Derby County’s £3.55 million investment backfired: However, American Nigel Clough bears the blame: See

Conor Doyle was picked to be Nigel Clough’s next big thing for the upcoming years after impressing a Derby County scout in 2009 while playing for US College team Creighton Bluejays. However, Doyle’s English soccer dream did not turn out as well as it could have.

Doyle is 32 years old and nearing the end of his playing days. In the USL League One, the third rung of the American football pyramid, the Texan is now a player for the South Georgia Tormenta. He has, though, experienced stints in the Major League Soccer with Colorado Rapids and D.C. United.

Despite this, he was recruited by Championship team Derby County in August 2010 after just a few college exhibition games. His aim was to play in England, either in the Premier League or making a name for himself in the EFL.

Doyle remarked, “It’s been crazy,” after signing with the Rams. Suddenly, I’m playing in my first Championship season, when I was getting ready for my first collegiate season.

“I’m not sure I expected to be doing this at the age of 18. Though I always hoped that this would happen, I never imagined that it would at such an early age.”

launching the dream of the Doyle Derby

Doyle played across the frontline as a target man for Nigel Clough’s Derby, making 14 appearances in his debut season in England. He appeared in two of the Rams’ opening five games of the 2010–11 season as a starter, but the 6-foot-2 man’s appearances began to dwindle as a result of a lack of goals.

In seven of Derby’s next eight Championship games, he did not even get off the bench, and in a 0-0 draw away at Swansea City, he was not even included in the matchday squad. And Clough would give the American just ten minutes of league play for the remainder of 2010 after such a bright beginning at Pride Park.

Football on a global scale and an unsatisfactory conclusion to my first year in England

Doyle, who could play for both the Republic of Ireland and the United States, experienced his first taste of international football despite not getting much playing time. He played for both sides, but his natal nation was where he made his professional debut.

The Derby man traveled to Guatemala for the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship after making appearances in three friendly games. Doyle participated in all three of the USA’s games, scoring twice: once in a 4-0 victory over Suriname and again in a 2-1 setback to the hosts as his team advanced to the quarterfinals.

Doyle, who was 19 at the time, participated in six more games during the second half of the season. He started three of those games, setting up his first goal, which was assisted by Steve Davies, who scored the Rams’ 2-1 victory at home against Swansea City.

After a poor season in which they just avoided relegation to League One by seven points, Clough’s team ended 19th. The Rams were still reeling from a devastating 2007–08 campaign.

Derby: the start of the end

Doyle, now twenty-one, was starting his third year in the East Midlands. He still only had one assist under his belt and had yet to score for the first team.

Doyle made his FA Cup debut in a 5-0 victory at home against Tranmere Rovers in the third round. There, as the Rams defeated the League One team, he came off the bench to help 16-year-old Bennett.

Doyle’s last year at the club ended there. That was as good as it got.In two Championship games, he played barely 65 minutes total; all but one of those minutes came in September 2012, when he made his last competitive appearance in England against Huddersfield Town.

RELATED Nigel Clough contributed to a lackluster run of play

Doyle’s career would end abruptly due to a mix of bad form and Clough’s mistrust, following a very bright beginning. The 21-year-old found it difficult to grow in what could have been a new legacy in England without significant playing time.

Clough did not decide on a position for the young American, even though he was the target man for the Creighton Bluejays. Doyle saw action for the Rams in a number of positions on the field, including holding midfield during the 2011–12 preseason. After this attempt to achieve the intended outcome failed, he returned to his more senior role for the remainder of the campaign.

In October 2012, he also had to miss a month and a half of action due to an appendix rupture.At the time, Clough emphasized the harm it did to his growth, saying, “We were all shocked to learn how serious things had gotten and that Conor needed an operation. He was in a lot of pain.”

He is one of the young players on our roster who is developing well below the first team, so it’s a blow for him.

Doyle found it difficult to contribute to the U21 team upon his return, and even though he was given a one-year extension at the conclusion of the 2012–13 season, it was too late for him to return home and take a loan position at D.C. United.

While luck had a role, Clough’s management—not supporting him consistently enough and placing him in a variety of positions—also contributed to his difficulties.

Going back to the United States of America

Doyle’s loan stint in the US Capital turned out to be reasonably successful. In his first five MLS games, he scored his first two goals as a senior, making 14 appearances for the team.

His first goal came in a 3-1 victory over Montreal Impact at home. Two weeks later, he scored again, this time on the road. Additionally, he was a member of the team that took home the US Open Cup, which is his sole major prize to date.

However, the Texan’s quick start came to a stop as he failed to score in two years after signing a contract to become a permanent United player at the end of his loan.

Doyle sustained a serious injury in 2014. The 22-year-old injured his right knee’s meniscus during practice, which forced early season termination due to ligament damage that required surgery to fix.

Doyle made a comeback for the 2015 campaign, participating in all but nine of the league’s regular season games. The former Ram scored twice in the league to help D.C. advance to the MLS Cup quarterfinals, where they ultimately lost 2-0 on aggregate to the New York Red Bulls.

A deal to trade the forward-turned-midfielder to the Mountain States was reached in 2016 by Colorado Rapids. But when his time in the MLS drew to an abrupt end, Doyle had to deal with yet another shortage of playing time.

After eight years, the once-optimistic young prospect is currently 32 years old and playing in the lower divisions of the American football pyramid as he nears the end of his career. He played for several teams, including the Jacksonville Armada, Chattanooga Red Wolves, Union Omaha, Colorado Springs Switchbacks, Puerto Rico FC, and South Georgia Tormenta before relocating to South Georgia in 2024.

In the end, his time at Derby County in England turned out to be a false start. Doyle would have been relieved of some of the strain if Derby’s management had introduced him to the academy teams prior to his first-team debut.

But Doyle will always be able to proudly reflect on all he did to get to the second division of the English game.

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