Stephen Bradley has hailed the return home of Shamrock Rovers fan and club volunteer Daniel Fulham - after he was arrested in Bulgaria on suspicion of travelling on a false passport.
Fulham, who has worked as the club mascot ‘Hooperman’ in the past, was taken from a coach by border police en-route to Bucharest, where he was due to catch a flight home in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
He was finally released after support from Rovers, Robbie Keane and ex-Bulgaria international Stiliyan Petrov, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Coveney.
READ MORE: Stephen Bradley's emotional thank you for the lift people have given his son
Bradley said: “Thankfully he’s on the way home now. It’s not nice for anyone. I’m sure it was a scary situation for him to be in.
“But thankfully everyone at the club and around it acted really quickly, and got in touch with the relevant people and got it sorted quickly.
“I’m sure it wasn’t a nice experience. We were talking to some of the fans in the airport about what happened.
“It was really strange that you can be taken off a bus like that when everything is so legit.”
Bradley, meanwhile, says there is interest in several of his players, not just Blackpool target Andy Lyons - and that Rovers are in talks with the Ireland Under-21 international regarding a new contract.
He said: “There is definitely interest in Andy, like there is in a number of our players because they are top players. But right now, there is nothing to talk about.
“Interest is interest, we could talk about seven of them players with interest now. But until there is something serious, there is nothing to talk about.”
Bradley continued: “We have Andy under contract for another year, next year and half a year after.
“And we’ve already been talking about a new deal with him for the last three months or so.
“He is very easy to deal with, him and his agent are very easy to deal with, good people, no issues at all.
“Interest is a good thing, it means he’s doing something right and we’re doing something right. You have to take it as a positive.”
As for the large number of players leaving the League of Ireland during the summer transfer window, Bradley says clubs need to “look after their business” if they are to get a fair price for their departing stars.
“I think obviously Covid has impacted England. Outside the Premier League it has definitely impacted the clubs in how they do their business,” he said.
“Our market has become really relevant again in terms of value for money. And it’s a bit of a catch in terms of players staying here in terms of Brexit which is great.
“And I’ve no issue if players move on, I’ve no issues with that at all.
“There are going to be times where clubs feel hard done by, that’s fine. On the main, if you do your business right you’ll do good business.
“That is part and parcel of football, I understand that.
“There are going to be times where you’re going to be hard done by, that’s fine. But in the main, that’s fine.”
He added: “I think we’ve done really really well if you look at our history. We’ve done really well as a club in the transfer market.
“You’ll always have one or two that will get away from you, that happens in every club in the world.
“If you think it can’t happen to us, then you’re just being naive. If it can happen the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man United and Man City, it can happen to anyone.
“You just have to understand that and accept that. But in the main, we’ve done really well.
“I can’t speak for other clubs, it’s up to them to look after their business, what I do know is this market has become really relevant to the clubs in England, because of the impact that Covid had.”
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