If he looks after himself it's not inevitable that he'll have declined that badly by 35/36.
A run in europe pays for his 3 years. They'll have 2 seasons to get it from him but I wouldnt say its unlikely its paid back. hes been a consistent scorer in l1/l2 up until this year. Decline is inevitable but he's playing in a league thats much weaker on the whole than l2/l1 so the decline shouldnt come as quick.
If he looks after himself it's not inevitable that he'll have declined that badly by 35/36.
Hoban's League Two record - 65 games, 7 goals
Doyle's League Two record - 132 games, 57 goals, which includes being second top scorer in the division last season. Even his Championship record - 57 games, 10 goals - is better than Hoban's L2 record.
Time well tell, for sure, but I think those stats more than compensate for three extra years. 33 is hardly past it.
A 3 year deal for a 33-year-old is nuts IMO and I’m glad Rovers reportedly balked at the terms but to suggest Hooooban is in the same league as Doyle is laughable.
Would be very confident that Doyle will score shedloads of goals but that the ‘best attack in the League’ will once again be Rovers midfield.
You got there before me with the Stats.
Hoban is a decent striker that was able to cash in on goals as part of a great Dundalk team that steamrollered most teams in the division. Imagine Christy Fagan or Gary Twigg up front for Dundalk in those years.
Doyle is a different class of player entirely.
Pats winning the Pre season again
Funny, on the stats I was surprised to see that Hoban has only 5 goals in 23 European games. That's really poor.
Agree the three-year deal is a bit of a risk, but (assuming the money involved isn't mad stuff) it seems a risk worth taking as it does seem to give Pat's the edge over Dundalk/Bohs in what we should probably start calling the race for third.
McMillan has 14 Euro goals I think, (13 with Dundalk also), and yes that is a surprise with Hoban only on 5 euro goals.
I just think on all round play, there is no better striker in the league that Hoban, agreed his return in UK was poor but his hold up play and strength added to his domestic goals, I don't see anyone better even with Doyle coming into Pats, but its a game of opinions, still think 3 year deal for a 33 is a bit much, but time will tell.
Happy New Year all !
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
Not going to weigh in on the whole Doyle v Hooban debate tbh. He is an experience striker who netted 19 times in league 2 last year so that alone gives reason to welcome his signing. The contract is a gamble but it was no doubt a huge incentive to sign in the first place. It’s an ambitious signing with eyes on European progression in mind.
Were Bolton looking to offload him? He still seemed to be in decent form for them.
I get people saying a 3-year deal is better than a 1-year deal, but it's not like he'd be on the same money. For all we know, he'd earn as much in 1 week/year at Bolton as he would in 2 (or even 3?) weeks/years at Pats.
Last edited by osarusan; 31/12/2021 at 4:25 PM.
Is it 4 in 20 in the league for Bolton this year? A pessimist might say that he's found the step back up tricky and that, coupled with his age, could raise a few questionmarks as to whether the guy is in serious decline. Time will tell obviously, I've no skin in the fight, but I'd be less sure than some here seem to be that he'll be a roaring success.
Yep, but he's their second top scorer too. An optimist would say double figures for a newly-promoted side (are Bolton still bankrupt?) wouldn't be bad. It'd match his last season at that level three years ago too.
Ah, the joys of the League of Ireland alright!
Time will tell for sure. But it definitely adds more interest to the season.
I think there's reason for skepticism for sure, but if there wasn't this wouldn't even be happening to be fair. He was banging them in quite recently at a decent level and Bolton fans seem to have mixed reviews at this news though so there's enough to say it's at least worth the risk.
Still and all, we're in decent shape in that area of the pitch at the moment, but if you're talking challenging for anything then a goalkeeper, right back and probably two midfielders would still be needed. Considering we had about 2 players signed up at this time last year it's not bad going mind!
Pats fans, get on to 'the men who saved football' DFC fancast, super line in the episode today 'Pats fans should be thanking SOD for winning the cup and getting into europe as opposed to their anger of him leaving'
(They also made the same point, Pats are in good shape too)
On that, I`ll leave you all to 2022, have a good one and we'll see you on the other side.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
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