Sydney FC winger Joe Lolley has revealed he bypassed his agent to secure a move from English club Nottingham Forest to the Sky Blues in 2022.
A guest on former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster’s podcast, The Fozcast, Lolley disclosed the details of his transfer to the Sky Blues – a transfer that began with an Instagram message to then-Sydney striker and fellow Englishman Adam Le Fondre.
Lolley was just 29 when he made the move Down Under from Forest, bidding farewell to the club where he’d made more than 230 appearances in four years.
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Forest had just sealed promotion to the Premier League but Lolley had his mind set on an overseas transfer, to play outside of England for the first time in his career.
Speaking on The Fozcast, Lolley explained how his agent’s attempts to secure a transfer to another English club were in vain, as the prospect of an Australian adventure quickly became Lolley’s first priority.
“When I got to about 29, I’d been in the Championship for pretty much my whole career, and I was just like, I’m done. I was a bit tired of it,” Lolley said.
“I had options; there were clubs like Preston and Sunderland. I was just not interested. I was at Nottingham and I loved it there. It was about an hour from home, great mates, I loved the life and felt really at home.
“I couldn’t see myself going up north, going away from everything. I think it was a little bit like, unless Coventry comes in, do you know what? I fancy doing something really different.
“I always wanted to play abroad, I always wanted to see what it’s like in different cultures. My mate lived in Sydney and said it was unbelievable, so I thought, why not?
“Adam Le Fondre, I didn’t know him personally but I spoke to him before I came out. I just thought, it’s now or never.
“My agent was like, (this club) is interested. I don’t think he knew deep down that I was done, I didn’t want to play in the Championship again. We’d just got promoted to the Premier League with Forest and (I thought) it’d be a nice way to finish.
“I messaged Adam Le Fondre on Instagram and said, ‘do you reckon Sydney would be interested?’
“He messaged the club… the CEO rang me within an hour and said, ‘We’d love to have you’. And we just went from there, really.”
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Lolley initially joined the Sky Blues on a two-year deal in mid-2022, but with six months left on his initial contract, the Englishman put pen to paper on a fresh two-year extension set to run to the end of the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 campaign.
“I didn’t even use (my agent),” Lolley explained, reflecting on his initial negotiations with the Sky Blues.
“I’m really good mates with my old agent, I still get on with him really well but I said, ‘I’ll do this deal’.”
Three years later, Lolley is loving his new life in Australia, where he’s made 79 Isuzu UTE A-League appearances for the Sky Blues.
When asked by Foster what his message would be to any English footballers pondering a move Down Under, Lolley replied: “Go for it.
“You just don’t get these opportunities in life to experience new cultures and different places. It’s realistically somewhere I can spend the rest of my life.”
Watch the full interview below.
