Who Was Cardiff City’s Last Natural Right Winger ?

Cardiff City manager Dave Jones recently bucked his own trend by moving for right-footer Wayne Routledge to solve a midfield problem and DJ must have noticed and enjoyed the added option and extra balance afforded to midfield. For me, the middle of the park has been our weakest this season and looked under-strength and lop-sided. Lately however, Ledley has excelled in the middle, Parry looks a renewed threat and Whittingham has returned fresh from injury.


Jones identified a wideman as a priority and we moved last week for former Rangers man Chris Burke – the Scotsman being a natural right-sided winger. I can’t remember that last time we had a consistent choice in that position. Whittingham and Parry have been the players to fill in effectively, often cutting inside ratehr than outside the full-back. Some of the more recent occupants of the role would be:


Trevor Sinclair made a number of appearances but a knee problem restricted him and he never cemented down a regular starting place. The same can be said of Willo Flood, the ex-Manchester City player was a regular substitute but rarely started and has spent nearly two full seasons on loan at Dundee United. Malvin Kamara was a free transfer signing from MK Dons, and initially impressed with his strong running and confident demeanor – he was soon found out and made few more outings in a City shirt. Neal Ardley was signed from Watford as a right winger, but his age and lack of pace restricted him and he became a useful stop-gap at right-back for most of his Bluebirds appearances.


Personally, I feel the last natural right-winger who was a regular starter for the Bluebirds was Jobi McAnuff who was sold to Crystal Palace early in 2005 – thats nearly four years without a right winger! Jobi was sold to stave off administration but was a popular player and a real attacking threat.


Prior to that we had the likes of Gareth Ainsworth and Josh Low but it seems to me this has been a problem position for Cardiff City for some time now and had been ignored – hopefully new-boy Chris Burke is the answer…