Fri Jul 08, 2011 5:55 am
MALKY MACKAY has insisted Robert Earnshaw has nothing to prove after becoming a Bluebird for the second time.
And he has backed the striker to be an influential figure for Cardiff City once more, both on and off the pitch.
Wales international Earnie completed his deal to re-sign for his boyhood club after a seven-year absence earlier this week, as revealed by the Western Mail.
Yet, after a record that saw him hit 105 goals in 205 Cardiff appearances, there has been suggestions that the now-30-year-old frontman will not be able to provide the same goal threat that his younger version so abundantly did.
Earnshaw was restricted to nine goals at Nottingham Forest last year before his contract ended at the City Ground, snubbing the offer of a new deal to take-up a two-year-option with Mackay at Cardiff.
Still injuries and a lack of opportunities have played a part in skewing Earnshaw’s more recent goal-scoring statistics and Mackay is adamant that his fourth signing of the summer still possesses all the qualities needed to boost a new-look Bluebirds team.
“I’ve known Earnie for a long time having played against him,” said Mackay, who added the 54-cap frontman to the trio of free-signings of Craig Conway, Don Cowie and Andrew Taylor snapped up in recent weeks. “
“I also know the type of person he is and, of course, the affinity he has with this club.
“But, above all, I know that he is an absolute proven goalscorer at this level and higher. He’s scored goals in the Championship, in the Premier League and internationally.
“He was someone always moving off the shoulder, trying to find that half a yard around the box and I found him a very difficult opponent. If I could catch him he would have known about it, but invariably I couldn’t.
“People talk about his record here, but he hasn’t only scored goals when he was at Cardiff – just look through his career and, when he did get that run of games at Forest, he was a goal threat.
“You only have to look at Forest’s play-off semi-final with Swansea when he scored after coming on and then was an inch away from getting the equaliser. He’s absolutely still proven at this point of time and in this league.”
Fans, in the main, have certainly backed Mackay’s verdict with supporters given a timely lift of the return of a player established as a cult figure after coming through the youth ranks at Ninian Park.
And Mackay has dismissed the notion Earnshaw will put that status on the line by coming back to the club, claiming: “He’s an experienced man who’s been around the block and decided this is the right time to come back to this football club. He is not a youngster doing something on a whim.
“And for me it is about his attitude because he has been confident all his career in his own ability and in terms of scoring goals and I don’t see that changing.
“He has experience and he is a leader who has captained his country – he can be a man and a voice in our dressing room for ourselves and for him this is a great move.”
Earnshaw will train with his new team-mates for the first time this morning before jetting off to Spain tomorrow as part of the club’s pre-season training trip.
And Mackay added: “It’s been good to get out on the grass and the attitude has been fantastic. They’ve all thrown themselves into the way I work and they certainly don’t look like a side with any hangovers from what happened at the end of last season.”