' He was Priceless for Cardiff City '

I dont agree with Scott Johnson, Mason hardly shined in 90% of the time he was at City,he was hardly priceless




Joe Mason was priceless for Cardiff City and the Bluebirds are yet to discover the true cost of selling him


THURSDAY 4 FEB 2016

BY SCOTTJOHNSON


When arriving at a suitable price tag for Mason, you would have to bear in mind that he is 25, has a contract that runs through to 2018 and is Cardiff’s primary striker


Very few things gets football fans as hot under the collar as valuing a player.

How can Tony Watt be worth only around the £1m mark if Jordan Rhodes is valued at in excess of £10m?

How can Joe Mason be worth £3.5m if Charlie Austin just moved for £4m?

These things are all relative and depend on a number of factors.

Primarily the age of the player is taken in to consideration, length of time remaining on their current contract and potentially any previous fee involved in acquiring the player.


You also have to factor in the financial situation of the selling club and if he happens to be English, there may be an ‘English Tax’ inflating the fee as clubs seek to fulfil homegrown quotas.

When arriving at a suitable price tag for Mason, you would have to bear in mind that he is 25, has a contract that runs through to 2018 and is Cardiff’s primary striker.

A pursuit in the final week of the transfer window would normally drive the price up, as it leaves very little time to find a suitable replacement.


Cardiff appeared to value Mason at £5m, well short of a speculative opening bid from Wolves, before stating that he would not be sold during this window, as the club were intent on adding to the squad instead.

An offer of around £3.5m changed all that and left Cardiff painfully short up front.

It has also done nothing for the club, with fans still reeling from them stating that Watt would be signing during a morning press conference, only for them to have a transfer embargo slapped on them in the afternoon.

Pretty much cleaning out their entire strike force mid-season was also rather radical and impulsive, even by Cardiff’s standards.

Most people seem to feel Cardiff received a fair price for Mason, who has not been in the best of form this season, is a bit one-paced and has an aversion to tracking back.


Many of these same people will have also clamoured for his return from a loan spell at Bolton last year and insisted he was the Messiah, but we’re all guilty of hyperbole from time to time.

The alternative side of the argument would be to say that Mason was actually priceless because Cardiff were unable to replace him.

A couple of loan signings may paper over the cracks but selling Mason not only fundamentally undermines your objectives, which is supposed to be a return to the Premier League, but also begs the question of whether he is the first of many.

Is this the way things are going? If so, what happened to the club not entertaining approaches for their best players?

Cardiff have managed to salvage the transfer window by bringing in some loan signings, which in turn gave everyone a bit of a lift, but I can’t help but feel that they’ve ended up with an inferior squad to what they had in December.


Mason, Watt and Kenwyne Jones were doing okay, while Anthony Pilkington and new arrival Lex Immers have kept things ticking over out of position in the interim.

Slade was targeting three players before the departure of Mason had been entertained, so presumably the intention was for the new arrivals to compliment what he already had, rather than replace them.

Tom Lawrence is pretty much a like for like replacement for Watt ,while Kenneth Zohore appears set to take on the Jones mantle.


So the injury-prone Federico Macheda, who Cardiff were keen to ship out, has become ‘the new Mason’ by default, while they await the return to fitness of Idriss Saadi.

It should not be forgotten that Cardiff have also got Adam Le Fondre and Eoin Doyle out on loan.

They would make for a very serviceable pairing at this level and could have provided a ready-made solution.

I for one am sad to see Mason depart, for a number of reasons.


First and foremost, I rate him as a player. I think he’s smart, links the midfield and attack well and remains underrated as Cardiff rarely play to his strengths.

Brought in for £250,000, he was a very astute signing and was one of the few remaining Malky Mackay purchases.

I’m also disappointed to see Mason leave because of what it represents.

I feel that by selling him, Cardiff have in some respects written off another season and in many ways I think the move may end up costing Cardiff far more than just money.



If the club were planning to sell players to keep the club ticking over, the time to do so was in the summer and they should have invited offers then.

I fear that they might start loaning key players out again, like they did with Jones and Matthew Connolly last year, and fans are in no mood for a repeat of that.

If that happens, good luck selling season tickets for next year.


Essentially, and this is a recurring theme, more communication is needed.

If you have to sell the crown jewels, tell us why.

Don’t just do it seemingly off the cuff, give us a bit of warning and explain the reasons why.

Reading between there lines, there are mixed messages as to whether the offer was too good to refuse or that they had to accept to have any chance of their ban being lifted in the summer.

Related: How will Tom Lawrence and Kenneth Zohore fit into Russell Slade's Cardiff City?

What we can be sure of is that Cardiff have sold one of their best players to Wolves, who are not only below them in the table but also not, like Cardiff, receiving Premier League parachute payments.

The irony of the situation is that potentially the best pairing available to Cardiff in the last couple of years, Le Fondre and Mason in tandem, never actually happened, but they may now link up at Wolves.

Kenny Jackett’s side line up in a formation that will allow Mason to function in his favoured position, just off the main striker, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in the remainder of the season.

