Walesonline
Sun July 13th 2014
Terry Phillips
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/foot ... er-7414896?
Ben Turner has a message for Cardiff City players still pondering their futures, saying: “It’s time to get our minds on the season ahead.”
A number of the Bluebirds squad, including Steven Caulker, Gary Medel and Fraizer Campbell, are still uncertain where they will be playing next season with Cardiff’s first Championship match less than a month away.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes his squad to Austria for their pre-season tour on Thursday and centre-half Turner says: “Certain players have their contracts structured in a way which means they are able to talk to other clubs.
“I can’t speak for anybody but myself, but my contract is not structured that way and I am focused on Cardiff City. Those lads need to sort out where they are going to be next season.
“Until they are committed to which club they are going to play for it’s not easy for them to have their mind on the job.”
Centre-half Caulker, who played alongside Turner last season and was Cardiff captain, is being linked with a move back to London, either to Queens Park Rangers or Crystal Palace.
“It would be a big boost for Cardiff to keep Steven,” said Turner. “But his agent and the people around him structured his contract so that if we were relegated he could move back to the Premier League.
“He is probably going to have that option.”
Inter Milan are keen to sign Medel, who is at home in Chile having treatment on a thigh injury sustained in the World Cup, while Campbell, who has been training with the Bluebirds, has had talks with Leicester City and Crystal Palace.
Cardiff’s first Championship match is at Blackburn Rovers on Friday, August 8 and by then Turner could yet have a new partner at the heart of Cardiff’s defence by then. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still keen to add one more defender to his squad - and will push ahead with that quest over the next couple of weeks.
'We're over last season'
The 6ft 4ins Turner captained Cardiff during the first half of Cardiff’s 1-1 draw against Bath City away, playing alongside Matt Connolly.
Painful memories of Cardiff’s Premier League relegation last season are fading, but Turner says they won’t go completely.
“We are over last season, we have to be,” he says. “But it’s also true you don’t want too many disappointments in your career and it is in the back of our minds to drive us on to where we want to be.
“Until I came to Cardiff City I would not have dreamed of playing Premier League football. Since I came to this club, though, I have been part of teams to play in the play-offs, a League Cup final at Wembley Stadium and gone up to the Premier League.
“I would not swap the experience of playing there for anything and I want to be there again. We will push and do everything we can to get there, but it’s going to be a hard season ahead. A different kind of hard from the Premier League, but still extremely tough.
“The lads who have not been involved in the Championship before need to be ready. The margins between the two divisions are not huge. Quality wise it is a small step. There are more matches and the Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday routine puts demands on players.
“I’ve heard a lot about who will be favourites to go up. It’s going to be as wide open as ever. We are certainly not clear favourites, but we are among those clubs who have a chance. I agree with that.
“During the season we went up as champions we were among the favourites and did well.
“This season is a new challenge, but we are up for it and are ready to give everything we’ve got.”