Stewart to keep close eye on old mates

Ex-striker Tommy Stewart has signed a one year deal with North American Soccer League side Carolina RailHawks and admits he'll still be keeping a close eye on his old team-mates.

"Everyone knows that things ended disappointingly for the club, but I believe sometimes you have take a step back before you can go forward and that's what I think Derry City are doing at the minute," he said.

"Obviously I have spoken to a few of the boys and they too believe that the club is being run in the right manner now. I also believe that they have a good blend of youth and experience in the squad and hopefully if they can get off to a good start to gain a bit of momentum, then they'll be able to gain promotion back into the Premier Division, where they belong."

Stewart, who also concedes that he had no intention of leaving the Brandywell prior to last season's much talked about money problems, admits he's a little disappointed that he'll not hear his name chanted from the terraces.

"I had another year left in my contract and I had no plans to leave Derry before everything happened; I was really enjoying my football and life in Derry.

"The coaching staff and Stephen Kenny in particular were great to me as were the players and I would like to thank them for my time at the Brandywell.

"The fans were great and it was also great to hear my name sung from the terraces, it showed me that I must have been doing something right," joked the front man.

The ex-Linfield man who travels to North Carolina this Tuesday is already excited about linking up with his new team-mates and getting ready for a new season.

"Hopefully I can travel over to the States early next week, the Carolina RailHawks started pre-season training this week, so hopefully I shouldn't be too far behind," he added.

"Their manager Martin Rennie is well thought of and Michael O'Neill (Shamrock Rovers manager) told me that he's a good coach and that's strange for a manager to praise another manager.

"We play MLS side New England Revolution, who are managed by former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol, in a pre-season friendly in a few weeks time and we have some other high profile games lined up.

"As everyone knows Americans are very much into their sports so the facilitates at Carolina RailHawks are second to none, in fact they are on the same level as English Premiership sides."