Lancaster City have, today, signed midfielder Brad Carroll on a one year deal. The former Workington star, along with City boss Mark Fell, took the time today to exclusively chat with LCFC Media to discuss his move to the Dolly Blues.

Lancaster City’s new signing, Brad Carroll:

This is obviously an exciting moment, how happy are you to sign for Lancaster City and what drew you to our club?

I’m absolutely delighted to sign for the club, I’m looking forward to playing under Mark and the coaching staff. I already know a few of the lads there and the direction that the club is going is a massive plus so I’m excited for the new challenge and to hopefully hit the ground running when the season starts.

How would you describe yourself as a player and what will you bring to the team?

I’d describe myself as a bit of an old school player. I love doing the horrible side of the game but can bring my quality on the ball when needed. I love both sides of the game - attacking and getting forward, being involved with the goals, but also the defending side, putting your body on the line for the team.

You’ve played at Giant Axe already this year in a friendly - what did you think of the stadium and the fans who will now be supporting you?

I’ve played at Giant Axe a few times now and I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere and the ground itself every time I’ve been. I’m really looking forward to playing there week in week out and hopefully achieving success. At Workington, I loved the fans so I’m hoping I can bring that feeling and connection with me coming into this club. Overall, I’m delighted to be on board and looking forward to a tough pre-season and getting the season underway!

Lancaster City manager, Mark Fell:

Mark, this is obviously a great piece of news for the club, tell us your immediate reaction and how happy are you to get the deal done?

We’re really pleased to get it done, and Brad's one of a couple of key targets this summer. We’ve identified the areas we wanted to strengthen and improve and Brad was at the top of the list, so the fact that we’ve managed to get it over the line, especially since he’s had offers from elsewhere, says a lot about the direction we’re going in and the improvements we want to make, so we’re really pleased that we’ve got him on board.

You mentioned that he’s had offers from other clubs, what do you think it is about our club that has drawn him here?

We had some time together and talked through the club’s plans, the way we want to progress the club and I think it’s quite easy to see the improvements we’re making on and off the pitch at the moment, and I think Brad wants to be part of that as well. Ultimately, I think we tick a lot of boxes for him and he certainly does that for us.

You’ve talked about this a little already, but is Brad Carroll someone you’ve been looking at for a while to come into the club?

Yeah, he absolutely is. We probably had him watched three or four times last year and I watched him personally a couple of times. We obviously work on a long list of potential targets throughout the season and at the end of the season, so he’s always been on our radar as someone we’ve constantly heard great things about, and not just about how a good a player he is but we want the right characters at the football club, and he’s a winner who has an edge to him. When we sat down and looked at what we needed, we were talking about Brad Carroll fairly quickly.

Where do you see Brad Carroll fitting into the side and what can he bring to the team from your point of view?

He’s a different player from what we have at the moment. Obviously, we’ve lost Simon Wills but he will give us that bit of tenacity and strength in midfield when we need it. He can play, he’s got great ability, we can start attacks through him and he’ll give us a great platform for retaining the ball. Beyond this, he’s going to give us the option to play a different way because he’s technically proficient and pops up with goals from midfield. You can use him as a centre-half if you have to, so he gives us lots of different options. I’ve no doubt that he’ll come into this division and our side and be a really important player next season.