LAST SUMMER, Stephen Hunt and Kevin Doyle were so giddily excited by the thought of Premiership football, they hired a personal trainer to keep in shape during the months of rest. Steve Coppell wasn't too happy when he found out, pointing out the need for switching off when possible and chances are that conjuring up images of your average footballer's holidays would reveal nothing more taxing than lounging by a pool in a fancy resort. Not always so.

For some Irish players, these weeks and months are a step into the dark. Meet the batch of guys who are out of contract, who've been let go, who are available for free transfer, who are for sale, who don't have the assurance right now of where they're going to be earning a crust next season, who are not the Stevie Gerrards and Jamie Carraghers of this world and being offered around �42million in wages between them over four years. Guys who are making decisions about the future and just hoping to get some half-decent offers of a game rather than thinking about big bucks. As always, there are some names you'll recognise from the past.

Take Se�n Thornton. Not all that long ago, Thornton was banging in wonder goals against Chelsea in the Premiership, being named Sunderland's player of the season and looking like he had the skills (and the attitude) to have a future as bright as the bleached-blonde hair most people will remember.

But Mick McCarthy only warmed to him in patches of his three years there and as he acquired a rep as being a bit of a lad, chances came along less and less so that by 2005 he was frozen out. Doncaster Rovers was a few steps down but Thornton looked like pulling it around for a time - hitting a cracker in an overall cracking performance against Aston Villa in the Carling Cup, winning the supporters' player of the year award in his first season there and hinting at the possibilities of stepping back up a grade or two.

It went downhill though. Manager Se�n O'Driscoll seemed to lose trust in him last season, played him less often and though Thornton was still popular with fans - a poll in a local paper at season end showed 80 per cent reckoned he ought to be given a new deal - he wasn't offered a new contract.

That's how one of the more talented midfielders of a time, and let's face it, we're not exactly full to tipping point of that type of player on this island, ended up without a club heading into the summer holidays.

Word is that something will be sorted in the coming weeks and if looking for inspiration as to how a career can be turned on its head, Thornton could do worse than think of Stephen Hunt as an example. Only two summers ago, Hunt was released by Brentford, snapped up by Reading for nothing and went on to become a Premiership regular and an international winger. Hunt was close to 24 years old at the time, Thornton is only just 24. Problem might be finding a Reading to take a punt on the Drogheda midfielder.

Another name from the archives of bright young things who finds himself at a career crossroads is Michael Reddy, again a guy who drew Irish eyes towards the north-east of England long before Keanomania up there. And if it started with a bang for Reddy, then it all sort of fizzled out in the end. Once upon a time (okay, around 1999/00) Reddy, a nice mix of bustling and pacy, found himself up in Sunderland and smacked the late, late equaliser in a local Premiership derby with Middlesbrough. He was hailed as a future star by Niall Quinn and the most exciting youngster Peter Reid had ever worked with and showed enough razzle and dazzle in a few substitute appearances to be named as one to watch for 2000 by The Independent across the water. He didn't score another goal for Sunderland and drifted into loans here and there for four years - Swindon, Hull and York among the clubs - of a few false dawns and promise. Then, one free transfer to Grimsby later, Reddy had a belter of a year in 05/06, was named in League Two's team of the year amid 14 goals and much talk of moving up a division or two. So much so that he turned down a couple of contract offers last summer.

The season gone by brought a groin injury very early on and didn't pick up from that slow beginning, with only a handful of games (none since January), no goals and a general absence of luck in the fitness stakes adding up to the contract running out without renewal and Reddy most likely out of action until Christmas. All told, not such a wonderful year for a 27-year-old striker who'll have to fight back to fitness before looking for a new club.

There are other names who are lingering around the fringes a little unsure of the future - guys with caps and heaps of underage pedigree. After spending most of the season on loan at Tranmere, John Thompson wouldn't have been expecting a new contract at Nottingham Forest and he wasn't surprised to be shipped out with eight others last week. Still, around the time Andy Reid was prickling the interest of every other Premiership club a few years back, the defender was being touted as another from the Forest academy to go onto brighter things and came on as sub for Brian Kerr against Canada in late 2003.

He'll most likely end up back at Tranmere, where he impressed in his couple of months with a no-nonsense style.

Alan Maybury is another who slipped off the radar in recent times and who finds himself looking for another club this summer having not survived the cull by new manager Martin Allen at Leicester. Maybury, who you'll remember made his Irish debut in the same game as Damien Duff and Robbie Keane all that time back and worked up ten caps since, is on the transfer list after an indifferent season where despite making 30 starts, he just never really looked in tip-top form in a shaky defence.

Barry Conlon - another blast from the past of next big things in Irish football and a player who's got ten English clubs on his CV - was told he hadn't done enough at Mansfield to justify a contract extension and a career that's taken in QPR and Manchester City looks to be petering out.

A recent addition to the Irish international scene, Peter Murphy, finds himself without a club for a different reason. The defender, who started for Ireland over in the US against Bolivia, turned down an offer from the club he's been with for the last six years, Carlisle, in the hope of something better coming along. These four - Thompson, Maybury, Conlon, Murphy - all played for Brian Kerr at underage level at one time or another and some won medals. All are mid-to-late twenties so are unlikely to be making bursts up a division at this stage.

Throw in a few lesser-known names like Michael Keane, James Hand, Fred Murray, and there's a fair shot of the young and not-soyoung Irish players doing a spot of soul searching or on the lookout for a new challenge or new beginning. While most are off sipping cocktails, it's a summer of the unknown for plenty of footballers.