Pre-season is proving to be just the difficult slog Wolves players expected but at least Kevin Doyle has some gold at the end of the rainbow.

Or rather, a gold shirt. That’s the incentive for Doyle and the five other new signings manager Mick McCarthy could parade in Friday’s opening friendly against Perth Glory.

Having started his pre-season almost a week behind his new team-mates, the workload – especially the hard running – certainly hasn’t been a breeze in the park for the £6.5m club record signing.

But for Doyle, it will all be worth it when he gets the chance to wear his new colours for the first time.

“I’m looking forward to the game because it will be my first chance to pull on a Wolves shirt,” he said.

“It was strange putting on the shirt for the press conference because it was the first time I’d worn a different team’s jersey for four years. But, after one or two games, it will be fine. It’s a nice kit and I like it.

“It will be a nice feeling going into the dressing room for the first game.”

Like fellow new boys Nenad Milijas and Ronald Zubar, Doyle is only just getting into pre-season after internationals at the end of last season followed by intense speculation surrounding his future and his eventual move to Molineux.

But he’s happy to exchange that uncertainty for burning lungs now his future has been settled.

“I was four or five days later coming in than the other players so they were already nicely into it when I came. I’m trying to catch up a little bit, but I’ll be fine a week’s time.

“I’ve got sore hamstrings, quads and groins so it’s a case of trying to train while avoiding making that worse.

“I’ve been travelling all over the place during the summer to make the most of the break so coming here shouldn’t be a problem.

“I just think my body’s not used to it at this stage.”

But, while Doyle might not yet be quite up to speed, any temporary shortcomings mask a fierce determination to succeed again in the Premier League after being relegated so narrowly with Reading 13 months ago.

“When we went to the Premier League with Reading, we finished eighth in our first season and we got relegated by two goals on goal difference in the second season,” he said. “We’d done very well in the first half of the season but we were poor in the second. This is a nice chance for me to come back and do it all over again.”

Doyle’s first impressions of his new team-mates remind him of the freshness and hunger of that Reading team in their first sojourn at the top level and he’s convinced that desire could bring similar results to when the Royals shocked so many in 2006-07.

“It won’t be easy and we realise that,” he said. “A lot of the lads here haven’t played in the Premier League before and we’re very excited about it.

“But that’s half the battle – if you can be hungry and excited about it, you’ve got a good chance.”

Doyle’s move to Wolves has attracted its fair share of criticism over in Ireland, where he’s regarded as one of the country’s proudest and chief exports behind one-time Molineux golden boy Robbie Keane.

Outspoken critic Eamon Dunphy and even Doyle’s old Cork City manager Damien Richardson have had large slabs of national newspaper column inches donated to opinions saying Doyle’s career prospects would have been far better suited to a more established Premier League club.

But his move has at least gained approval from someone who matters – Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni, something which means far more to the player than the words of the critics.

“The last three or four years have been very good for me – I’ve played in the Premier League and the Championship and done well in those divisions,” said Doyle.

“Giovanni Trapattoni has been excellent – he’s probably the most successful coach ever as his record is the best.

“He’s a nice man as well and he texts me whenever I’ve been injured and he texted me when I signed for Wolves.”