Whittingham used to be the first one on the team sheet

There was a time the first name on any Cardiff City Premier League team-sheet would have been Peter Whittingham. But things are not quite so clear any more.

In the six-and a-half seasons the mercurial midfielder has spent in the Welsh capital he has typically been garlanded as one of the finest players outside the top flight.

The former England Under-21 international has actually been handed that accolade in the past.

As the Bluebirds got close to promotion in recent campaigns only to agonisingly miss out it was always regarded as a shame that the 28-year-old would not get the chance to perform on the stage on which many believed he belonged.

Under former boss Dave Jones, Whittingham was the dynamo at the heart of everything the Bluebirds did, the arch-creator, able to devastate Championship defences with a single nonchalant pass.

His set-piece play was legendary and then there were the goals, too, plenty of them, with Whittingham becoming joint top scorer in the division in the 2009-2010 season.

It seemed barely a transfer window opened without Whittingham being linked with a move away from Cardiff to a top-flight club, but each time he rejected the advances, often putting pen to paper on a new Bluebirds deal.

The midfielder has always insisted his dream was to play in the top flight – with Cardiff – and now that dream has come true.

But suddenly there are doubts surrounding the role Whittingham will play at Cardiff next season.

After being an ever-present figure season in and season out, in Malky Mackay’s first campaign Whittingham played an incredible 55 games. But at the end of the triumphant season just gone, the once unthinkable occurred and Whittingham was dropped.

Following defeat at Peterborough on the Easter weekend, Whittingham found himself on the bench for the visit of Blackburn two days later.

It seemed indifferent performances and, tellingly, no goals since October, had finally caught up with him.

It came as a shock to many, but reflecting on a brilliant campaign boss Mackay is in little doubt it was a decision he had to make.



“The reason he was out was because of form, just like any other player. There was nothing different about his situation,” said Mackay.

“Peter had a huge part to play throughout the season and he remained a huge part of why we got promoted.

“The last few games, though, the form slightly dipped and the difference was that we now have a group of players that mean someone can come in and so someone goes out.

“When you look at it, that happened throughout the season. When players dipped another immediately came in and kicked on. The team was freshened up throughout the whole season.”

There is little doubt, as Mackay points out, that despite failing to start what proved a historic run of seven games at the end of the campaign, Whittingham was a major contributor when it came to clinching the Championship.

He finished as joint second top scorer alongside Heidar Helguson with eight strikes and early on in particular he showed the sparkle that has thrilled the Cardiff faithful so often down the years.

Indeed, once more he was named by his fellow professionals in the PFA Championship team of the season.

The question now, though, is can Whittingham prosper in the Premier League next season?

Contrary to perception, the midfielder does have quite a bit of top-flight experience under his belt, having made 32 Premier League starts for former club Aston Villa.

But the crux of the matter right now does not seem to be whether Whittingham can rise to the occasion, but rather will he be given the chance with Cardiff to show what he can do?

At the end of the season it was a couple of young players who came in to the Cardiff side and who helped see them over the promotion finishing line with a bit of style.

South Korean international Kim Bo-Kyung is just 23, but as history beckoned he brought fresh impetus with a series of bravura showings.

Jordon Mutch is even younger at 21, but he, too, stepped in, bringing a poise and maturity that belied his tender years.

Irrespective of who might arrive this summer, there are already two players in the Cardiff squad who have proved they can put real pressure on Whittingham’s place in the starting XI.

Mackay himself insists his enigmatic star will play a major part as the Bluebirds do battle in the top flight for the first time in more half a century.

Although the Cardiff boss admits that Whittingham, like all of his players, is going to need to take things to the next level if they are going to prosper next term.

“Peter is one of my most creative players. I wouldn’t say he was my most, but he is certainly one of my most creative players,” added Mackay.

“He has a big part to play for us next season.

But, like everyone else, he has to step up and meet the challenge of the next level.”

“They all have to discover what they can do to make the step up to the Premier.

“They must pick up the challenge of actually going to the Premier League.”

Personally I dont think Peter Whittingham will be good enough in the Premier League and will be just a squad player. Also Whitts goes missing on the big games and usually fades during a season.

