Former Ballymena United star believes Fuad Sule signing represents 'massive statement'
Former Ballymena United star Andy McGrory believes the signing of Fuad Sule represents a “massive statement” from the Sky Blues – and feels they’ve the quality to push higher up the Premiership table.
Sule won a Gibson Cup crown at Larne before impressing across two seasons with Glentoran and made his Irish League return on deadline day of the recent transfer window from Indonesia.
The 29-year-old was widely regarded as one of the Premiership’s top midfielders during his first stint in Northern Ireland’s top-flight and had been linked with a host of clubs across the water, including St Mirren.
Ballymena manager Oran Kearney will hope Sule can provide a spark as The Showgrounds outfit look to pull clear of potential relegation threat – they’re currently only one point above 11th-placed Crusaders, who they host on Tuesday evening.
Having already served a nine-match suspension dished out for his role in a brawl during Glentoran’s final league match of last season, Sule will go directly into Ballymena’s squad.
McGrory made 160 appearances for Ballymena, coming up against Sule on a number of occasions, and the 34-year-old believes he can make an instant impact.
"It's a massive statement,” he said. “If they get the same player that we all seen playing for Larne and Glentoran, that would be massive for Ballymena.
"I played against him a lot of times. People who don't understand football won't see what he does for your team.
"He doesn't go and win games by scoring goals, but he holds that pivot in midfield and breaks up so much play.
"He restarts play for his team and I thought anytime we played against him he was quality. He does all of the basics very well and that's what makes him such a great player.
"His experience will be vital going in there. Some of the other players they've brought in have been pure quality so they could go on a run here and find themselves competing for the top-six.
"There's not much between teams so if they go on a run they could find themselves in a European play-off spot. If you're on a run, playing well and winning, that can be hard to stop."
Having suffered Irish Cup and League Cup elimination to Larne and Linfield respectively over the past 10 days, Ballymena will now focus solely on Premiership matters.
There’s currently a gap of seven points between Kearney’s men and Carrick Rangers, who moved into sixth following Tuesday’s 3-2 league win over Bangor at Taylors Avenue.
Seventh-placed Cliftonville are six better off, but have played two less matches, in the race to seal a final European play-off position.
With a number of high-profile arrivals across recent transfer windows, McGrory believes there’s more pressure to climb the league table – but Ballymena have the squad to achieve it.
"With all the new signings coming to the league, the money is getting higher and these players are coming in for higher wages,” he added. “The demands are there then, you have to perform and you have to win.
"The quality is there in Ballymena's squad and it's up to the players now to make sure they go out and perform and try to get into the top-six."