papers, we were given a small paragraph."
"The headlines on the back were about United, who weren't doing particularly well as I recall, who had won a meaningless testimonial or friendly match. Both Mike Summerbee and myself were livid and told the journalists on the plane exactly what we thought."
"One reporter asked why didn't I express my views in an interview. So I did and the next day the headline was: `Doyle Hates United!'"


When asked about his hatred of the rags, Doyle said..
"People used to say I hated United but it was more of a dislike, they used to get so much coverage at a time they weren't a good side it used to rile me and the rest of the lads. We were winning everything in sight but we never got the credit we deserved."
"We were a far better side than they were and that includes the likes of Bobby Charlton, who was a fantastic player.. and George Best. Best never gave us a problem because Tony Book always marked him out of the game."

Doyle said his favourite City moment was scoring a header in a 4-1 derby win at the swamp, he also stated how gutted he was after the rags got relegated, just because we were always guaranteed 4 points against them every season.

We only lost 1 derby out of 16 with Mike Doyle in the side, he would always drum up his hatred for them in the run up to a derby, in the press he always belittled them and hilariously always had their fans rattled.
You could say the rags arses fell out big time at the thought of facing Doyle, there's never been a City player who hated them more despite Mike saying it was more of a dislike.

What a leader he was and what a legend Mike Doyle is, if any one player had blue blood coursing through his veins every time he played for us it was him.
He lived on Longford rd West, has a local sports venue around the corner on Browning Rd named after him and his dad was a local Bobby in Reddish. If I remember rightly one of his business interests was a restaurant he was in partnership with the dad of Mani out of the Stone Roses.
 
He lived on Longford rd West, has a local sports venue around the corner on Browning Rd named after him and his dad was a local Bobby in Reddish. If I remember rightly one of his business interests was a restaurant he was in partnership with the dad of Mani out of the Stone Roses.
Born in Ashton though,and died there.
 
The likes of him, Alan Oakes, George Heslop. Proper loyal club men.

Not many around nowadays.

Thought Vinnie was of a similar mindset though.

RIP Mike. Loyal Blue.
Actually I think there are many loyal to City. Look at all those who stay for a decade and never contemplate moving away.
Haaland has signed a contract for life effectively and Foden is reported to be ready to do likewise. Gundog can’t stay away!
 
The no4 jersey will always be related to him for me .
To see that great team play has a kid with Mike Doyle leading the way with his encouragement determination ,he could play to .
He had Blue Blood running through his veins ,loyal to the core.
 
I can’t believe it’s 14 years since we lost the great man.

He was firmly established as a first-team regular, when I started following City in 1970, so he will always hold a special place in my heart, along with all the others from that time.

The pictures of him at the swamp, post-invasion, in April 1974, are legendary.

I doubt there has ever been a bigger Blue play for City.

R. I. P. Mike.
 

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