OPINIONS

The joys have having a strong squad! The story is right, dropping Whitts would have been unthinkable once, but with the options in the squad we had this season Malky made the right decision in dropping him, could have dropped him sooner in fact.

I'd love to see him playing well in the premiership next season, I don't think it's a guarantee that we will though, he needs to find that flair again, fingers crossed for him.

No chance, Whittingham will be one of the first names on the team sheet
Again next season!
His set plays will be vital for us! And the ability to pick a pass.

i agree with annis...

i believe that whitts will only be good enough to be a squad player... bellamy and kimbos corners were much better than whitts who struggled to beat the first man on a corner when he came on..

for me whitts slows the game down too much and when we lose possession is no where to be seen off the ball..

i think he will be used as a sub and will only get a start in maybe the cup games.

Whitts will need to find the form he lost he should have been dropped weeks before he actually was dropped.
Maybe if Malky had done that earlier in the season Whitts may have bucked his idea's up and got his form back.
As said above unless this happens he will only be a squad player with the odd appearance here and there.

i agree with annis...

i believe that whitts will only be good enough to be a squad player... bellamy and kimbos corners were much better than whitts who struggled to beat the first man on a corner when he came on..

for me whitts slows the game down too much and when we lose possession is no where to be seen off the ball..

i think he will be used as a sub and will only get a start in maybe the cup games.

You've got to be kidding!
Go back and have a look, the corner from the right which he takes, would cause havoc,
Usually landing on the guys head at the back post!

This article has to be written by the f**kwit Tucker who has spent the last 6 years trying to sell Peter Whittingham to any Premier League club who may, or more likely, may not be interested.

Now we are in the Premier League the idiot is writing articles that suggest he may not even get in the team, if it wasn't for the fact this is from Walesonline and probably Tucker you couldn't make it up.

In my opinion PW remains the best midfield player at the club who has an absolute wand of a left foot. It will cost £m's to bring a player into the squad with anywhere near his ability and right now before we sign any players Whitts and Kim Bo Keung will be sharing the CM creative role in the team.

No other player can deliver from set pieces like Whittingham, no other player has the range of passing like Whittingham, no other player has the shooting accuracy of Whittingham.

In my opinion he will more often than not start games and rightly so.

i agree with annis...

i believe that whitts will only be good enough to be a squad player... bellamy and kimbos corners were much better than whitts who struggled to beat the first man on a corner when he came on..

for me whitts slows the game down too much and when we lose possession is no where to be seen off the ball..

i think he will be used as a sub and will only get a start in maybe the cup games.

You've got to be kidding!
Go back and have a look, the corner from the right which he takes, would cause havoc,
Usually landing on the guys head at the back post!

usually pin point yes.... he would normally stick them right under the cross bar causing problems.... but the last couple of games when he came on, they wernt his usual standard... and he failed to beat the 1st man on a number of occasions.
im putting that down to prob lack of first team action...

theres no doubting whitts ability and accuracy, however i dont feel he will be in the starting xi....

This article has to be written by the f**kwit Tucker who has spent the last 6 years trying to sell Peter Whittingham to any Premier League club who may, or more likely, may not be interested.

Now we are in the Premier League the idiot is writing articles that suggest he may not even get in the team, if it wasn't for the fact this is from Walesonline and probably Tucker you couldn't make it up.

In my opinion PW remains the best midfield player at the club who has an absolute wand of a left foot. It will cost £m's to bring a player into the squad with anywhere near his ability and right now before we sign any players Whitts and Kim Bo Keung will be sharing the CM creative role in the team.

No other player can deliver from set pieces like Whittingham, no other player has the range of passing like Whittingham, no other player has the shooting accuracy of Whittingham.

In my opinion he will more often than not start games and rightly so.

Couldn't agree more. Some of our fans views on players are a joke at times,
Ask Watford or Palace they'd love to have Whittingham or teams at the lower end of the prem!

Being dropped will have done him a huge favour as along with the summer he will have had a long rest which was overdue as we could all see how jaded he looked, I think he will still be with us next season but will not get much game time so it's up to him to get himself back in or move on and that depends on which Witts comes back for pre-season.

