' Cardiff City's defender Ben Turner '

" Cardiff City defender Ben Turner should be admired for his off field honesty... and his ability on the pitch "
Tuesday Dec 09, 2014


By P.Evans

Russell Slade's Bluebirds aren't entertaining, but at least Big Ben Turner has helped stop the flow of goals being conceded as well as speaking honestly off the pitch.



Ben Turner in action against his boyhood club Birmingham CityBen Turner in action against his boyhood club Birmingham City
Whatever you may think of Craig Bellamy the person, I always found him fascinating when he talked about the game and a video of a Bellamy press conference or media appearance was something not to be missed in my book.

For that reason, it’s not just on the pitch that Bellamy is missed at Cardiff City, but, thankfully, there is still a player at the club who, circumstances permitting, will answers any questions he is asked as honestly as he can and be interesting and informative while doing so.

I can remember the first interview I saw with Ben Turner shortly after he signed for us in August 2011 and I wasn’t impressed. It was only a short question and answer session, but I recall noting he seemed hesitant and pretty monosyllabic.


Since then, I’ve changed my opinion – if I’m honest, I can take or leave most pre and post match interviews City players give because, and I don’t blame them particularly here, they sound like they are on auto pilot.

With Ben Turner though it’s different.

I think that hesitancy I mentioned is because Ben is taking time to think about what he says and, inevitably, when the answer comes it contains good, sound common sense which has you nodding in agreement.

As an example of what I mean, I can remember being disappointed with Ben when he turned down the chance to play for Wales, but, after he was given the chance to explain why in a press conference, I found myself admiring him for his honesty and integrity.

The rebrand has a Voldemort like quality with City players and managers in that it is something that “must not be named” – Fraizer Campbell and Mark Hudson made reference to it when they’d left the club, but I don’t think I’ve heard a City player or manager raise the matter without being asked about it first.

Predictably, it was Ben who came as close as anyone to doing that when he, entirely correctly in my view, spoke of “off pitch matters” being a contributory factor to the booing which broke out among some of the home crowd at the end of Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Rotherham.

However, he still admitted that the team had to do a lot better than what they had just served up.

Of course, that was putting things mildly – the off field matters Ben referred to mean that there are an awful lot of City fans that still turn up for home games who are desperate for the team to do something to take their minds off them for a while.

Unfortunately, this is not happening – Saturday was truly dreadful, but, truth be told, I could easily count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve been entertained by a City side this season.




Some players are more deserving of criticism for this than others though and I would put Ben Turner near the top of the small list that fall into the somewhat blameless category.

Granted, by missing the first three months of the campaign through injury, Turner has been absent for the woeful 1-0 defeats at home to Middlesbrough and at Wolves, Blackpool and Millwall, but, given what has happened in the four matches since he came back, would we have been able to keep a clean sheet in some of them with him there?

The football is still poor since Turner came back, but the part of the game he specialises in has improved a lot in that time as one goal conceded in 360 minutes of football testifies.

There were ironic cheers from the crowd when John Brayford hit a shot that was easily stopped by the Rotherham keeper around the 35 minute mark on Saturday because City had finally managed an effort at goal and there was something a similar reaction when one of the diagonal passes that Ben is infamous for went wrong.

However, I agreed with Tony Pulis when he recently said that, in the rush to find centre-backs who can “bring the ball out from the back”, people have lost sight of what they are really there for.

Ben Turner is a very good defender at Championship level and I didn’t think he was as bad as many made him out to be in the Premier League either.

If he eliminates the hoof ball from his play, and to be fair he seems to be making an effort to do so, this guy could be brilliant. Unfortunately, right now he gives away possession too much by lumping it forward, and when he's trying to pass it he seems nervous as hell.

Will die for the cause though. Love him for that.

Make him captain. I'm behind the goals in the canton and he is organising the defence, plus the only player I can see talking to other players.

If he eliminates the hoof ball from his play, and to be fair he seems to be making an effort to do so, this guy could be brilliant. Unfortunately, right now he gives away possession too much by lumping it forward, and when he's trying to pass it he seems nervous as hell.

Will die for the cause though. Love him for that.

If he eliminated that and could pass he wouldn't be at ccfc. Love Big Ben does what it says on the tin