A Poverty of Ambition

Joe Ledley: no ambition

According to news reports today it seems that Joe Ledley will finally be leaving Cardiff City and heading to pastures new. And on one hand I think fair enough really, he’s given a lot to the club over the years and I don’t begrudge him a move to try his hand in a better league and improve as a player.

And on the other hand I can’t help feeling that, as a City fan, I’ve been knifed in the back by someone I respect.

Why? Because it appears that he will be moving to Celtic. There are many reasons for thinking this a godawful move. One is that because Ledley is out of contract we don’t get any compensation for bringing him through the ranks, training him and giving all the support and opportunities necessary for him to succeed. If he’d gone to another club in the English set-up we’d be eligible for a tribunal, but instead we’ve lost out on probably a couple of million pounds because he’s gone to Scotland.

Ah yes, Scotland and the SPL. That’s the second rub. While (arguably) a better side than City and certainly more high profile, they play in a worse league than City do. Apart from a handful of clubs in the SPL the rest would be lower mid table or worse in the Championship. In terms of career development it’s hardly a step up, a couple of European matches a season and then destroying most of the opposition for an entire season. He’s gone from the security of being a big fish in a small pond at Cardiff to the, uh, security of a big fish in a small pond at Celtic.

And all this after interest from Premiership clubs such as Stoke. While I heartily dislike Stoke they were probably just the right level for Ledley to get to grips with the Premiership and possibly kick on to a bigger club. I can’t help but feel that a move to the Premiership would have made Ledley a better player, which would have then benefitted the Welsh national side.

Ledley is a good player, albeit one who thinks he’s better than he actually is. If we think back to the 1st part of the 2009/10 season he was largely rubbish, in a serious rut of bad form that was largely of his own causing.  Ledley was clearly in a sulk at not getting a move during the summer, and this hugely affected his performances which were sluggish and devoid of any spark he may have brought before. And once he got into that rut he couldn’t get out. As fellow spectators remarked before the January transfer window opened, if he wanted to move he’d blown his chances by playing shit all season, no-one was going to pay money for him and no-one did. Hence the issue now where you’ve got a player turning his back and effectively walking out. No doubt the lack of a transfer fee has significantly boosted his signing on bonus.

Mind you, seeing as he’s gone to Scotland, perhaps Ledley’s sense of self-regard is not that overblown and he’s realised he probably wouldn’t cut in the Prem.

Whatever, moving to an SPL club shows a deep poverty of ambition as a player and you can’t help but feel in all this that he’s let a lot of people down, most importantly himself.