Pack has plenty to play for in derby like no other

FOR Marlon Pack, tonight’s fixture does not represent simply a Severnside derby, but a clash between his current employers and the team with whom he made his name.

When Neil Warnock signed Pack from the Robins in the summer of 2019, the former Bluebirds manager could hardly believe his luck that he managed to prise away their rivals’ captain.

Pack spent six seasons at Ashton Gate and became a hardened Championship player in the process. Warnock was looking to make up for the steel he lost when Aron Gunnarsson left the Bluebirds after their Premier League campaign and saw Pack as the perfect option.

And the player admits that the move surprised him, too, but his ambition to succeed and further his career drove him to make the switch.

“It was one that I was surprised as well if I’m going to be completely honest,” Pack said of his move across the Severn Bridge.

“It came probably at the right time in my career. I had a long time at Bristol City, went through a lot with the club, loads of highs and plenty of lows.

“But at the time in my career, I felt it was the right time to move.

“You have to be ambitious as a player. Cardiff came in for me, it was one you had to weigh up.

“Being able to live where my son could stay in school and in his friendship groups, which is key if you ask any footballer.

“Watching Cardiff from afar the season before, just getting relegated from the Premier League, it was one I couldn’t really turn down.”

As Pack alluded to there, moving to Cardiff meant he didn’t have to move home. He still lives near Bristol’s training ground.

“It’ll be interesting if we win on Friday what sort of reception I come home to,” he joked.

He owes a lot to Bristol City and he says as much during his media duties ahead of tonight’s Severnside derby clash.

He has a lot of old friends still at Ashton Gate, as you would expect given how ingrained he was in the club during his time there, but he believes there would be nothing better than getting one over on his old employers and, importantly, his old pals.

“From a personal perspective, it’s against my former club, former team-mates, Dean Holden, my old assistant manager who is now the first-team manager there.

“I had a great time at Bristol City, a club I’ll always hold fondly to my heart, but ultimately now I’m a Cardiff player and when you play these games you want to get one over your old team and get one over on your friends and former team-mates.”

Pack is almost a shoo-in to start the crucial clash, the last one before the international break.

He has arguable been Cardiff’s most consistent performer this season, churning out largely solid displays in the middle of the park during a largely uninspiring start to the season.

But things now appear to be on the up ever so slightly after the 3-0 drubbing of Barnsley on Tuesday night.

While that is just one complete performance, one could argue, manager Neil Harris believes that having a Severnside derby will be enough to ensure that the spark which was lit following the woeful QPR display will still be alight when his team stride out under the Friday night lights.

“After QPR, I did it aggressively in a rallying nature,” Harris said.

“I made sure I followed that up Sunday and Monday with positive messages.

“Things we got wrong followed by another positive. You have to say it in different ways. Reminding them what they can do well and what they can do better.

“It doesn’t mean just because they are senior players that they can’t learn and improve. It was about finding solutions to things that had gone wrong.

“Then you find the team spirit and camaraderie in the group to make sure they react and we saw that reaction on Tuesday night and the second half at QPR.

“It’s about reinforcing it. Duels, aerially, tackles, footraces, we were miles better. You just need little reminders.

“It’s down to their professional nature as well, how much do they want to beat Bristol City? I know the answer to that in my changing room.”