Is Joe Ledley just a run-of-the-mill second division midfielder?

By: Martyn | September 28th, 2009

ONCE UPON A TIME (or Amser maith yn ôl)…

in a land called Cardiff, there lived the most fantastic of all monarchs. His name was Joseph. Ninian Park was his castle, and all over the kingdom his name provoked nothing but verbal marvel and sheer joy. Heroic, handsome, gallant, brave, and noble, not to mention a sublime swordsman and accomplished archer, his subjects could not contemplate life without their leader. Many a time during his reign Joseph had saved his meek counterparts and people, a race perennially threatened by the most grotesque creations God hath ever fathomed such as the Lebanese Hammamhead dragon and the Westham Warriors. Be they at the very peak of the Hawthorn Mountains, or in amongst the native Barnsley tribe deep in the enchanted forest of Wemberlee, his royal highness so superlatively slayed encroaching demons to save his people from all that was sacrilegious.

As his reputation and prestige swelled, so did the length of his admirers. The advances of dainty Lady McCarthy of Wolverhampton, shy Maid Moyes and the gorgeous Princess Pulis were kindly welcomed but rebuffed. The only true female figures prominent in Joseph’s life were his overbearing step-mothers: The grouchy but loyal, Di Jones, and the gobby but jovial Queen Tosh. Both believed themselves to be the closer of the duo to young Joseph, but in reality, the poor fellow had become somewhat wayward under the influence of his greedy gardener, Dastardly David Baldwin…

Now I’ll end this quasi-fairy tale here because they’re supposed to conclude with ‘and they all lived happily ever after‘ and that may not necessarily be the case.

Firstly; what is it about Joe Ledley that has managers and pundits gushing with praise and waving chequebooks with vertically-stretching triceps? He’s not exactly the most graceful, technically-endowed or (constant) goal-grabbing midfielder ever to have graced the lower leagues. Nor does he possess an ability from free-kicks that could mask some of his flaws. In fact, Steve Claridge was spot on when highlighting that Ledley’s talents may lie in the fact that he’s an average Joe (that pun was inevitable) who does the all-round bit very well. He’s certainly had more chances than most to showcase this bulging averageness, playing scores of games since being involved in the first team squad picture at Ninian Park/New Ground (albeit after debuting 5 years ago on a hockey pitch). There have been 31 goals (0.12 goals per game), countless assists, 17 yellow cards (Saturday saw his first ever red) and a staggering 215 City showings, all of which help promote the Joe Ledley brand.

FACTOR IN…

- 6 spells of pre-season fitness training for the 6 feet tall, 12-ish stone weighing Cardiffian known as The Skunk (?)
- A few positional shifts.
- Multiple injuries, from metatarsals to fingers, via the back.
- Becoming the 646th player to represent Wales at full international level.
- Adding another 30 caps, several goals, and becoming the poster-boy and captain for an entire nation.
- Trips to draining locations such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro, Azerbaijan and Slovakia. Not to mention equally draining shadow-chasing clashes against sides like Germany, Brazil and the Netherlands.
- 14 appearances for Welsh youth teams from U17 – U21 level.

Ledley’s life in the footballing circus has certainly been action-packed.

FOR THE UNACQUAINTED, HERE ARE A FEW OF THE WELSHMAN’S CHARACTERISTICS

He can let the game pass him by: “I’m pretty certain Joe Ledley was actually back in Cardiff and a cardboard cut-out like the one in the old John Smith’s adverts had instead taken his place” [Doncaster Rovers away, August 2008]

He can operate in several roles: “Showed his versatility by playing in 3 different positions during the game: out on the left, then right-back, before ending up in central midfield for the second period. Some good running, tackling, crossing and movement was compounded with some bad reading of the game” [MK Dons, August 2008]

He offers little in the way of a set-piece threat: “Yesterday he gave away a penalty, showed a wide range of heavy and lacklustre passing, looked asleep and lethargic when on the ball or when it was near him, threw in a few bad CK’s, and horribly miscued and directed a shot” [Norwich City, August 2008]

He is guilty of playing only in brief flashes: “Ledley was sloppy, indecisive, tactically tactless and somewhat comatose. On the few occasions he got on the ball he looked useful and carried and personified the way a team should threaten. But when I say ‘few’, I mean that he did this about twice. In 90 minutes” [Wolverhampton Wanderers, November 2008]

