Why Peter Whittingham will go down as one of the true Cardif

Thursday 17th July 2014

A good servant but for me not quite a great.

After Peter Whittingham signed a new three-year contract with the Bluebirds, STEVE TUCKER argues he deserves a place among the club’s great.

There are those who, quite understandably, regard modern football as rubbish and see the game’s current players as rampant egomaniacs only in it for the cash.

Yet the news Peter Whittingham has inked a new three-year deal with the Bluebirds should restore just a little faith.

The magical midfielder has now committed himself to the capital club until the summer of 2017, more than decade after he arrived in the Welsh capital for a bargain £350,000 from Aston Villa.

The club of course has plenty of players embedded in its folklore. Brian Clark, John Buchanan, Fred Keenor and the rest, but many of them mean little to current supporters, particularly the club’s life-blood, its younger fans. For them the club’s giants are often just shadows see in grainy black and white, names uttered in awe by parents and grandparents on match days.

But Whittingham is real, Whittingham is current, his magic is easy to see in glorious colour, in vivid HD and most importantly live in the flesh.

At just 29 he is already starting to trouble the Bluebirds’ record books. Goals? Whittingham’s 79 sees him 10th on the list of Cardiff’s all-time scorers behind the likes of number one Len Davies and, the nearest thing to a modern day Bluebirds legend, Robert Earnshaw in second or the under-appreciated Carl Dale in third.

Those goals have come in 340 appearances which again puts him tenth in the all time reckoning. It is a roll of honour headed by ‘Mr Cardiff City’ himself Dwyer on 531. Whittingham will not trouble that, but with potentially three more seasons ahead of him it is conceivable he could still rub shoulders with kings like Alf Sherwood, Keenor and Don Murray.

Such company would be fitting as there is something resolutely old-fashioned about the midfielder. Sure, he sparkles in the cut and thrust of the modern game, but there is a laid-back element to Whittingham, a distaste for pomp and attention, that perhaps belongs in a more genteel age.

There is an honesty about Whittingham too. These days interviews with the media are tepid affairs in football, often image conscious exercises in PR futility. Many times last season, after another poor Bluebirds’ performance, those linked to the club would talk of bad luck, of decisions gone awry, there was a desire to shift the blame. Whittingham though would come ambling out of the dressing room and when questioned would admit: “The problem was we were rubbish, well I was rubbish anyway.” It is the sort of candidness, the sort of honesty which disarms and impresses.

Where Whittingham does his real talking though is on the pitch. A curling free-kick nestling in the top-corner is poetry without the need for words, a defence splitting pass a sonnet of geometry.

But to talk of Whittingham as a story told, as a figure for those dusty record books is a mistake. The new contract was not bestowed out of sentimentality. The midfielder has a future at Cardiff and a big role to play this coming season as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men look to thrive in the Championship and ease the hurt of their last campaign.

Last season was one perhaps Whittingham himself will be keen to put behind him. He made 30 Premier League starts and scored three goals, with the best of them his lethal finish to a sweeping move to earn a draw at Hull early on, but, of course, it proved not enough.

Whittingham has so often been heralded ‘the best player outside the Premier League’ and if his shot at the top-flight proved problematic it will now be time to reclaim his title when the Championship kicks-off next month.

Whilst players come and players go in the Welsh capital it looks certain Solskjaer will once more turn to Whittingham to sprinkle that touch of magic dust in his midfield. It is a natural choice, Whittingham knows the best way to prise open even the most stubborn Championship defences and his delivery from corners and mesmeric efforts from free-kicks have proved the difference for the Bluebirds over the last seven years and more.


A big challenge ahead... It is a big season for Cardiff and a big season for Whittingham too, but you know he will be ready for the call as always. Beneath the laid-back exterior lies a strong and determined heart. He has been written off, dumped out of the side, only to come storming back to answer his critics in the best way possible.

The man who experienced the heart-break of the Bluebirds trying top reach the Championship down the years, then the disappointment when they were actually there, will still want to prove a few people wrong. The Bluebirds latest adventure is nearing and Whittingham will be up for the challenge of that have no doubt. After all, he has just signed up for it.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/foot ... ne-7448342

Whitts is class in the Championship and can win a game with his set plays & delivery

He has never had his head turned by the lure of the bright lights (like Chops & Boothroyd) so credit to him for being a level headed bloke.

He divides opinion but is going to be important this season. Am glad he is still around.

He will be brilliant this season, another 10+ goal season I think

Peter whittingham is a very good player there are times when he can frustrate you and other times he's pure class .what I like about Whitsun is that've he loves it at cardiff and is very proud to play for us you never see Whits wanting to leave .i said at the end of last season Whits will stick with us I think he wil chip with fifteen goals this season

After he scored the hat-trick against Wolves & the screamer against Millwall.....Malky in his wisdom decided that Whitt's should be more like Steve McPhail and sit in front of the back four in a more defensive role. In my opinion a shocking decision to put the shackles on our most creative midfielder

The past 2 seasons have seen him play in a more unfamiliar role, hopefully OGS with give him the freedom & we will see the Peter Whittingham that we saw prior to Malky joining the club. He's worth at least 10 goals a season in a more attacking role.

