THE PUSH FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE
Millwall’s Lions head to the Bluebirds’ den for another key battle in the SkyBet Championship: Big-match special inside
SUCCESS is very often all about good timing – and Craig Bryson’s time at Cardiff City is no different.
Like his timing in the inch-perfect run and finish at Sunderland that brought his first goal for the Bluebirds.
Or the timing of his arrival into Neil Warnock’s dressing room just as he sought to find a bit more balance to his midfield before the end of summer business, finding the Scotland international had that right blend of high energy and hard work to mix with a habit of an extra attacking drive than others in the squad.
Yet, in proof that it’s all about timing, Warnock could have easily been left without his final transfer target.
Warnock had already been pestering the Rams about Bryson’s availability after noticing the 30-year-old had not been in Gary Rowett’s early-season teams. Finally, on transfer deadline day the veteran manager got the go-ahead from the East Midlands that a season-long loan was a possibility.
Maikel Kieftenbeld was set to sign for Derby from Birmingham and, after turning down interest from Sheffield Wednesday, Bryson was allowed to leave for Cardiff.
Only Kieftenbeld never did arrive at Pride Park. The deal fell through after missing the deadline.
There are suggestions Derby tried to see if they could recall Bryson after being left short in midfield as a result. They couldn’t, meaning Warnock has been left celebrating the Scot’s timely influence on his squad.
“I was unaware of it at the time,” says Bryson of the deadline-day issue.
“But, from reading some of the reports, they were letting me go to bring him in.
“Somebody said because of the international transfer between an English club and a Welsh side taking longer they did me before the other move was completed. But I didn’t know anything about it.”
All Bryson knew was that Warnock had wanted him.
Bluebirds fans questioned the lowprofile signing at the time – the return of hometown hero Joe Ledley a more romantic move being touted at that moment – but now all can see why the Yorksireman was so keen on a jigsawfit of a transfer.
“I’d heard plenty about the manager – I think most in football have, he’s been around that long and is such a character who’s had a lot of success,” says the three-cap international.
“When I knew of the interest it was a difficult decision in the sense of having been at Derby for six years and having so much history at the club.
“I had a good bond with the fans and everybody at the club, but it was a point of my career there where I wasn’t playing too much.
“The manager there had gone down a different route and played a different formation, it never really suited me, to be honest.
“I had to either sit and wait for a chance or move on and see what else is out there to try and play again and help another team.
“In the end, it was Derby who came to me on the last day of the window to see if I could go as Cardiff had asked a few times about me, and in the end it happened.
“It’s proven to be a good move so far. I think moving after not playing gives you a new lease of life because you have to prove yourself all over again.
“It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the last six years or whatever, you have to earn the right to be supported by teammates, managers or fans who might have seen you once or twice a season before that.