McCaffrey becomes eighth summer signing for Ballymena United

David Jeffrey has taken his summer signing spree at Ballymena United to eight new players with the arrival of Fra McCaffrey.
Ballymena United manager David Jeffrey and assistant Bryan McLoughlin welcome new signing Fra McCaffrey to the club.Ballymena United manager David Jeffrey and assistant Bryan McLoughlin welcome new signing Fra McCaffrey to the club.
Ballymena United manager David Jeffrey and assistant Bryan McLoughlin welcome new signing Fra McCaffrey to the club.

The midfielder, whose most recent club was Glentoran, previously spent two and a half years at Hull, along with a short spell at Dundalk.

He was welcomed to the club by David Jeffrey and his assistant Bryan McLoughlin, with the manager stating: “Bryan and I are delighted that Fra has put pen to paper on a one year contract with Ballymena United.

“As a midfielder he brings a capability of scoring goals on top of being very creative - he scored 13 goals during the season before last at Glentoran and he’ll be coming here looking to recapture that form.

“Last season was frustrating for him and appearances were limited due to niggling injuries, but thankfully those have cleared up, evidenced by a thorough medical this evening.

“Paul McAreavey invited Fra up to speak with ourselves and we went through the same process, as we do with everyone, of laying out our aspirations for the club. It was clear to us that, although several other clubs were chasing his signature, he very much invested in our vision here.

“He will play primarily wide left for us, albeit he is predominantly right sided but has two good feet, and this is an area on the pitch that we need his skill, trickery and inventiveness.

“As with all our signings this season, we have here another young man with a hunger and desire to achieve with our club and what is most pleasing is that he understands our wage structure and that rewards come for being successful in the sky blue shirt.”

McCaffrey was quick to echo the manager’s sentiments, stating: “Last season was unsettling due to minor injuries and to be honest there wasn’t much football played over the last few months as I was looking to rest and recover completely.

“With that comes a hunger to be back out there on the pitch and I’m absolutely raring to go.

“David and Bryan completely sold the club to me and with their plans and ambitions here it’s only going to get better.”

Jeffrey also paid tribute to his backroom team in what has been a busy summer of transfer activity at the Showgrounds.

“We have always said that signing players doesn’t lie with one man - Bryan and myself may be in the picture but Paul McAreavey is out there making introductions to players, Bertnel Thompson will kit them out and sort squad numbers and we have a medical team in Gordon McCartney and Dr. Brian Patterson sorting thorough medicals.

“In this instance Dr Patterson was otherwise engaged and so we are indebted to Dr Steven McCurdy for coming in on short notice to help us conduct our business,” added Jeffrey.

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