Manager reflects on signing Olejnik
After the signing of goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik on Tuesday, Grecians manager Paul Tisdale spoke of his delight at being able to welcome the Austrian into the Exeter City squad.The stopper spent three years on the books at Peterborough – being named the Posh’s Player of the Year in 2013/14 as he kept 22 clean sheets, and winning the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – and his final year was spent on loan with Scunthorpe and York.
Following his release from London Road at the end of last season, he has become the third player to sign with Exeter this summer, following the arrival of Manny Oyeleke and the capture of Lee Holmes after his loan spell at St James Park last season.
Tis felt that Olejnik’s arrival is a statement of intent and of the Grecians’ ambition for the forthcoming season.
“We are very pleased with Bobby’s signing for a number of reasons,” Paul said. “We have got two very good young goalkeepers and it gives us a nice department there.
“Bobby is a goalkeeper at the perfect age – he has good experience and a very good pedigree. He comes in to compete and to raise the level of that department within our team, and we have got very high expectations of the quality that he’ll bring to the team.
“We have to try to build a team which is capable of moving up a level, and to get promoted you need players that are capable of performing to the top of the league and often to the league above. Bobby is one of those.
“I think it shows the intent we have at the moment. It is the first time in three or four years where we’ve had a summer where we’ve been able to look at recruiting players into the squad and raise the mean average of the performance levels.
“Bobby ticks so many boxes – he was high on our list and we’ve very pleased that we’ve persuaded him to come to Exeter.”
Olejnik is already well-regarded in Devon for a fine season with Torquay United in 2011/12. He helped the Gulls to a play-off place that year, and by keeping 20 clean sheets that season he broke a club record which dated back half a century.
Paul revealed that his admiration for the goalkeeper has been going since then, and that he is glad to have got his man.
“We’ve noticed him when we played against Peterborough and York, but I think what stuck in our mind was his time at Torquay,” Paul continued.
“We were in League 1 at the time and he was in League 2, but they are on our doorstep and we’d often watch games down there – we always looked at him as a really good goalkeeper.
“There was no surprise that he commanded a transfer fee to move to Peterborough, and did well there. But what stuck in our mind was how well he had done at Torquay – he had a real presence about him – that’s something we remember.
“He has learned more since then and has added things to his game, and we’re hoping that we can add more. We hope that we can make him a signing that is going to elevate ourselves and that we can both benefit out of this.”
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