The clock is ticking for Noone ... and it could be time to end stay

HOW long do you wait for a player to come good again? It’s one of those eternal questions that divides football supporters.

Fans are nostalgic by nature and if you’re a player that once shone for their club, chances are that plenty will have faith that you can recapture that form and reach those heights once again. Sometimes it happens, other times it does not, but the faith will endure for some and wither and die for others.

Joe Mason is a good example of this phenomena. An inspired, calculated risk when signed for buttons by Malky Mackay, Mason became an integral player during his first season in charge, which included opening the scoring in the Carling Cup final against Liverpool.

Even when Mackay was afforded the riches to transform his rag-tag collective into promotion contenders the following year, Mason endured and remained an important member of the squad.

From then on, his Cardiff career began to drift. He was shipped out on loan to Bolton by Malky and when he was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Norwegian professed his admiration for Mason, but still sent him back to Wanderers.

He returned to Bolton, where he impressed in bursts, for a third spell, eventually returning when Russell Slade had taken charge.

With the club in the midst of a costcutting exercise and keen to make the most of what they already had, Mason was handed a lifeline and did OK.

He never quite reached the heights of those early performances again though, when he seemed to be mentally a yard ahead of those around him. His laid-back style began to grate and he began to face charges of laziness.

When Mason eventually joined Wolves for £3m, there were few left to argue that the deal did not represent value for money and his form since joining would appear to back up that opinion.

Noone joined the season after Mason as part of Mackay’s transfer spree, signed for a fee in excess of £1m from Brighton. He hit the ground running and was outstanding in his debut against Wolves, displaying old-fashioned wing play stationed on the left flank and earning Cardiff a penalty with his trickery.

It’s easy to forget just how good Noone was in that season. With Peter Whittingham, he was at the heart of Cardiff’s creative output and chipped in with seven goals. He scored in three consecutive games at one stage and curled in a superb free-kick against Bolton on the day that Cardiff were crowned champions.

Not an automatic choice during Cardiff’s Premier League season, he played his way back in to the side and provided one of few highlights, with a brilliant solo goal at Manchester City, leaving both Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart in his wake.

At that time, there were some championing his England international credentials ahead of the 2014 World Cup, but little did we know that Noone had already peaked.

Back in the Championship, Noone was a regular under Solskjaer and Slade, but the goals began to dry up and Noone has become increasingly predictable.

There have certainly been highlights since and a brilliant brace at Wolves will live long in the memory, but the zip and confidence of old is now rarely on display.

Everyone now knows his signature move. Like Arjen Robben, he receives the ball on the right, cuts in on to his left and tries to bend it in to the far corner. The Dutchman has managed to maintain a brilliant career with variations of that same skill, whereas Noone increasingly finds a defender ready and prepared to telegraph his intentions.

At the weekend, Robben scored this very same goal for Bayern Munich against fierce rivals Borussia Dortmund, while Noone sat out the win against Brentford.

Since Neil Warnock took charge, Noone’s form has continued to fluctuate.

Drifting in and out of favour, Noone knuckled down and broke into the side late last year and starred in an impressive away victory at Leeds, which at the time was only his second start in three months.

Soon after, Warnock was back on Noone’s case, declaring that he was at fault for Blackburn’s late equaliser in a disappointing 1-1 away draw. Warnock is clearly frustrated by Cardiff’s lack of consistency and no player appears to epitomise that defect more than Noone.

He is one of many Cardiff players with only one year left on his existing deal and the club will soon be forced to offer him extended terms or put him up for sale. It remains to be seen which way Warnock will sway, but he is one of few players that he may be tempted to cash in on to generate extra funds.

Noone turned out for Kevin McNaughton’s testimonial recently and as one of the few players on show that still play professionally, he was a cut above most of those on show.

More striking was the fact that he looked like he was enjoying himself out there and he dusted off some of the old tricks that were once his forte.

It was a welcome blast from the past and having only recently turned 29, Noone still has plenty of playing years ahead of him.

Here’s hoping that Warnock can help him recapture his very finest form, but maybe a change of scenery is necessary for him to reach that level once more.