A humble apology /Aden Flint's time at Cardiff City has been

A humble apology

Aden Flint's time at Cardiff City has been a rollercoaster.


By Glen Williams

Thursday 25th February 2021


He started as a kingpin under Neil Warnock, fell out of favour under Neil Harris, was shipped out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday and had a horrendous hamstring injury which required surgery.

I (Glen Williams), like many, have criticised Flint in the past, and often with good reason, he has not been flawless on the pitch during his time here.

But if I am ready enough to criticise I must be prepared to climb down when it is appropriate to do so and that is exactly what I'm doing here.

When he was brought back in for McCarthy's first game, there were more than a few eyebrows raised, mainly because Flint had been out for so long and no one really knew where he was in terms of his rehabilitation or fitness levels.

But given the City fan base had big question marks over him, it was a bold call from McCarthy, which, of course, he was unafraid to make.

Flint was shaky in that first game at Barnsley, at fault for at least one of the goals, but since then he has been nothing short of excellent.

He occupies the middle of this back three with great stature and presence. He wins practically all of his aerial duels, but an area of his game I'd not picked up on before is just how adept he is at nipping in from behind and stealing interceptions when the striker's back is to goal.

That is where this system helps him, too, and serves accentuates a big asset of his. That gamble, if it doesn't pay off, comes with the security of two other centre backs being in behind him.

I always felt there was something there with Flint, he suits Cardiff down to the ground if they can get the best out of him - as evidenced in the tweet below.

But this back three has a perfect balance to it, it had to in order to deal with the very real threats Bournemouth posed.

Literally and figuratively, Flint is central to that. He is a big voice on the pitch and though he is not quick, he reads the game far better than many give him credit for.

I'm sure many City fans, like me, are happy to be proven wrong and good on him.

Because make no mistake, he has a big part to play if City are to stay in these play-off spots for the remainder of the season.

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I've liked him , went through a bad patch

I think he can do better at set pieces

He has the height

Always liked him should never had been loaned out he a good player I liked him at Bristol city glad he back in the frame

I for one have been very critical of Flint....too slow etc.
He’s turned his game around and has been suited down to the ground by the new systems and fairs to MM, not many on this forum would have picked him and even less would have believed he could play so well since he came back to city

Always stood by him as far as I'm concerned hes a better distributor of the ball than Morrison and can score decent goals! Like alit of players in city team he needed to be played in right system..

The problem as see it is you and your type of city supporter.
You seem to want to speak as the voice of City fans.
I like many liked Flint and if he never made a mistake he would be a premiership player, that's the bit you don't ever seen to understand.

Both Warnock And MM think he deserves to be a nailed on first team player ,yet you ,and unless I missed something never managed a professional football team but was quick to question him and the players ability.
This lack of judgement of players by some fans has a long list,
Hudson, Whittingham, Mcfail,Gestad to name just a few in recent times
Now it's Flint and Pack..

One thing is certain city fans generally don't know a good player when they see one .

I'll be honest, I think he'd been awful since he joined us and there were very few occasion where he had an average game at best - maybe his first couple of games when he signed (same with Pack).

When he went on loan to Sheffield Wednesday I thought, and I hoped if I'm being honest, that he'd never play for us again.

But he has been very good since he came into the team with Mick McCarthy in charge - again, same with Pack, other than his mistake last night.

Very happy that he's proving me wrong and long may it continue.

The problem as see it is you and your type of city supporter.
You seem to want to speak as the voice of City fans.
I like many liked Flint and if he never made a mistake he would be a premiership player, that's the bit you don't ever seen to understand.

Both Warnock And MM think he deserves to be a nailed on first team player ,yet you ,and unless I missed something never managed a professional football team but was quick to question him and the players ability.
This lack of judgement of players by some fans has a long list,
Hudson, Whittingham, Mcfail,Gestad to name just a few in recent times
Now it's Flint and Pack..

One thing is certain city fans generally don't know a good player when they see one .

not sure who you are referring to regarding type of City fan / voice of City fans... ..its a Wales online article written by Glen Williams.. so id imagine like some of our fans was judging him as a third row forward or what ever the cwch and cuddle gang call them these days...

When Flint was at Bristol I thought he was an excellent player and scored quite a few goals too. Thought he might've lost his way a bit, but am glad to see him performing now
Also makes our team even more of a nightmare to defend set pieces against. I don't think anyone's defence would be particularly thrilled about having to cope with Flint, Morrison and Moore.

The problem as see it is you and your type of city supporter.
You seem to want to speak as the voice of City fans.
I like many liked Flint and if he never made a mistake he would be a premiership player, that's the bit you don't ever seen to understand.

Both Warnock And MM think he deserves to be a nailed on first team player ,yet you ,and unless I missed something never managed a professional football team but was quick to question him and the players ability.
This lack of judgement of players by some fans has a long list,
Hudson, Whittingham, Mcfail,Gestad to name just a few in recent times
Now it's Flint and Pack..

One thing is certain city fans generally don't know a good player when they see one .

Fans are perfectly entitled to an opinion. The fact is Flint's form at times was terrible and I really don't understand why you would object to me having that opinion when it was perfectly valid.

What you don't seem to understand is players might have certain qualities but their output really depends on what form they are in at any given time. Hudson, Whittingham, McPhail and Gestede all had periods of terrible form as well as periods of brilliant form. So when fans either slag off or praise to the hill a player at a certain time it's the form the are referring to not the players overall ability.

I've liked him , went through a bad patch

I think he can do better at set pieces

He has the height

Very good at this role third centre half, can't ever be played in a two with Morrison !

I for one have been very critical of Flint....too slow etc.
He’s turned his game around and has been suited down to the ground by the new systems and fairs to MM, not many on this forum would have picked him and even less would have believed he could play so well since he came back to city

hes turned his game around....from being a first pick championship CB for 5 years under johnson, pullis, warnock and monk to being a first choice again under mcarthy.... i think far more people questioned the pairing than his ability....

It's not about form.
I thought players like Whittingham and Mcphail would have gladly been sold by city fans after just a few games for us.
Some city fans cannot get their heads around any player that passes the ball less than 25 yards.
I'd cringe at the shouts of "get rid of it" "get it up there" " get into them" " stop pussy footing around" etc etc but get the drift.
Thankfully we all didn't think like that.
And when someone apologizing for getting it wrong about a City player would be much more welcome if they also promise not to be so judgemental on City players in future after a short period of games.
As for Gestade he was never given a chance by any manager or some fans as he was never given a run in the team
can't believe you said he had a run of bad form. He was raw but again city fans expected him to be a 20 goal a season player in his first season, there lies the problem.