Sol Bamba's moment of madness
By Dominic Booth
Wednesday 7th October 2020
Sol Bamba became a Cardiff cult idol, but there was a moment of madness when he saw red - in more ways than one - after reacting angrily to a challenge by Ipswich's Jonathan Douglas in a 1-1 draw.
Bamba saw the red mist descend, pushing and shoving his own manager on the sideline - with Warnock desperately trying to restrain him.
SOL BAMBA:
"That's the worst thing that's happened to me in my football career,” Bamba says in the book.
“Because of the rapport I had with the manager and it just wasn't me. I lost my head.
“It's not an excuse, it was a bad tackle before and I've been in games before when I've had arguments or fights but I've never reacted the way I did that day.
"It was a bad example. I'm always looking to be a role model and set a good example because I know how many people are watching.
"It wasn't acceptable and I still feel bad about it.”
How Warnock dealt with the incident would be intriguing.
"It was another example of Neil's man management probably being the best in the business,” explains Bamba.
“When we finished the game and went into the dressing room, he just said: 'We're going to sort this out on Monday'.
"And on Monday morning he brought me into his office and said to me: 'I'm not even angry, I'm disappointed'.
“That was the worst for me. I would have preferred him to be angry and I just didn't know what to say. All I could do was say 'It won't happen again and I'm going to do my best to repay you'.
"But he didn't make a big meal of it.”
The incident would eventually become a running joke between the pair, because it was such an anomaly for an otherwise exemplary player. A blot on his copybook.
“For the next couple of days it was a bit funny for me,” says Bamba.
“We always had loads of jokes together and he'd regularly ask me to come into his office and have a chat about anything. But that didn't happen for a couple of days and I thought he was upset with me.
“So he made me feel he was disappointed for a while but thankfully it went back to normal.
"Even when I speak to Neil about it now I feel bad. He always reminded me about it whenever I started to feel angry."
There was to be another 'fallout' between the two men in a crunch 2-0 win at Norwich when Bamba came off after 30 minutes- only this time it was fake.
“I played a diagonal ball forward to try and play through Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. But I messed it up, it got intercepted, they counter-attacked and nearly scored. And I had to make a tackle which then meant I had to come off," recalls Bamba.
Warnock began to deal him a hammering in the dressing room at half-time.
“The gaffer said to me, ‘Why are you trying to be clever? You could have just passed it simply. You lost the ball and then you had to run 40 yards, make a tackle and you’ve done your groin!’
“We had a huge argument. He shouted at me, ‘Get out of my face, you can’t help the team anyway’.
“So after a few words I went in the shower and after that his face changed. He was laughing and said, ‘See lads, that’s why we’re going to win the game, I need that kind of character and commitment!’
"The players told me he did that on purpose, because we were flat in the first half and needed motivating."
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