Glentoran FC

The Official website of Glentoran Football Club / Pride of East Belfast 

Flickr

YoutubeTwitterFacebook

New Striker Continues Family Tradition at Glentoran

Tue, 15/08/2017 - 14:00
RobbieMcDaidCoverPhoto

Robbie (20) joins the club on his return from three years playing full time football England where he had spells with Leeds United, Lincoln City (loan) and York City, where he spent last season. 

Robbie, from Omagh is the son of John McDaid who as a 16 year old centre forward came through the ranks at Glentoran to force his way into Ronnie McFall's great squad of the early 1980s (into a forward line where the competition was Gary Blackledge, Ron Manley and Gerry Mullan) before his Glentoran career was curtailed following a tackle in the Gold Cup Final v Linfield. We know John is proud and delighted to see Robbie join his old club and we will welcome him back to the Oval as a supporter.

Manager Gary Haveron said of the new signing: "I'm delighted to get the deal done for Robbie. As a player and a person he is very much in keeping with what we want to do at the club. He's a young, energetic and talented striker who is looking to prove himself. 

I was very impressed when I met Robbie along with his father John who himself was a successful player for the club in the early 80's and how they both conducted our discussions. There was a real, obvious desire to play for Glentoran and his enthusiasm and confidence in his ability shone through. 

Robbie is coming back from full time football and having trained with us recently I think he got a good feel for the boys and us of him. We all feel this is a great fit for both parties.

 

Robbie now provides me with much needed options up front with young Jonathan Smith currently sidelined with an ankle injury he picked up in pre season and also allows me to change formation if need be. With the energy Curtis, John McGuigan and now Robbie McDaid provide ( as well as having Bobo Smith and young striker Paul O'Neill) I now have a striker force that can come both short and get behind teams,  something I didn't feel we could do last season.

This wouldn't have been possible without the financial support of the GCT and I can't thank them enough as well as everyone that contributed to the players fund . Plus of course the board that has worked extremely hard to bring in the players that I'm confident will see us make strides in the right direction this season.


 I feel we are a young, energetic and hungry side now - 3 things I felt we lacked last season and I'm excited about the future and how far some of these lads can go.  I hope we can continue to build on what was a positive start on Saturday away to Ballinamallard. 

 

Enjoy tonight's game."


Chairman Stephen Henderson: " I am delighted to welcome Robbie to Glentoran in the face of competition from a number of other Danske Bank Premiership clubs. Robbie and his Dad were at our match at Ballinamallard on Saturday and we believe the positive, energetic approach of our new, young squad played a big part in helping Robbie decide his destination. Robbie is our eighth new first team signing of the summer and his signing concludes our incoming business for this close season unless there is a new injection of funds."

 

"I would like to thank the members of the Glentoran Community Trust for their financial assistance in Robbie's signing. The GCT has largely financed this acquisition and as in previous seasons the help and generosity of the Trust in supporting the club and manager has been swift in coming and consistent in its generosity."

"On behalf of the Board and the manager I also offer deep and heartfelt thanks to all of those individual Glentoran supporters (and a number of supporters clubs) who have committed so generously to supporting the player fund launched this summer and to Colin Davidson of the Raven GSC for independently devoting so much time and effort into independently establishing the fund and to encouraging so many of his fellow supporters to commit to it. In a close season when the club has no European income and at a time when player wages have spiralled out of control, so many members of the Glentoran family have united to help provide the manager with a significant portion of the funds he needs to rebuild Glentoran with the kind of young, positive and committed players he feels we need to make Glentoran truly competitive. The club do not take your support for granted and we simply want to say, thank you."

Video Interview by GlensTV