Derry City to turn pro

Derry City have unveiled plans to turn the club professional.

The eircom League premier division side, who this week appointed Stephen Kenny as their full-time manager, want to turn their club fully professional. Club chairman Jim Roddy said the decision was the only way City would be able to compete with the likes of full-time Dublin club Shelbourne.

"It's going to take a lot of hard work," Roddy said. "It's also going to take an awful lot of money. It's up to the board and people around the club to go out and work to make this dream become a reality."

In recent seasons the Brandywell club have staged money-spinning friendlies against Real Madrid, Manchester United, Celtic and Barcelona just to stay afloat and Roddy added: ''Somebody asked a few years ago whether we could keep Derry City going. We'll we kept it going.

"Now we are prepared to work our socks off to make sure that we can bring Derry up to the same level that Shelbourne are at now."