Crystal Palace have announced the signing of attacking midfielder Stephen Dobbie from rivals Brighton for an undisclosed fee.
Dobbie, 30, has signed a two-year deal at Selhurst Park after impressing during a four-month loan stay at Palace last season, in which he made 15 appearances and scored three goals as they won the Championship play-off final.
The Scot not only won promotion last season, but also helped Swansea into the Premier League in the 2010-11 campaign.
He is looking forward to the chance to work with Palace manager Ian Holloway again, who took charge of him at Blackpool.
I m delighted. Obviously I ve worked with the gaffer a number of times and there was no problem with that, Dobbie told Palace Player.
A lot of people don t see the side to the gaffer that we do – on the pitch, on the training field, on the bus and in the changing room.
We know what he s like and we know how good he is tactically. You just have to look at the play-off semi-finals and the final, how the boys played the way he wanted and we got the right result. I m sure he ll be buzzing and raring to go.
I enjoyed my football last season here and I like to think I had a part in helping the team getting promoted. But it s a new season now, that s in the past. We ve just got to get ready in pre-season and get ready for that first game.
Dobbie arrived in England in 2009 after a prolific stint at Scottish First Division outfit Queen of the South, and he initially linked up with Swansea.
He has managed just eight Premier League appearances in his five years in England and is relishing the opportunity to play in the top-flight.
It s every player s dream, especially in the Championship…they want to be playing in the Premier League, he added.
You go away and have a nice holiday, but still in the back of your mind, you ve only got four weeks off, so maybe in a week and a half, you re going to know who you re playing in that first game.
Then you start to look through all the other fixtures. I think we ve got Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea all away in our first games against them, so the second part of the season will be exciting, especially for the fans.
