' LATEST ON JOE LEDLEY '
Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:19 am
Joe Ledley's wedding WILL go ahead as Wales star misses homecoming party and catches private jet to Ibiza
Friday 8th July 2016
BY CHRIS WATHAN
It had looked at one stage that cult hero Ledley would be postponing his wedding plans
Joe Ledley WILL go ahead with his wedding after Wales' Euro 2016 exit – and chartered his own flight from France to make it happen.
It had looked at one stage that cult hero Ledley – whose dancing celebrations captivated teammates and fans alike – would have to postpone his wedding plans because of Wales' incredible run to the semi-finals.
The wedding to Cardiff-born fiancee Ruby-May had been planned for this weekend, which earned him playful stick from teammate Gareth Bale because it could have clashed with a potential dream appearance for Wales in the final of Euro 2016.
But Ledley will now fly to Ibiza for the ceremony on a private plane after pulling out all the stops to make the big day happen in front of close friends and family and sacrificing being part of today's team homecoming.
Still, that doesn't mean that the Crystal Palace ace wasn't feeling the hurt of coming so close to a scarcely believable place in the final.
“The boys are going back to Wales now to see the fans but I’ve got a wedding to attend,” said the 29-year-old. “I don’t feel like I need to see go back and see what we’ve achieved means to the supporters.
“I think I know deep down how much their support from back home meant to me. It just wasn’t meant to be in the end. I've got a wedding to think about. It’s Ibiza for me now.
“It will be a great day but right now I just feel devastated. I’ve been in situations like this before and it does hurt. It will for a few days but that’s life. You just need to get on with it with the help of strong people behind you and we know we've done the nation proud and we’ve done ourselves proud.”
'They have put Wales back on the football map' How the world's media reacted to our Euro 2016 exit
Ledley will find very few to disagree with him on that, or his acknowledgement that this side deserve their place in history having eclipsed the achievement of the boys of 1958 by not only qualifying for a tournament, but reaching the last four.
“We deserved to be where we got to, we deserved to be in the semi-final,” he said. “We battered Belgium who are second in the rankings, playing them off the park.
“Portugal just wasn’t our day but we should go down in history for what we’ve done, without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, we have created history. No other Welsh team has gone further than what we’ve done. We got to the semi-final of the European Championships so it’s going to be a good few years before another team beats that. Hopefully they do but what we’ve achieve is history making. We’ll go down as legends, hopefully.”
And Ledley says the squad are still intent on making more history with several stars eyeing up the World Cup qualifying campaign that kicks off in September against Moldova in Cardiff.
He claimed: “We’re looking at this as a stepping stone to Russia. The feeling is that this is the start of something rather than the end. I feel I’m getting a bit old, the World Cup will probably be one of the last competitions I’ll play for and it’ll be the same for some of the other players too, so we need to build on this and work as hard as we can going into the nest qualifiers.
“But we have a taste of this and we now want to keep going. We’re a hungry bunch of players and we prove that week-in, week-out. We want more of this. We want to achieve better things than this and hopefully we can do that with the World Cup. That’s the aim.
Friday 8th July 2016
BY CHRIS WATHAN
It had looked at one stage that cult hero Ledley would be postponing his wedding plans
Joe Ledley WILL go ahead with his wedding after Wales' Euro 2016 exit – and chartered his own flight from France to make it happen.
It had looked at one stage that cult hero Ledley – whose dancing celebrations captivated teammates and fans alike – would have to postpone his wedding plans because of Wales' incredible run to the semi-finals.
The wedding to Cardiff-born fiancee Ruby-May had been planned for this weekend, which earned him playful stick from teammate Gareth Bale because it could have clashed with a potential dream appearance for Wales in the final of Euro 2016.
But Ledley will now fly to Ibiza for the ceremony on a private plane after pulling out all the stops to make the big day happen in front of close friends and family and sacrificing being part of today's team homecoming.
Still, that doesn't mean that the Crystal Palace ace wasn't feeling the hurt of coming so close to a scarcely believable place in the final.
“The boys are going back to Wales now to see the fans but I’ve got a wedding to attend,” said the 29-year-old. “I don’t feel like I need to see go back and see what we’ve achieved means to the supporters.
“I think I know deep down how much their support from back home meant to me. It just wasn’t meant to be in the end. I've got a wedding to think about. It’s Ibiza for me now.
“It will be a great day but right now I just feel devastated. I’ve been in situations like this before and it does hurt. It will for a few days but that’s life. You just need to get on with it with the help of strong people behind you and we know we've done the nation proud and we’ve done ourselves proud.”
'They have put Wales back on the football map' How the world's media reacted to our Euro 2016 exit
Ledley will find very few to disagree with him on that, or his acknowledgement that this side deserve their place in history having eclipsed the achievement of the boys of 1958 by not only qualifying for a tournament, but reaching the last four.
“We deserved to be where we got to, we deserved to be in the semi-final,” he said. “We battered Belgium who are second in the rankings, playing them off the park.
“Portugal just wasn’t our day but we should go down in history for what we’ve done, without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, we have created history. No other Welsh team has gone further than what we’ve done. We got to the semi-final of the European Championships so it’s going to be a good few years before another team beats that. Hopefully they do but what we’ve achieve is history making. We’ll go down as legends, hopefully.”
And Ledley says the squad are still intent on making more history with several stars eyeing up the World Cup qualifying campaign that kicks off in September against Moldova in Cardiff.
He claimed: “We’re looking at this as a stepping stone to Russia. The feeling is that this is the start of something rather than the end. I feel I’m getting a bit old, the World Cup will probably be one of the last competitions I’ll play for and it’ll be the same for some of the other players too, so we need to build on this and work as hard as we can going into the nest qualifiers.
“But we have a taste of this and we now want to keep going. We’re a hungry bunch of players and we prove that week-in, week-out. We want more of this. We want to achieve better things than this and hopefully we can do that with the World Cup. That’s the aim.
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Re: ' LATEST ON JOE LEDLEY '
Fri Jul 08, 2016 10:41 am
Good luck to him and his marriage. He's just bought a house a hundred meters away from me apparently
However I do believe he was a weak link in our Euro campaign.
However I do believe he was a weak link in our Euro campaign.
Re: ' LATEST ON JOE LEDLEY '
Fri Jul 08, 2016 5:21 pm
Good luck to Joe thought he was brilliant for us did the ugly stuff people don't notice broke up play and passed it simple I thought he had a good tournament for Wales ex city academy he's one of ours at Cardiff proud of that .
Well done Joe and good luck
Well done Joe and good luck
Re: ' LATEST ON JOE LEDLEY '
Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:06 pm
Weak link. Your having a laugh. What about his initial pass that set up one of the goals (cant remember which game). After all he hadnt long broken his leg. The man is a leg-end
Re: ' LATEST ON JOE LEDLEY '
Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:11 pm
It was his through ball to Ramsey that led to the winner against Slovakia!
Good luck Joe .......
Good luck Joe .......
Re: ' LATEST ON JOE LEDLEY '
Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:17 pm
i wouldnt sit next to him on a plane 