Faherty set for Turkish adventure

Keith Kelly

Former Galway United striker Vinny Faherty is set for a taste of ‘Turkish delight’ with a move to the second tier of Turkish football in a deal the player says was “too good to turn down”.

However the move was almost scuppered after a Turkish agent acting on behalf of the Moycullen native demanded a €20,000 fee from the club for his involvement, resulting in the club backing out of the deal.

Faherty (23) had joined Grimsby Town in the English Conference purely for training purposes in order to maintain his match fitness when he was contacted by Karsiyaka SK, who are tenth in Turkey’s TFF First League, eight points off top spot.

The club, which is based in the district of Karsiyaka in the city of Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, regularly play in front of crowds of 20,000 people in a stadium which has a 60,000 capacity, and they contacted Faherty asking him to fly out so they could run the rule over him.

“I told them I wasn’t interested in going over for a trial, but they got back in touch to say they would fly me over and pay my accommodation, so I went over for a few days. I got on really well, I passed a medical and they offered me an 18 month contract.

“We had agreed a signing-on fee and I had sorted out a Turkish bank account but the deal fell through the next day and I found out it was because an agent over there who had made a few phone calls was asking for €20,000 for his role, which they club didn’t want to pay.

“There was a delay in getting the deal done, and he felt he was losing out on other deals so he pulled out and gave me my return ticket home. As soon as I had flown home, the club contacted me again saying they were still interested, but only if I dropped the agent.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.