Great Scot - A tale of 2 City keepers

It is with some irony that on a day Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall withdrew from a Scotland international friendly squad with an elbow injury, days after boss Dave Jones tried to withdraw him but was denied, his Bluebirds rival between the sticks last term, Peter Enckleman, has headed that way signing a 2 year contract this evening with SPL side St Johnstone.

Enks -in his St Johnstone kit

"Enks" went for trial with the Saints last Friday, played in a 1-0 win over Spanish outfit Real Valadollid in a friendly on Staurday, agreed terms on Sunday and signed formally today with their boss Derek McInnes quite gushing about what he has seen. "He only joined us for training (Friday) but he wanted to play and was excellent. He had a bit more work to do than I would have liked, to be honest. He took crosses, made saves and kicked well. He deserved to be well pleased with his performance."

Good Luck to Enks but as Aston Villa and Cardiff City fans will testify, you're never too far away from a calamity with him as I'm sure St Johnstone fans will get to see the best and worst of him in time.

What's more noteworthy is that he joins a drain of yesterday's men who have moved North, none of whom would be regarded good enough to feature in the Championship. We're talking about a side captained by Jody Morris that also includes Walsall striker Sam Parkin, the veteran Michael Duberry, journeyman Scott Dobie and lower league specialist Cleveland Taylor who played for League Two Burton Albion last season.


Yet this side and these players are the kind of outfit Joe Ledley has opted to face most weeks with Celtic when he could, and should, be in the Premier League or in a better standard of football by staying with City. It's a sharp reminder that the move may be doing wonders for his bank balance but nothing for his football.

6 out at City but no surprises

Dave Jones told 8 players that they were not being offered and new contracts and they imeediately left the club.

Warren Feeney, Peter Enckleman, Aaron Morris, Josh Magennis and Tony Capaldi while Riccy Scimeca formally retired.

Tony Capaldi always seemed to be out of favour but was the only player to get a decent amount of firt team football this season and will surely get another Championship club quickly. Feeney's contribution was mostly laughable, he was a nice guy but a terrible signing and looks set to drop to League One football which is more at his level.

Joe Ledley is out of contract with a few Premiership clubs showing interest (they would have to pay compensation) and the Scottish "giants?" of Rangers and Celtic offering European football and they could take him for nothing. However City are making a concerted effort to keep the local lad and are reportedly willing to make him a supreme offer.

Miguel Comminges is recovering from major surgery but was allowed a 6 month contract to get fit and then enable him to find a new club and young keeper Santiago was given a 65 month pro contract to prove his case for being City's third keeper.

One final thing - Kelvin Etuhu's loan is over and he has been sent packing to Manchester City. An awful loan who promised much but delivered nothing.

City seek to keep Taylor as Enckleman out for season

Cardiff City and goalkeepers just haven't got along in 2009. Both Peter Enckleman and Tom Heaton suffered long term injuiries, Dimi the Disaster blew his chance on loan, Schmeicel wasn't allowed to come back on loan while Man City remain in the UEFA Cup so Aston Villa's Stuart Taylor has been doing the job on an emergency loan with no back up on the bench but he has yet to be on a winning side and have kept a clean sheet with 7 conceded in 4 games and a feeling he could have done better with a couple of those.


Taylor's loan ends next Monday after City play Burnley but news emerges that Peter Enckleman's minor op in January has not worked and he is being re-referred with the possibility of needing a bone graft that wold finish his season and also make him miss the start of next term.


Tom Heaton is now available agains and was on the bench against Swansea but it is believed City would not contemplate using Dimi again and they can't afford to only have one goalkeeper for the end of season and possible play-offs. Cardiff will await the specialist's news but they expect to approach Villa to keep Taylor until the season ends.

Keeping To Themselves??

Cardiff City have had a troublesome 2009 with goalkeepers losing their only permanent keeper of note in Peter Enckleman swiftly followed by season loan man Tom Heaton.


Intended emergency loan replacement Dimi Konstantopoulos seemed to forget how to kick a ball, know when to leave his line, score an own goal and commit more howlers so has been banished to friendly matches at Merthyr and seemingly not even trusted to sit on the bench, Dave Jones preferring no back up keeper while latest loan Stuart Taylor looked the part until he was suspect for a couple of Shefield United goals last weekend.

But what of the original duo??