He had a very poor run of form towards the end of the season. You can't dismis him now we are going into the prem.

Whitts will be in my fantasy football team next season, I think he's gonna scores few goals for us.

No coincidence we hardly won any games when he was out of the team. Hmmmmmm.

This article has to be written by the f**kwit Tucker who has spent the last 6 years trying to sell Peter Whittingham to any Premier League club who may, or more likely, may not be interested.

Now we are in the Premier League the idiot is writing articles that suggest he may not even get in the team, if it wasn't for the fact this is from Walesonline and probably Tucker you couldn't make it up.

In my opinion PW remains the best midfield player at the club who has an absolute wand of a left foot. It will cost £m's to bring a player into the squad with anywhere near his ability and right now before we sign any players Whitts and Kim Bo Keung will be sharing the CM creative role in the team.
No other player can deliver from set pieces like Whittingham, no other player has the range of passing like Whittingham, no other player has the shooting accuracy of Whittingham.
In my opinion he will more often than not start games and rightly so.

Hear f*cking hear.

Cant believe some of the comments I read on here at times.

No coincidence we hardly won any games when he was out of the team. Hmmmmmm.

polo we also, didnt have a tidy striker towards the last month of april.


whitts on his day is superb theres no doubting that, but he def needed to be dropped and the first game we played when he was dropped we beat blackburn 3-0, followed by a 0-0 away to watford and then a 3-0 home win over forest. when whitts was out of form a little we lost to pboro, lost to boro and drew with derby and leicester.. he def needed to be rested.

at the beginning of the season lets remember the hatrick at home against wolves.. whitts was on the edge of the box and in a more advanced position he was class... i think whitts form really depends on where he plays.. if hes sitting deep hes uneffective, if hes more advanced hes superb.

I laugh at some of these comments on here.

He was being played in a defensive role and everyone could see that.

He was 'out of form' what a load of boll*ck.

Malky played him in his right role v Wolves and he scored and hat trick.

His set piece is second to none and is fantastic.

He was being played in the wrong position and he was knackered.

If you lot think he has lost confidence and that then you are deluded.

We know Whittingham is creative so why put him in a role where you got to defend and work you're boll*ck off.

This board is in serious delusion.

Another thing which I believe affected Whitts this year was that for the last 3 seasons no other outfield player has played more minutes in League matches. This season only Andrew Taylor put in more minutes in League matches. Out of position, heavily marked by the opposition and simple tiredness all contributed to a drop off in form from Whitts.


I know it's a cliche but what do people say about form and class well Whitts is pure class.

Another thing which I believe affected Whitts this year was that for the last 3 seasons no other outfield player has played more minutes in League matches. This season only Andrew Taylor put in more minutes in League matches. Out of position, heavily marked by the opposition and simple tiredness all contributed to a drop off in form from Whitts.


I know it's a cliche but what do people say about form and class well Whitts is pure class.

Here here.

People were crying about it after Bristol away and MM put him in attacking role v Wolves now people are just saying he has gone poor.. baffles me.

He'll be in our starting team next season.

People have short memories. He ran the show for us in the first half of the season and I still think he's one of our best players alongside Kim and Bellamy.

Kimbo had a strong end to the season and is a gem of a player but he would've burnt out if he was doing everything Whitts was doing up until Jan/Feb too.

PW will return. Hopefully further forward.

HE DOES WANT HE WANTS

Pre Season will be good for him like last years he was fantastic, goals and just playing a class role in midfield.

Mutch coming back the way he did was fantastic. Him and KIM in the centre with different styles of play worked well.

Personally I dont think Peter Whittingham will be good enough in the Premier League and will be just a squad player. Also Whitts goes missing on the big games and usually fades during a season.

OPINIONS

More time on the ball, not a rough tackling situation as in the Championship. should Whitts get back in the team I think we will see some of the best form from him.

The summer off will do him the world of good, my only concern is a story I have heard from a builder mate of mine who has worked on his house. He has spent loads doing it up only to put it up for sale. Is he going?

