Ireland<\/a> international and hero of last November\u2019s World Cup qualifier wins over Portugal and Hungary has been on Betis fans\u2019 wish-list for a while.<\/p>\n\u201cThere was a lot of excitement (when he signed),\u201d said Martin. \u201cPeople were absolutely overjoyed, because his name had been on the table\u2026 they\u2019d been talking about him since December.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know the way the media create a type of expectation. Then for it to come to fruition, I think people felt a certain amount of relief, because he was the guy they wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat he was able to come here and you could see, from his part, he did whatever was in his ability to make it happen, people really appreciate that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome footballers, in the end it\u2019s the bottom line, that\u2019s all they are interested in.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut regarding Troy, you could see his reaction. He was in the stands for the first home match and he got it, he understood that it\u2019s a very special club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt works differently here. People are very passionate. If you get it, if you understand the essence of the club, people will see it. It\u2019s not something you can fake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin has some advice for Parrott if he wants to make the most of his time in Spain.<\/p>\n
Seville is one of Europe\u2019s most beautiful cities, with plenty of attractions and some of the finest casual dining, with tapas bars on almost every street.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of festivals for Parrott and his family to enjoy too, once his football schedule allows for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Moorish Palace, the Alcazar, is a wonder. It\u2019s a must-see,\u201d said Martin. \u201cAnd all visitors go to the Cathedral.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what people really enjoy here is that the city itself is a living monument, and you can walk around and soak up the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what is very important is to get into the lifestyle of how the people here are.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s different as a professional footballer and that that requires of you, but people here spend a lot of time in the streets, it\u2019s a very sociable place. So get to know the people.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning the language is also very important to how you are perceived. You can get on (with English), but as a foreigner who has lived here for a long time, it opens up different dimensions of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Seville, what they are most proud of is their Feria in April, their Spring Fair. It started off as a horse fair, but now it\u2019s a massive beer drinking, dancing, music festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are enormously proud of Easter too, the religious processions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pure street theater with bands and really old statues on very ornate platforms, with wrought iron and candles, nighttime processions, swaying to the music. This drives people absolutely\u2026 it pushes all their buttons.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to enjoy the climate too. They\u2019ve come from the Netherlands, where their weather would be similar to the Irish weather. There are some great towns to visit too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lifestyle here can be absolutely fantastic. It\u2019s very hard to settle into a northern European lifestyle after you have lived here for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin would love to welcome Parrott into his bar some day – and he is itching to get his hands on a signed jersey.<\/p>\n
He already has a spot in mind for the shirt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019d put it on the stairway as you are coming up. It’s a prime place and it\u2019s an empty wall at the minute. It\u2019s begging for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Troy Parrott\u2019s arrival has delighted both Seville\u2019s Irish community and fans of his new club Real Betis. 16:05,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2413,5033,3358,30238,1139,30237,327,722,109,28197],"class_list":["post-80723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seville","tag-az-alkmaar","tag-dublin","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-plus","tag-real-betis","tag-republic-of-ireland-national-football-team","tag-sevilla","tag-sevilla-fc","tag-seville","tag-troy-parrott"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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