Ledley relishing Cardiff return
By: Mark Henderson on 18 Jul, 2011 15:22
LITTLE did Joe Ledley know when he said farewell to Cardiff City last year that he would be returning to his stomping ground just 12 months later along with Adam Matthews who also signed from the Welsh club.
Last week, Celtic announced they would be heading to the Welsh capital to face the Bluebirds on July 20, four days before the first SPL match of the season.
The midfielder spent his entire career with the Bluebirds, helping them most notably to an FA Cup final, before electing to join Celtic in search of a fresh challenge
And while Ledley is excited at the prospect of returning to his hometown club as a Hoops’ player, he admits that he is uncertain of what kind of reception to expect.
“For me it’s big and it’s going to be the same for Adam,” he said. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to play against Cardiff in my career so it’s going to be a great honour for me and my family and they will be there as well. So long as we go there and get the win I will be happy.
“I have played there before with Wales which will be a bit similar but against Cardiff it’s going to be a bit different.
“It will be a great to play against them and it will be interesting to see what kind of reaction I will get from the crowd…
“I haven’t got a clue what it will be like but hopefully I will be cheered for what I did for the club and achieved there, but you never know and some fans might boo me. I enjoyed my time but just felt it was the right time to move on.”
And despite the possibility of negative outbursts from some of the Welsh club’s supporters, Ledley will always remain a fan of the club.
“I had a lot of friends and family who are in Cardiff and supported me,” he said.
“I was really friendly with the people at the club and obviously I wanted them to do well and get promoted but it just didn’t happen.
“Mark Hudson, I keep in touch with him, along with Stephen McPhail, and Peter Whittingham, who I saw on holiday, and some of the staff, too. They will always be good friends of mine and am looking forward to playing against them.”
While there will be a few familiar faces in the Celtic team for the home support, there will also be one in the Cardiff dugout for Hoops fans, with Malky Mackay recently taking up the reins after a successful spell in charge of Watford. It’s a choice which found favour with Ledley.
“He did well at Watford and is a young manager and hungry for success and I think he is a great appointment for Cardiff and he has made some good signings,” he explained. “It will be tough in his first season as so many players have left and he has to bring in his own staff so hopefully he can do well at Cardiff.”
And if he receives a somewhat frosty reception at his old club, Ledley knows a far worse one awaits him during Celtic’s friendly with Cardiff’s great rivals Swansea in August. Not that it will deter him, though.
“At Swansea they hate me as I’m from Cardiff so I know I am going to get abuse,” he said.
“But I love playing against them as they are a good club that play good football but being a Cardiff boy they know I support them and they will always give me some abuse.
“They are two passionate sets of fans and both love their football,” he added.
“It’s good to see that one team got into the Premier League and obviously I would have liked it to have been Cardiff but they are two great places to play at.”
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