Over the last couple of seasons, it's almost become a joke amongst knowledgeable City fans that whenever a player is absent injured for a number of weeks, you can half the total and that's when to see them again. They're back sooner with hardly an exception and never later than stated. We've had plenty of examples of that this season too.


So when Cardiff City announced Enckleman was out for 5 weeks after an end of January operation, I half expected to see him 3 weeks later. However, he's now been out for just about 2 months and it looks set to be a while longer.


Likewise Heaton was going to be out for 5 weeks at most - he's now gone past that time and again there's no sign/news of his return either.


News is sketchy to the point of being non-existent so Cardiff face returning to league action on Sunday week with Taylor and no back up. Wonder what's taking so long?

Ninian Park New Keeper Crisis

The HEAT is ON

Cardiff City have been hit by a new goalkeeping blow as news emerges that Tom Heaton will be out for as long as 5 weeks with thigh damage sustained in the Arsenal F.A. Cup rout.

Ok, I give up, what does rhyme

with Dimitri Kostantopulous??

That it was only a rout and not a massacre was down to Heaton’s man of the match display for City in a game he returned to the side after being sacrificed following apoor defeat at Plymouth last November. The quip is that he was left so unprotected and faced so many shots that it was balls hitting him all night that caused the problem.

It represents a real problem for City as recent regular Peter Enckleman is also ruled out for a further 5 weeks following knee surgery and means that last week’s loan signing Dimi will step straight into the side at Wolves while untried Polish teenager Erwin Sak will be on the bench as he was at The Emirates. Some may feel it’s a blessing in disguise as Dimi has more experience and was recently starring at Swansea who were deperate to keep him before Cardiff moved in.

Elevated to the first team

.. and not facing the Sak!

Speaking to Wales Online, the 22 year old Heaton who also starred in a debut for England Under 21 (yes, I know!) last week said, “I’m absolutely gutted, I’ve had to wait for my chance and now this happens. I was pleased with the way I played at Arsenal, but hopefully I will be back as soon as possible.”

New Loan Keeper signed to cover Enckleman absence

CARDIFF CITY have this eveing confirmed the loan signing of Coventry City's Greek goalkeeper Demitrios Konstantopoulos (thankfully better known as Dimi) on loan for the rest of this season.


Weekend rumours of regular keeper Peter Enckleman facing surgery were founded today as he had a weekend knee op and is expected to be absent for a critical 6-8 weeks.


30 year old Dimi started his UK career with Hartlepool before being snapped up by Coventry in the summer of 2007. He managed only 21 appearences for the Sky Blues but has been popular wherever he has played, none more so than City's local rivals Swansea City for whom he has just completed a 6 game loan spell featuring in The Jacks great F.A. Cup 3rd Round win at Portsmouth. Swans fans wished for him to stay but the deal couldn't be done and Cardiff have now moved in.


Dimi will compete with Tom Heaton for the keeper's shirt but Heaton will get first chance in the F.A. Cup replay against Arsenal at The Emirates next Monday night with Dimi being cup-tied.

Enckleman Out for 3 Weeks

Unsubstantiated reports claim that Cardiff City have taken advantage of the enforced break by sending Peter Enckleman into hospital for a stomach operation that could see him absent for 3 weeks.

Encks has played with the injury for some time but it is apparently getting worse and they ran the risk of losing him later as games pile up. This absence will see him miss fewer Championship games but leaves City looking to Tom Heaton, a promising keeper but who fails to provide the same assurance at the back. Their respective records between the posts for City this season speaks for themselves. Will Dave Jones enter the emergency loan market? It looks like he will need to.

More news as it develops.

Dave Jones dismisses Peter Encklman's thoughts on Ninian Park pitch

CARDIFF CITY boss Dave Jones has reacted a video interview with Wales Online last week by Peter Enckleman in which he was mildly critical of the Ninian Park playing surface.

Encks mentioned that the pitch has not been the best of late and there his standing foot occasionally gives way when kicking on it. When an excuse or not, both Tom Heaton, himself and other keepers have been kicking poorly in recent times but the surface looks superb from the stands and far better than most around.

Of slightly more concern to me was Enckleman talking about rumours linking Joe Ledley with Everton as if it was some sort of inevitable deal.

Despite the video having less than 160 viewings, Dave Jones has reacted in todays South Wales Echo commenting that "The pitch is magnificent and Peter is the first player I've known to say anything other than speak highly of it. I'm not sure he was thinking clearly in that interview".