The summer off will do him the world of good, my only concern is a story I have heard from a builder mate of mine who has worked on his house. He has spent loads doing it up only to put it up for sale. Is he going?

The summer off will do him the world of good, my only concern is a story I have heard from a builder mate of mine who has worked on his house. He has spent loads doing it up only to put it up for sale. Is he going?

Shocking really all this. Some people have short memories. Whitts has been and still is one of our best players - unfortunately not under Malky tho unless he wakes up. He is playing him in totally the wrong position...every man and his dog can see it. Whitts needs to be pushed up the field with Gunnar playing that deeper role. I actually think with more time on the ball that you get in the Prem Whitts will be well great.

I laugh at some of these comments on here.

He was being played in a defensive role and everyone could see that.

He was 'out of form' what a load of boll*ck.

Malky played him in his right role v Wolves and he scored and hat trick.

His set piece is second to none and is fantastic.

He was being played in the wrong position and he was knackered.

If you lot think he has lost confidence and that then you are deluded.

We know Whittingham is creative so why put him in a role where you got to defend and work you're boll*ck off.

This board is in serious delusion.

Whitts still should be the 3rd names on the teamsheet (after Kimbo and Marshall)

It doesn't help his cause when he's played in totally the wrong position by his manager.
He's not a central defender and his tackling is on a par with Scholes.
What he is however is a superb dead ball specialist and and goal scoring "attacking" midfielder.
He was up our main threat.
There are not many other better strikers of a ball in the City side.
Cannot understand why MM doesn't play Kimbo in the "distribution" role and let Whitts do what he does best (what he wants)
Kimbo can retain the ball with his trickery... can pick a pass... and can tackle.

Should get Arthur C Clarke to investigate.

i agree with annis...

i believe that whitts will only be good enough to be a squad player... bellamy and kimbos corners were much better than whitts who struggled to beat the first man on a corner when he came on..

for me whitts slows the game down too much and when we lose possession is no where to be seen off the ball..

i think he will be used as a sub and will only get a start in maybe the cup games.

You've got to be kidding!
Go back and have a look, the corner from the right which he takes, would cause havoc,
Usually landing on the guys head at the back post!

Football is more than being able to take a corner. My worry with whitts is his pace and movement, if your playing in the prem you got to be able to move in the middle.

i agree with annis...

i believe that whitts will only be good enough to be a squad player... bellamy and kimbos corners were much better than whittswho struggled to beat the first man on a corner when he came on..

for me whitts slows the game down too much and when we lose possession is no where to be seen off the ball..

i think he will be used as a sub and will only get a start in maybe the cup games.

i thought kims corners were shocking!

I laugh at some of these comments on here.

He was being played in a defensive role and everyone could see that.

He was 'out of form' what a load of boll*ck.

Malky played him in his right role v Wolves and he scored and hat trick.

His set piece is second to none and is fantastic.

He was being played in the wrong position and he was knackered.

If you lot think he has lost confidence and that then you are deluded.

We know Whittingham is creative so why put him in a role where you got to defend and work you're boll*ck off.

This board is in serious delusion.

Whitts still should be the 3rd names on the teamsheet (after Kimbo and Marshall)

It doesn't help his cause when he's played in totally the wrong position by his manager.
He's not a central defender and his tackling is on a par with Scholes.
What he is however is a superb dead ball specialist and and goal scoring "attacking" midfielder.
He was up our main threat.
There are not many other better strikers of a ball in the City side.
Cannot understand why MM doesn't play Kimbo in the "distribution" role and let Whitts do what he does best (what he wants)
Kimbo can retain the ball with his trickery... can pick a pass... and can tackle.

Should get Arthur C Clarke to investigate.

Because Kim is quicker and can move about. He would be utterly wasted playing deeper. The best player for that role is Gunners

His set pieces alone will get him into the team next season unless we get someone with a left foot like his (Chris Brunt?) At the moment he is by far the best we have, Kimbo and Bellamy are no where close. Once he peters out I would not be surprised if Kim takes over, as seems to be the case this season.

Once the spark has gone from the midfield, bring on the Korean mastermind to shake things up.