'Crazy Michael Doyle scared me to death on the pitch at Portsmouth - but what a great guy off it'

Yet former Blues player Snorre Nilsen still bears the fear factor from a season spent training with the combative midfielder.

The right-back is currently in the Norwegian top-flight with Kristiansund BK after bouncing back from his Fratton Park release in the summer of 2016.

Yet the Academy graduate had spent the 2015-16 campaign training with Paul Cook’s first-team as well as turning out for the Rocks in a highly-successful loan spell.

And the 23-year-old recalls encountering the daunting Doyle – a player he is still scared of.

He told The News: ‘I began training with the first-team when Paul Cook had come in and Michael Doyle was there, although hadn’t yet joined.

‘We were at the Mountbatten Centre, I was a bit new to the whole setup, quite a bit nervous, and I remember him screaming at me in a passing drill.

‘I was so shocked because I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t speak to him for a week because I didn’t know if he was going to beat me up or not!

‘What happened was I gave him a pass – and obviously on Astroturf if bobbles quite a bit, it doesn’t slide smoothly like on grass.

‘He shouted “Keep it on the ground”. I didn't know what to do, talk about scary.

‘Once you get to know him off the pitch, he’s a great guy. On the pitch, though, he was crazy.

‘You never really knew where you had him because off the pitch he was so calm and a funny guy, telling a lot of jokes.

‘Then on the pitch he forgot all about that and was a different person.

‘It keeps you on your toes to be fair, you didn’t get comfortable with him around. I’m still scared of him now!

‘Everyone there was really good to me. Christian Burgess, Gary Roberts, Kyle Bennett, it was a squad full of good lads, including Michael Doyle.

‘I really liked Kal Naismith as well, although it took me a week to understand what he was saying with that Scottish accent of his!’

Nilsen featured in three first-team friendlies during the 2015 pre-season.

That included 13 minutes off the bench for Christian Burgess in the opening game at the Hawks in July 2015 – Cook’s first in charge.

Nilsen would subsequently face Gosport and Coventry, before joining the Rocks on a season-long loan, making 53 appearances and scoring six times.

He added: ‘I can’t say I know Paul Cook well, but he was definitely a character.

‘I had gone from Mikey Harris, who was Academy manager and some-one you could speak to all the time about anything, he was like a mate. Before him, Andy Awford was good too.

‘Paul Cook was not similar! You were a bit scared of him, he knew his football and boy could he shout.

‘The way he sounded, I don’t know if he’d lost his voice!’

READ: From Bognor to Norway's top flight – an ex-Portsmouth player's inspirational footballing comeback

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