Doyle, who recently announced he will be joining Wolverhampton Wanders on a permanent deal from July 1 following his season-long loan with the West Midlands side, captained City to a 3-2 win over Chelsea four years ago.
A late Cole Palmer strike won City our third FA Youth Cup trophy, making Doyle just the third captain to lead City to victory in the prestigious competition, a moment the 22-year-old has ranked highly in his development and career to date.
“It’s a massive achievement,” began Doyle. “We won the league with the Under-21s that season too and it’s them things, those achievements that you look back on and you can only think good things about.
“It was a really nice moment because I think we were a team who had a lot of pressure because we’re expected to win things, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing, we never thought ‘we have loads of pressure on us here, we’re going to let it get the better of us’.
“It was one of them where we thrived off the pressure instead,” Doyle continued.
“We knew it was going to be tough but it was of course a sense of relief when the whistle blew and we knew we’d won and you can kind of just celebrate as a team and enjoy the moment.
“I was aware [of being the third captain to win the FA Youth Cup] and it’s something I take great pride in.
“I had a great journey in City’s Academy and it’s obviously something I’m really proud of.
“It’s something I’ll always remember and when I do interviews like this it reminds me of how special that was.”
Despite City starting the game the brightest, it was Chelsea who took the lead at St. George’s Park after a Marcel Lewis strike.
James McAtee drew City level before the interval, Morgan Rogers fired City ahead eight minutes into the second half but then a Taylor Harwood-Bellis own goal just before the hour mark meant it was all square.
An 83rd-minute goal from Cole Palmer saw City crowned victorious but Doyle was never in doubt of his and his team-mate’s mentality and desire to achieve in the difficult clash.
“We always had the belief in ourselves,” said Doyle.
“I remember the conditions were tough, it was windy, it was difficult so mistakes were going to happen.
“Going 1-0 down, it didn’t change our mentality. Conceding a goal is a kick in the teeth but we always had the belief that we were going to come back and with the ability that we had on the pitch, if we could get the ball to our players who were going to great and score us goals then we’d have success.”
City’s latest cohort of Under-18s have a chance to replicate Doyle’s achievements on Friday 10 May when Ben Wilkinson’s side welcome Leeds United to the Etihad Stadium for a 19:00 (UK) kick-off.
And Doyle was more than happy to pass on words of wisdom before the final.
“I think it’s all about belief,” said Doyle.
“Man City is arguably the best academy in the world. Every lad wants to be in their position and there will be a lot of those Leeds players who want to be in the position that City’s players are going to be in.
“So it’s all about having the belief, having the swagger almost of how you play for and going out and performing. There will be pressure of course, you’ll be expected to win, but that’s the enjoyment that you’ve got to have.
“It’s a special occasion and I wish them all the best.”
