Lee Feeney hopes Bangor's Scottish star can emulate countryman by making Irish League impact
· Johnny Morton · 2026-08-07 · nguồn gốc
Lee Feeney hopes Bangor's Scottish star can emulate countryman by making Irish League impact
Bangor manager Lee Feeney hopes Scottish star Lucas McRoberts can emulate the success of countryman Fraser Bryden in the Premiership this season – and believes the Irish League provides the perfect platform for young talent to shine.
McRoberts has joined the Seasiders from Ayr United, where the 19-year-old played alongside Bryden before his move to Crusaders.
Bryden lit up the Premiership in his debut campaign, scoring 23 league goals, and has since earned a transfer to League Two outfit Chesterfield.
McRoberts is preparing for a first extended run of senior football having made 13 league appearances for Ayr alongside loan spells at Bonnyrigg Rose and East Stirlingshire.
The Scottish market has proven to be fruitful for Irish League clubs in recent years and Feeney hopes McRoberts can be the latest success story.
"He's got so much potential, but we need him to try and do it right away, not in two years' time, so we'll try and work with him,” he said. “There's no pressure on him.
"He's a great lad, loves football, really dedicated, got a great physique, athletic, so I really, really hope he can go on and emulate Fraser Bryden.
"He played with Fraser, he knows Fraser, so those are the things you're praying for when you sign players like this.
"There's a lot of 19, 20-year-olds come over here and they're getting men's football, whereas if they were over in England, Scotland, they maybe wouldn't get the opportunity for men's football.
"There's a lot of eyes on the league with televised games, publicity, so if that can work out then we'll be delighted.
"If there's someone coming in for Lucas this time next year, I'd be happy.
"We've had people coming in for our players, but we've got an environment there where they don't really want to leave and they're happy.
"But if we have young players with massive potential and tell them ‘you can use us as a stepping stone’, we're okay with that because it means they've been successful with us.
"We understand we're not a fully developed Premiership club yet. That's why it's important that we try and stay in this league for the next couple of years.”
In recent years, promoted clubs have enjoyed instant success by preserving top flight status – Newry City and Loughgall both stayed up – before suffering relegation in their second campaign.
Feeney isn’t concerned by the emerging trend and wants Bangor to build on their solid Premiership return.
"Our objective is to stay in the league this year, next year and the year after and then see where we're at,” he added. “I really believed in us last year.
"I thought we could do enough to stay in the league.
"For me, that's (second season struggles) just coincidence, it's just people looking for a story, but I really do think if anything we should be better this year.
"The problem is other teams are getting better as well, so it's about us trying to be better than the teams around us.”