Doyle: I gave gaffer my word I would stay
Michael Doyle has revealed that he gave manager Jim Duffy his word that he would refuse to sign for any of Morton’s Championship competitors to re-sign with the club.
Of the five first-team stars whose contracts expired at the end of the season, defender Doyle was the final player to commit to the Cappielow club, penning a new one-year deal on 19 June.
The 25-year-old explained only an offer he couldn’t refuse from a club at a higher level could’ve prised him away from the Ton and it was only the way holidays fell that meant he was the last player to commit for next term.
Speaking exclusively to gmfc.net, Doyle said: “I was in constant contact with the gaffer and you always give time for offers from the league above or down south and the manager knows that as well.
“But, I was never going to leave Morton for anybody in our division. I’m happy here. A couple of teams in our league had phoned the manager about me and he told me about it.
“I spoke to the manager and gave him my word that I wouldn’t go to another team in our division and that I’d be a Morton player next year. He knows I’m a man of my word and that’s what happened, and I was happy to sign.
“It was basically just the way my holidays fell as well. I was on holiday then the manager was on holiday then I was in Florida and intended to sign when I came back.
“And it just shows you with all the boys who did re-sign and how much they love being at the club, because everybody who was offered a contract did stay.”
And he also joked how there was no way he could break the heart of Lee Kilday after the skipper spent the summer break imploring him to sign up for the new season.
Doyle laughed: “We’ve got a group chat and everybody who signed their new deal was congratulated on the group chat. In terms of me re-signing, Lee Kilday was giving me a bit of grief.
“He’d probably have missed me the most. He kept saying things like: ‘You signed yet?’, ‘Hurry up and sign’, and ‘I hate you’ and stuff like that as a wind up. I think he enjoys how much I annoy people in the changing room.
“You actually speak to boys who have gone away and come back, like Tidser, or they speak about boys that they know who left, and they say the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
Morton return to action tomorrow with a match against Stenhousemuir in what is their first public pre-season friendly, and the right-back is itching to get started.
He said: “We’re looking forward to it, definitely. Pre-season is about getting the boys fit. We’ve played two bounce games so far and these are the official friendlies coming up.
“The manager is wanting to try some new things this season, and these are the kind of games to bed it in. Game by game we will be getting used to it and the new players as well.
“So the boys are really looking forward to it. It’s fine playing the games behind closed doors, but it’s good to get back in the stadiums and a bit of atmosphere to the games.”
Image (main): Kenny Ramsay
Image (inset): David Bell
