Helguson To Inherit ‘Thorne’s Magic Hat’ ??

Cardiff City once signed an experienced striker from a higher level club (Stoke City) with the primary ambition of getting the Bluebirds promoted. At the time, we were looking for somewhat of a target man to accompany Robert Earnshaw so it raised some eyebrows when the man we brought in was only 5 foot 11 – Peter Thorne.

We paid a staggering £1.7m fee for Thorney, but he was a fantastic player – even if some of our more short-sighted fans failed to appreciate what he brought to the Bluebirds style of play. He never represented the archetypal target-man in the mould of Leo ‘Elbows` Fortune-West, but his aerial prowess was formidable while his guile, craft and skill were an enormous benefit to Cardiff City.

Thorne possessed a rare skill, in that despite conceding an obvious height advantage to many of his opponents, he was consistently able to time his jump superbly and appeared to hang suspended in midair long after his challengers had returned to ground – allowing him to dominate many aerial battles. That skill gave rise to the iconic chants of `Peter Thorne is magic, he wears a magic hat?`

Several incumbents of Cardiff City strikers` jerseys since Thorne have enjoyed short-lived and half-hearted possession of the ‘magic hat` and accompanying song. However, for the first time – City have signed another whose timing, jump and aerial ability mark him out as a real threat and make him worthy of the hat.

Heidar Helguson arrived last week from QPR, bringing experience, pedigree and seemingly the best wishes of most Rangers fans who believed he could have played a role for them in the Premiership again this season. Helguson, is on a similar mould to Thorne and is also very adept in the air, not only winning his headers, but directing them cleverly to create openings or retain possession.

It seems likely that Helguson will play an important role in leading the Bluebirds line this coming season. He will not feature every week, but will always look to contribute to many areas when selected and will surely be a very effective option to supplement an already talented squad. Hopefully, he can emulate Peter Thorne and is a worthy successor to the .magic hat`.