He should go down as a city legend, He has scored some of the best goals I have ever seen from a city midfielder

When Whitts plays to his best he is class,but we hardly ever see that anymore.

Thursday 17th July 2014

A good servant but for me not quite a great.

After Peter Whittingham signed a new three-year contract with the Bluebirds, STEVE TUCKER argues he deserves a place among the club’s great.

There are those who, quite understandably, regard modern football as rubbish and see the game’s current players as rampant egomaniacs only in it for the cash.

Yet the news Peter Whittingham has inked a new three-year deal with the Bluebirds should restore just a little faith.

The magical midfielder has now committed himself to the capital club until the summer of 2017, more than decade after he arrived in the Welsh capital for a bargain £350,000 from Aston Villa.

The club of course has plenty of players embedded in its folklore. Brian Clark, John Buchanan, Fred Keenor and the rest, but many of them mean little to current supporters, particularly the club’s life-blood, its younger fans. For them the club’s giants are often just shadows see in grainy black and white, names uttered in awe by parents and grandparents on match days.

But Whittingham is real, Whittingham is current, his magic is easy to see in glorious colour, in vivid HD and most importantly live in the flesh.

At just 29 he is already starting to trouble the Bluebirds’ record books. Goals? Whittingham’s 79 sees him 10th on the list of Cardiff’s all-time scorers behind the likes of number one Len Davies and, the nearest thing to a modern day Bluebirds legend, Robert Earnshaw in second or the under-appreciated Carl Dale in third.

Those goals have come in 340 appearances which again puts him tenth in the all time reckoning. It is a roll of honour headed by ‘Mr Cardiff City’ himself Dwyer on 531. Whittingham will not trouble that, but with potentially three more seasons ahead of him it is conceivable he could still rub shoulders with kings like Alf Sherwood, Keenor and Don Murray.

Such company would be fitting as there is something resolutely old-fashioned about the midfielder. Sure, he sparkles in the cut and thrust of the modern game, but there is a laid-back element to Whittingham, a distaste for pomp and attention, that perhaps belongs in a more genteel age.

There is an honesty about Whittingham too. These days interviews with the media are tepid affairs in football, often image conscious exercises in PR futility. Many times last season, after another poor Bluebirds’ performance, those linked to the club would talk of bad luck, of decisions gone awry, there was a desire to shift the blame. Whittingham though would come ambling out of the dressing room and when questioned would admit: “The problem was we were rubbish, well I was rubbish anyway.” It is the sort of candidness, the sort of honesty which disarms and impresses.

Where Whittingham does his real talking though is on the pitch. A curling free-kick nestling in the top-corner is poetry without the need for words, a defence splitting pass a sonnet of geometry.

DEFIES GRAVITY ?

But to talk of Whittingham as a story told, as a figure for those dusty record books is a mistake. The new contract was not bestowed out of sentimentality. The midfielder has a future at Cardiff and a big role to play this coming season as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men look to thrive in the Championship and ease the hurt of their last campaign.

Last season was one perhaps Whittingham himself will be keen to put behind him. He made 30 Premier League starts and scored three goals, with the best of them his lethal finish to a sweeping move to earn a draw at Hull early on, but, of course, it proved not enough.

Whittingham has so often been heralded ‘the best player outside the Premier League’ and if his shot at the top-flight proved problematic it will now be time to reclaim his title when the Championship kicks-off next month.

Whilst players come and players go in the Welsh capital it looks certain Solskjaer will once more turn to Whittingham to sprinkle that touch of magic dust in his midfield. It is a natural choice, Whittingham knows the best way to prise open even the most stubborn Championship defences and his delivery from corners and mesmeric efforts from free-kicks have proved the difference for the Bluebirds over the last seven years and more.


A big challenge ahead... It is a big season for Cardiff and a big season for Whittingham too, but you know he will be ready for the call as always. Beneath the laid-back exterior lies a strong and determined heart. He has been written off, dumped out of the side, only to come storming back to answer his critics in the best way possible.

The man who experienced the heart-break of the Bluebirds trying top reach the Championship down the years, then the disappointment when they were actually there, will still want to prove a few people wrong. The Bluebirds latest adventure is nearing and Whittingham will be up for the challenge of that have no doubt. After all, he has just signed up for it.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/foot ... ne-7448342

I think he's showed a lot of loyalty and you can see hes a very good player just seems to tail off every season. I really hope he can be our linchpin but I have my doubts.
Where does tucker get the under appreciated Carl dale from. He was a great player very much appreciated by the fans.

Here's hoping the idiots who boo'd him off the pitch at that home game last season are the ones who haven't renewed their season tickets.