Kevin Doyle will not be on the plane that delivers the Republic of Ireland squad to Versailles on Wednesday.
The Irish striker was one of the unfortunate few left out of Martin O’Neill’s final Euro 2016 squad, as O’Neill instead opted to take Shane Long, Robbie Keane and Daryl Murphy as his options up front.
It would have been an anxious wait for the players whose place in the final 23 was anything less than certain, Doyle being one of them.
And the Colorado Rapids forward has revealed that he found out about the squad just like you did, by watching it on the news.
Doyle, writing in his new capacity as Sunday World Euro 2016 columnist, explains that O’Neill prefers not to tell players ahead of time as it keeps “people on their toes.”
“In the end, I found out who was in the squad by watching the news as it was confirmed like everyone else and it certainly added drama to proceedings,” Doyle writes.
He added: “I don’t think there were any great shocks in the final panel that was confirmed just before the deadline on Tuesday, so the squad could have been announced earlier and those of us who missed out placed on standby in case of injuries.
“Every manager does things differently, it’s a tough job that never pleases everybody and this manager sees this as a way of keeping people on their toes.”
