Fordyce had other NASL offers, but says he wanted to remain loyal to FC Edmonton

Daryl Fordyce, left, is congratulated by his teammates.

In the three years he’d spent with FC Edmonton, Daryl Fordyce became the club’s all-time leading scorer.

And, while he did have offers from other NASL clubs after his contract expired at the end of the 2015 season, he decided that he wanted to add to his record tally rather than switch shirts.

“There was some interest out there for me,” Fordyce said Thursday over the phone from Belfast. “There was interest from other NASL teams and elsewhere.”

But the reason he decided to re-sign with the Eddies — which he did earlier in the week — was simple. Loyalty. He felt that the club and coach Colin Miller had helped his career, and he didn’t feel it was right to walk away from Edmonton if the Eddies wanted him back.

“I’ve been with the team for three years. And, through my career I have remained loyal to the people who have been good to me. Colin and FC Edmonton have been good to me, and I want to make the playoffs with FC Edmonton. We haven’t done that in the time I’ve been here, and that’s one of my ambitions.

“I really enjoy training. I enjoy coming to work. And that’s something you have to look at, if you enjoy going to work every day, is it worth taking the chance to go somewhere else.”

So, as for the goal of the playoffs, Fordyce identified a couple of key areas where the club needs to improve. In the past two seasons, the club has endured poor spring seasons, leaving a lot of ground to make up in the overall standings. And, he noted that while the Eddies fared pretty well against the likes of Minnesota, New York and Tampa Bay, they struggled against teams at the bottom of the table.

“We didn’t have a good start to the season, and we were hurt by a few injuries and some of the international call-ups came at a bad time. But, Jacksonville finished at the bottom of the table — and we didn’t beat them this year. When I played in Northern Ireland, the ‘big four’ teams knew that when they played the teams at the bottom, that was where the league was won. If you played in a top-of-the-table match one week, then had to play someone at the bottom the next week, you knew that you’d have to give 110 per cent or else you could lose your place.”