Stephen Dooley says he is delighted to have joined Rochdale AFC after penning a two-year deal at the Crown Oil Arena.
The Northern Irishman joins from NIFL Premiership side Coleraine, and he is relishing the prospect of playing in England.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play over in the English system, and Rochdale looks like a brilliant club, so I’m delighted to finally get the deal done.
“I played with Ryan Delaney at Cork City last year, and he said it’s a brilliant club and he’s really enjoying it.
“I looked at the celebrations from the last day of the season and everyone said it was brilliant. I’m looking forward to being a part of it next year.
“I’ve spoken to the Manager and to Brian Barry-Murphy as well, who’s obviously from Cork, and that’s the link there. It was good to speak to them and they seem like really nice people, so hopefully I can come over in July, meet up with them, and get things going.
“It’s always something I wanted to give a go just to see if I’m good enough, and hopefully I will be. Every young player growing up aspires to be in the Premier League and the system obviously filters down.
“I’ve always wanted to give the English leagues a shot and this seems like a brilliant club to try that with.”
The 26-year-old can operate on either flank, and hopes he can excite the Dale supporters.
“I want to be one of those players that can excite the fans and get people off their seat.
“All I can really promise is work rate and that I’ll give it my all, and hopefully it’s enough to do well.
“I want to have a good month before pre-season training and get myself into as good a shape as possible.
“It’s a very good league, a very physical league, with a lot of quality players so I’ve got a lot of work to do to live up to that.”
The midfielder helped Coleraine to win the Irish Cup earlier this month, and also won the FAI League and Cup double at Cork City last year, alongside current Dale defender Delaney.
“I came back [to Coleraine] and the team were doing really, really well. It’s a brilliant club and I really wanted to win the league and the cup with them.
“We fell just short in the league unfortunately, but we managed to win the cup, and to win something with my hometown club was special.
“The last 18 months have been really, really good. Cork are another brilliant club and I really enjoyed my time there.”
You can watch the full interview on iFollow.