Still: Agent helped pave the way for Doyle move

The transfer represents something of coup for Hatters with Doyle having made three Premier League appearances, while also playing in the League Cup Final two seasons ago.

He has spent most of his career at Championship or League One level, and after being released by Bradford City last season, Still admitted it had been a patient pursuit.

He said: “It was something we looked at the end of last season for this season, but was a difficult one as he hadn’t agreed terms with Bradford.

“They made him an offer that he turned down, so we just waited.

“He turned a couple of deals down that if I’m being honest, he shouldn’t have done, and found himself in the situation that he was still without a club.

“I’ve got a really, really good relationship with his agent, and that’s not manager agent relationship, he’s someone I’ve known for years.

“He was always keeping me in touch with it. I didn’t do anything about it because I couldn’t get near the offers being made to him at the time.

“But we spoke couple of weeks ago and it was still in a delicate situation that maybe the player thought the terms he wanted was still going to be there.”

In the end it came down to the player’s desire for first team football according to Still, as he continued: “He’s got to play. His ablility talks for itself, he’s played 60 odd games in the two years at Bradford.

“I had a long chat with Phil Parkinson (Bradford boss) about him, as I knew him as a player, I didn’t know him as a person and he said, he was our best player last year, but his demands at that time were too high.

“He would have changed his demands by the way, but club had moved on.

“As I said when I spoke to him, you can play or not play, it’s up to you, you can make that choice.

“The longer you don’t play, the more you’re forgotten, the less your value is.

“We have a way of doing things here, we’re not going to change it for you, but you’ve got to play, what do you want to do?

“Since he’s come down, he’s been training for a few days and he’s been first class, so I’m delighted to sign him.”

It’s unlikely that Doyle will be included this weekend against Cheltenham Town though as Still added: “He’ll be a couple of weeks, we want to be fair to him as he needs to get properly fit.

“We haven’t signed him for now, we’ve signed him to make the football club stronger and better over the next few years.

“It’s not an impact signing, it’s a long term signing and when he’s ready and up to speed and what we want, then he’ll be involved.”

For a full interview with Doyle, see the News/Gazette on sale next week.