He is not always the most alert player: “Joe Ledley scored a fantastic goal but he was slow and clueless on the ball and had a few lazy moments in the second half when he would remember to pick up his man about two seconds after the Jack in question had passed him” [Swansea City away, November 2008]

He can be a pulsating midfield presence: “An imposing and dominant figure in both defence and attack thereafter. When he performs like this, his clever, intelligent and athletic play is plain for all to see” [Wolverhampton Wanderers away, February 2009]

He is a chameleon, not a leader: “When the team are winning and comfortable in doing so, Ledley begins to ooze class” [Nottingham Forest, February 2009]

He is a *big-game player*: “Are the cameras here? Yes Joe, yes they are. Are Premier League scouts here? One would imagine one or two are, aye. Is a world class manager who is yet to open his chequebook here? Abso-bloody-lutely Ledley! So yeah, Joe decided to turn it on. Footballer’s brains and priorities: You gotta love ‘em!” [Arsenal, January 2009]

BUT HE’S JUST A KID?

The Dolmio adverts on TV help portray a view that mollycoddling grown adults is rife and normal. Joe may still be seen as a tender youngster by some, yet with the previous two stanza’s arsenal of statistics and reflections in mind it’s apparent that one can no longer refer to him as a rookie either professionally or in life. He’s as experienced as a professional can get for club and country, has a steady girlfriend, a bedrock of friends from his alma mater Cantonian High, as well as a supportive family. Besides, there isn’t a law that dictates that a twenty-two year old is any less wise (or to use the footballing parlance, ready) than a forty year old by virtue of time spent out of the womb. You can’t quantify such readiness or intelligence in terms of how many candles on cakes you’ve racked up because if we did then we’d turn to nincompoop’s like Romario or Dwight Yorke in hours of need.

Ledley has seen it *all*; from FAW Premier Cup ties, to the Emirates and Anfield, via early-round Carling Cup games against the likes of Macclesfield. He’s had several mentors and played in different systems with maestros like Ryan Giggs and Graham Kavanagh. Joe’s shown he has the ability on his day, but has been moribund for so long it’s not clear whether he’ll ever turn the anamolous flashes into regular Epcot-esque firework displays in the City blue. Has the “cultured” midfielder been over-praised or celebrated so frequently early in his career that the motivation is beginning to wane? Correspondingly, is hesuffering from having never left his comfort zone? Coming through the ranks of a local club, does the fire in the belly get extinguished too early? You look at the likes of Shaun Goater, Jermaine Beckford or even Ledley’s close friend Cameron Jerome and the way in which they have a steely determinedness about them to improve and prove their critics wrong. Nevertheless, for every one of those players released by a top club coming back stronger for and from the experience, there are also the likes of Ledley’s former Wales team-mate Ramon Calliste.

CRUXES

To put his woeful showings this season into some form of context, Ledley was stripped of the captaincy amidst his refusal to pen a new deal with the club, and thus, a freshly-signed cockney named Mark Hudson was appointed in his place. From this, some may opine that I’m basing my opinions on the few shoddy showings of a hurt and scorned local lad. Sadly, that isn’t the case. The malaise has set and permeated the no. 16 ever since that famous FA Cup semi-final goal against Barnsley in April 2008 – arguably the defining and most important moment in his career to date.

When Ledley’s career with the club was beginning, the flashes of genius he showed were supposed to develop into something that he displayed more regularly, and with even greater effect. As it is the flashes are now more irregular and the optimistic, carefree and combative attitude has been displaced by one of lethargy, silver-medal-acceptance and weak will. The Fairwater fellow was the toast of the town, and this provides a useful metaphor for the career-state Ledley currently resides in. Toast has a habit of going cold awfully quickly, and as is the habit with most consumers, the option of putting another slice under the grill is preferable to eating the cold one. With Cardiff City, Ledley has been lucky in that we’re content with the quality of the bread and applied margarine to enjoy it regardless of temperature. Alas, there comes a point when that cold toast goes mouldy, and unlike cheese, mouldy bread isn’t edible.

