' LEE PELTIER '

Cardiff City's unsung hero - Why Lee Peltier has rediscovered himself under Neil Warnock


Cardiff's Lee Peliter

By Scott Johnson

Monday 14th April 2016

Lee Peltier is one of those players that divides opinion. He does not fit the modern stereotype of what we now expect from a full back, as he is not particularly swashbuckling or flashy.

Instead, Peltier is a throwback. Old school, but in the best possible way. The type of player you expect to see in short sleeves when you play up north on a Tuesday night.

He is the kind of player that supporters from former clubs warn you about in advance, keen to emphasise their limitations. But when they actually arrive, the positives clearly outweigh the negatives. You won’t see Peltier bombing up the flank to fire crosses in to the box, he is more concerned with defending, which has become something of a lost art.

Peltier, built like a middleweight boxer, is one of those ‘none shall pass’ defenders and exactly what a fairly mild-mannered Cardiff side need right now. Brought in by Russell Slade to little or no fanfare, Peltier was comfortably his best signing for the club and has quietly become one of Cardiff’s most reliable performers.

Having come through the ranks at Liverpool, Peltier has led a nomadic footballing existence, impressing and disappointing in equal measure. He was voted the Player’s Player of the Year in his first season at Huddersfield and was also Sven Goran Eriksson’s first summer signing when he set about overhauling Leicester in 2011. Yet Peltier has never spent more than two seasons at any one club.

Neil Warnock speaks with player Lee Peltier
A firm favourite of Slade, Peltier’s prospects looked under threat with Paul Trollope in charge, who adopted wing backs and brought in Jazz Richards to attend to the right flank. Fortunately for Peltier, he has a great deal of history with Trollope’s successor Neil Warnock, who is a firm fan.

In July 2010, Peltier was linked with a £3m pound move to QPR, who were then managed by Warnock, but he instead extended his contract with Huddersfield. Warnock finally got his man in 2012 when he brought him to Leeds and promptly made him captain. Richards faces quite a fight to dislodge him from the side any time soon.

Although mostly used as a right back throughout his career, Peltier filled in as a left back during his time at Huddersfield, played in central defence at Leeds and even central midfield in a brief spell at Nottingham Forest. Had Trollope remained, Peltier’s immediate future may well have lay in the heart of the Cardiff defence, where he has proven adept when used there on the odd occasion.

Peltier’s name always crops up when the subject of who should captain Cardiff arises and with good reason. He leads by example and fulfilled the role at Huddersfield as well as Leeds, although he was eventually replaced as the Terriers skipper by former Cardiff favourite Mark Hudson.

Lee Peltier looked a natural in the centre-back role (Photo: Huw Evans Picture Agency)
During his first season with Cardiff, they won on the final day of the 2014/15 campaign at Nottingham Forest and Peltier was tasked with shackling their player of the year, Michail Antonio. In the early stages, Peltier was given a torrid time, booked and could have seen red for a subsequent offence.

But he stuck at the task and slowly but surely got the better of the future England international. After an hour or so, Antonio was withdrawn and Peltier could reflect on a job well done.

That performance is Peltier's career in microcosm. He's far from the best, but what he lacks in ability, he more than makes up for in application and attitude. He’s a grower, Cardiff’s unsung hero and a safe pair of hands in the Cardiff back four.

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Didn't rate him last season but I'm loving being proved wrong in this!!! Think he's been far improved under Warnock!!

Great at tackling and defending, got the MM attitude that he wanted in players.

He has been very consistent here.

We look much more solid when Pelts is at fullback. He's been great for us and the one of very few signing's Slade got right.

Always liked him always praised him while the " football experts " would rather focus on his inability to beat 3 men and deliver the perfect cross rather than his tough tackling, excellent reading of the game and never say die attitude. You need players like that in a team.

First name on my team sheet every week .I can't remember which game last season but Peltier took a cheap shot from behind by some goon.He didn't get mad or angry he just got up dusted himself down but within 10 minutes LP completely wiped the player out fairly but so hard that the goon had to go off.Tough as teak and no nonsense .

I think he is a very solid full back when defending - the problem is that to be a top championship team you need someone who can do more than just defend at fullback which he can't do... for me he is an ideal back-up player.

I think he is a very solid full back when defending - the problem is that to be a top championship team you need someone who can do more than just defend at fullback which he can't do... for me he is an ideal back-up player.

And he can play Centre Back too an ideal back up player who will not let you down