You can see the interview again below.

Peter Enckleman Video Interview to Wales Online on all current Cardiff City matters

ENCKLEMAN RELEASED BY BLACKBURN

Everyone seems to be going out of their way to be kind to Peter Enckleman which is understandable but it was his error, a bad one, that was most contributory of Kanu's weekend F.A. Cup Final winner.

Have no illusions, had he done that in a league game, he would have been slaughtered and he had a poor performance in which he appeared to lose his bottle and went "punchy" by throwing fists at everything instead of catching.

Less than 48 hours after that game, he has been released by Blackburn Rovers where he hadn't played for 3 years before joining the Bluebirds on loan. This seems to pave the way for his permanent transfer to Ninian Park for a keeper who has done moderately well but really doesn't appear to be City's long-term answer and, for me, nowhere near Kasper Schmeicel who was our best keeper last season.

Wonder if Dave Jones is having second thoughts?

IN SAFE HANDS – ENCKLEMAN OFFERED 3 YEAR CCFC CONTRACT

It is well documented that one of Cardiff City’s failings this season has been a struggle to adequately replace Neil Alexander, now performing domestic and European heroics at Glasgow Rangers.

Dave Jones’ natural preference for a big commanding keeper backfired as his choices for this season, players it appeared he had deals sewn up for, never arrived which then saw the arrival of Michael Oakes permanently having not started any game for Wolves the previous season and then, as the season was about to start, Ross Turnbull on loan from Middlesbrough.

Turnbull was a disaster and soon sent back to Middlesbrough under the pretence of an injury there while Oakes, while not out of his depth and not helped by a defence performing below par, was unable to keep a clean sheet and rarely inspired real confidence. Existing keeper David Forde was regarded in similar tones after a spell between the posts at the end of last season and found himself being loaned out to Luton then Bournemouth and being regarded as successful at the lower levels where he is sure to feature next season.

It took until October to have anyone worthy as Kasper Schemicel was the business between the sticks arguably producing a starfish jump Save of the Season in all divisions during a game at Leicester City but he unexpectedly returned to fight for first team football at Manchester City. It never happened and he ended up on loan again at Coventry. Now told he can leave the North West club – along with Sven Goran Eriksson, many City fans, myself included, would love to see him back here but you get the feeling his time here did not end of the very best of terms.

January brought the arrival of two new keepers in Polish 19 yr old stopper Erwin Sak who showed promise in the recent F.A. Welsh Cup Final and even made previous youth keeper Josh McGinniss change his position to centre-forward instead but he is only ready to be number 3.

It appears Enckleman would love to stay with his current contract at Blackburn expiring and City have offered him an offer to sign until 2011 but the deal terms will, no doubt, be thrashed out first. City are said to be looking from another Premiership young’un on loan to stiffen competition in a position that hasn’t really had any at the club for a long while.

Enckleman set to stay on

Suggestions are that Peter Enckleman will pen a new 2 year deal at City, a suitable reward for a player who has done well on loan and - until the past week - was part of the most solid Bluebirds defence seen for a long while so it makes sense.

On balance, I would personally like to see Kasper Schmeicel return as he's destined to leave Man City and impressed me far more.

Enckleman seems decent enough though even if he is prone to lapses but is hardly the big keeper that Dave Jones prefers and a factor in him releasing Neil Alexnader this time last season.


Enckelman set for extended City stint
ic Wales - United Kingdom

Enckleman on his oppposite number in the F.A. Cup Final

One of the F.A. Cup Final sub-plots is that Cardiff City's keeper Peter Enckleman was understudy to Portsmouth's David James when both were at Aston Villa. In this interview with the Western Mail, "Enks" shares his thoughts on the veteran colossus.

David James one of best, says Enkelman

ic Wales - United Kingdom

ENCKLEMAN & JIIMMY in the DAILY TELEGRAPH

Enckleman's "Grandad Hair"

as seen in his early days at City

Peter Enckelman's rehabilitation at Cardiff

Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/04/04/sfnsmi204.xml

JFH in The DT

Peter Enckleman download from Cardiff City phone-in on GTFM tonight

Enckleman was the guest and gave a really good account of himself.

If you're interested in listening or downloading for your MP3, the link to do that is here. Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?d0py02d1j2g