I say interesting, it will actually rub salt in the wound if he thrives, as Cardiff pocket a fee they could not spend.

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I don't agree with the title. Everyone has a price, & Mason had his, for a more than fair one at that,, plus increased his own earnings potential into the bargain, no doubt. The best of luck to him!

Totally disagree. Pilks has been far better in every way. Watt was the big loss - speed, power and shooting. However, maybe Saadi possesses that!

Shit journalism as always by the echo, this guy in particularly can't write for toffee.

Mason is shit, end of, has done nothing since he arrived at Cardiff, IMO he's went backwards rather than forwards, 3.5 Mill for a player of his ability is madness in the grand scheme of things as I wouldn't rate him at £500k.

On his day he was ok but too lightweight to be a consistent player

Things had to go his way if they didn't, you wouldn't see him during the game

I don't agree with the title. Everyone has a price, & Mason had his, for a more than fair one at that,, plus increased his own earnings potential into the bargain, no doubt. The best of luck to him!

Rick, the title is Scott Johnson's words not mine and I don't agree either,every player has his price and Mason certainly was not that good.

Totally disagree, I like him but i think we have won the jackpot by selling him at that price

Sorry i can't agree with this fella johnson, (who is he anyway???) mason has had plenty of chances at cardiff city and in my opinion is not a championship level striker, he is far too light and needs 6-8 chances to score. Also £3.5 million for him is madness, an offer we couldn't turn down.

I think that Slade has realized that Mason is not the player to push us forward, and although he has publicly said different, will not be unhappy to see him go. It would have been nice though to keep Mason and bring in the players we did and maybe others, but the embargo saw to it that we could not. I do feel that if we were not under the embargo that Mason would not have been sold, but we have to get this embargo lifted and selling Mason will help to do that. I have a good feeling about the players we have brought in, and do not envy Slade in picking Saturdays team. Normally I can pick the team I would like to see play, but for this Saturday, I have absolutely no idea, and for a know it all like me that is really something!

Never rated Mason. I believe that the reason our fans were so keen to see him back in our squad is because he wasn't around for anyone to see up close for 1-2 years, so everyone just started to believe for whatever reason that he was a better player than he's actually ever been. Our first chance to properly see him up close again, and regularly, has shown he just isn't good enough for us. And despite what he may do in the short term at Wolves, I think in the long run their fans will think they paid far too much for him.

This article is just another attempt to bash the club in the media, and it's beyond pathetic.

week after week this idiot writes absolute drivel


i cant understand how he still has a job

I think Scott Johnson has missed the point that more than ever (due to FFP) clubs are businesses and have to take business decisions over football decision if appropriate. The sale of Mason was mainly a business decision but due to the replacements you could also argue it was also a football decision.

Myself I'm delighted to see the club become more streetwise in its transfer dealings.

I watched Mason at Plymouth,he was extremely lightweight,I don't think he really changed in pursuing his career at City.
I do however wish him all the best for the future.

I find myself agreeing with Annis yet again. In fact it is only Tan we are at odds on. But as for Johnson, I never agree with the rubbish he spouts. So Mason scores on his Wolves debut. So what ? I doubt he will score many more but at the price Wolves paid he is entitled to score a few, surely.

He certainly gave us a nice return , and don't forget it was the Riddler who put him in our path

I have said it numerous times before, he has bags of potential under right guidance - the fee was not enough in my eyes. Big loss to us - gutted

Lots of potential in first season but for numerous reasons already mentioned on thread never kicked on. The month or so watt was here showed how poorly Mason was playing as we looked a decent side with his energy pace and drive. If he was going for 1 million Mason at 3.5 was great business although shame we probably won't get to see the money on players. Just too lightweight and not quick enough imo.

He was pretty average all of the time but had a knack of getting a tap in every now and then, thorugh good movement no doubt. He just generally failed to make an impression on games. 3m is a brilliant deal

He was pretty average all of the time but had a knack of getting a tap in every now and then, thorugh good movement no doubt. He just generally failed to make an impression on games. 3m is a brilliant deal

we will continue this convo this time next year and see where he is then under the right guidance

week after week this idiot writes absolute drivel


i cant understand how he still has a job

He is writing for Media Wales, that's why. From being a great paper to read about the City it has plunged to the depths. And it goes to press the day before it comes out so the "news" is stale anyway. As for Johnson, please don't get me started on the bufoon.

Got to be honest (Carling Cup final apart) I'd be very disappointed if we paid £3.5m for a striker with the goal return of Joe Mason no matter how committed he was another ways!

Obviously wouldn' be on a par with our Andreas Cornelius debacle, but Scott Johnson makes him (Joe) sound like a massive loss, which (sadly) he most certainly isn't!

He was OK, scored a few goals here and there but cannot agree he was priceless. He's sold now and good luck to him but "we" can't dwell on the past so should move on

Priceless? He's not Messi.

Does he get paid for that stuff or is he a glorified blogger ?

Load of tosh that im afraid