We’ve seen the banter on twitter, most of us have met at least one of the players at some point, but what are they really like? How do they really interact with each other? Wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on the wall when they’re all in a room together?
Friday 28th October, I was lucky enough to get that opportunity. Not actually being a fly obviously, that would just be weird! Rhi Davies @smileyrhi had won a ‘training day experience’ and invited her cousin to join her and her friend Carl and his son. Fortunately, her cousin had to drop out, so I bravely stepped in!
On arrival, we were shown into a room where we were told we would have tea and toast brought to us. What we weren’t told, was that this was the players dining/hang out room and as we took our seats at our table in the corner, it very much felt like all eyes were upon us. The room consisted of 5 big tables, a staffed kitchen area in the corner, a group of 3 sofas arranged around a television, which I didn’t see changed from Sky Sports News and then three rooms along the side. Malky’s office, the coaching staffs office and a player recreation room – a small room with some sofas, a television and a PlayStation.
Trying to casually look around without staring, it was all just a bit too surreal; McPhail was sat on the sofa behind us reading the paper, Darce and P-Whitts were sat next to each other at one table having a quiet chat, Parky was bounding around with his larger than life personality clear for everyone to see. Gyepes, randomly, just kept appearing from various doorways! It was all very laid back.
With the players off getting themselves ready for training, we were given a tour of the facilities. I was struck by the large canvas prints on the walls, very much focussing on the team and the ‘in it together’ mentality we’ve seen displayed on the pitch. I wanted to pinch one for my lounge but unfortunately, I didn’t have a screwdriver. Also, I may have had issues sneaking one out to be fair!
The relaxed atmosphere from the dining room continued onto the training pitch. Don’t get me wrong, they were working really hard, but they were laughing and joking, clearly enjoying themselves. It was a pleasure to see. Also, anyone who assumes certain players aren’t playing regularly due to a lack of effort in training can stop with that rumour straight off. Among the last players to leave the training pitch were Anthony Gerrard, Darcy Blake and Dekel Keinan. Other players were already upstairs tucking into their lunch by the time those three disappeared into the changing room.
Back in the dining room for lunch and soaking up the great atmosphere between the boys, it made us stop and think what it must have been like last season.
It’s been suggested that a certain player’s attitude to playing for Cardiff changed after a certain international call up and that there were a couple of tensions amongst the squad, I imagine that atmosphere must have been very different. There are no apparent cliques amongst our current squad, everyone seems to get on really well and there was plenty of light banter in the room.
And then we get to Malky, who could not have gone to any further lengths to make us feel more than welcome and relaxed in this very alien environment. It’s still early days for him, yet you can’t imagine Dave Jones being like that. I can’t put my finger on it but Malky is definitely the one as far as I’m concerned. We may not get promotion or even finish in the play offs this season, but there is something very special going on at Cardiff City.
Everybody at the club made the effort with us from one of the directors, to the manager and players and the backroom and behind the scenes staff. We have a fantastically likeable bunch of players who are extremely down to earth without an ego in sight. It is definitely an ‘all for one’ ethos that is engulfing the squad and it is coming through in their performances. It was an honour to be a part of it for a day.
Tags: Malky Mackay, Training
One Response to “Oh, to be a fly on the wall…”