On the field of play, Ledley’s star currently shines with all the lustre of one of those lardy Biffa bins. So why is such a fading force still granted levels of exposure that others are denied? I’ll call on Jameson to complement my take on the matter:

“One is tempted to say that the very function of the news media is to relegate recent historical experiences as rapidly as possible into the past. The informational function of the media would thus be to help us forget, to serve as the very agents and mechanisms for our historical amnesia”

Joe, who looks every inch the Premier League star, has himself a hotshot agent, and is still of an age where the word potential is can be applied just as readily as complete is the perfect man for bored writers looking to fill copy. The more the papers print stories linking this star-in-the-making – whom the majority will probably have seen no more than once – with a glamorous cash-heavy transfer, the rate at which the hype around him burgeons: until it reaches the point where we simply assume that Ledley can’t possibly be under-performing on the pitch, because well, it’s impossible. He’s Joe Ledley, superstar! This red-top-assisted “fragmentation of time into a series of perpetual presents” has certainly played a big part in the continued glossy bling-laden halo that the world believes to hover over Joe Ledley. The part of playing a game on a pitch and being worthy of a switch to a team with a higher calibre of players is relegated in Modern Football, and this is where players like Ledley (and of course, their agents) benefit in the financial and publicity stakes.*

Therefore, is he guilty of using the club as a stepping stone, blinded by (his fringe) and his agent’s promises of cash/glory/prestige? If, as he so often declares, his desire to remain with the Glamorganshire side is so very palpable, then why on earth hasn’t he offered a performance (or string of them) worthy of this wish? At present, Ledley is levitated by a sense of the grandiose imposed on him by the media, transfer speculation, his agent, and an inflating ego. His career is not being enhanced or maintained by his current level of performance and that’s why I’m looking beyond the hype in the title of this post by trying to posit the idea that Ledley has become merely a competent-ish midfielder in a very poor quality division. Were one totally hype-oblivious to begin watching Cardiff City on a season-long basis, they’d definitely fail to pick out Ledley as a player worthy of the recognition or bloated multi-million figures quoted by clubs for him. With Homegrown Quota laws soon to set plague the gargantuan talent vacuums that are the top-tier sides, expect Ledley to seal a move somewhere nice soon enough. I for one will be interested to see whether the move acts as a catalyst for his career. The whole playing with better players, fresh start claptrap may just invigorate the Welshman to a level of consistency and quality that us City fans have not been fortunate enough to witness. The flip-side of course is that the move just may prove to be the ultimate exposé of an overly-average player luckier than many, himself included, realise.

This isn’t meant to be a character assassination of a likeable local fellow: More a realisation that the career of a potentially decent player is not amounting to much with us here at Cardiff City. A parting of the ways would suit all parties, and the sooner it happens the better. Whichever way you view the case of Joe Ledley, the conclusion suits both. Perhaps he’s just a plucky product of the Cardiff City vineyard who got several fortuitous breaks and we and he should cash in on the boom while its tones still reverberate in our ears. The consistent amount of games he plays and travelling he does may have contributed to early burn-out and attaining high levels of form will never be forthcoming as a result. Alternatively, the men in suits – be they employed in the media or greed sectors – have contrived to ruin the sporting promise of a talented Cardiffian. As far as football is concerned, the longer they spend swamping the likes of Cardiff’s Mill Lane quaffing overly-priced bubbly truth serum and away from the game the sooner the rest of us can enjoy a sport sans fabricated-dramas, overpaid-mercenaries and petty mind-games.

* – I know this seems a tad contradictory given that I’m opting to gift Ledley further wordage rather than discuss the far more vital matter of the team on the pitch, but the issue of this ongoing transfer/contract saga plagues the club and is therefore worthy of debate. This and the fact that due to an increased workload/a steadfast refusal to pay out for meaningless away cup games, I’ve missed watching us in action and would therefore feel fraudulent trying to fully decipher what happened when my eyes witnessed nothing live.

__________________________________________________________________

It’s all gone a bit Adrien Brody’s-nose-shaped on the pitch, with an (unlucky) defeat at Villa in the League Cup followed by a far more preventable one to Sheffield Wednesday in the league on the weekend. The defeat at Aston Holiday Cabin witnessed some feeble marking by Gerrard for Agbonlahor’s goal, while the loss up in Yorkshire to the girl-child of the Addams family saw the boys in yellow (against the suffocating presence of the home side’s blue shirts, the game had the look of an Ikea store’s exterior) contrive to triple Gerrard’s error earlier that week.

We come up against Derby County tomorrow and I for one am relishing getting my teeth into watching the team live once again. Whether I’m echoing those sentiments at approximately 21:34 tomorrow evening is another matter entirely…