The new life of Lee Baddeley, the Cardiff City record breaker whose injury hell ended his boyhood dream at 25
In the latest in our series of interviews catching up with the Cardiff City class of '92, it's Lee Baddeley, the former defender who broke John Toshack's record
By Glen Williams
Thursday 25th June 2020
Former Cardiff City player Lee Baddeley
Lee Baddeley's story is one of immense highs, crushing lows and all too untimely endings.
This kid was the ultimate Cardiff City prospect, one of a crop of supremely-talented youngsters sprouting through the ranks during the early 1990s, one of the Darling Buds of Eddie May.
He was Cardiff through and through, reared in Llanishen and was all too keen to put pen to paper on schoolboy terms as soon as he was of age.
Baddeley made trips to Ninian Park to watch the Bluebirds' tribulations during the 1980s as they fell from Division Two down to Division Four. But that never put him off.
"It was always a dream of mine to play football for Cardiff," he said.
"A lot of my friends in school were going off to Luton but never really made it. Stick with your hometown club and get there.
"It all kicked off when Len Ashurst got the sack. Eddie came in as my YTS manager and he eventually took over from Len."
Baddeley, a full back, was something of a prodigy back then and both Ashurst and May saw something in this precocious youngster and entrusted him with big responsibility, with the former even handing him his Cardiff City debut at the tender age of 16.
The surprise inclusion was actually something of a shock to Baddeley, who thought he was just making the trip to Gillingham to help the kitman.
"Len gave me my first game when I was 16," he recalls. "I'm sure I was the youngest person to play for Cardiff, November 24, 1990, 4-0 we lost, Gillingham away.
"It was 0-0 half-time, we were doing alright!
"I didn't know I was playing. Len had me in the office on the Friday and asked me if I wanted to travel as the 14th man, fish and chip boy, and I said I'd love to.
"Then, when he read out the team sheet an hour before playing, I was playing!
"He did it on purpose so I wouldn't worry about it. Get on and do it."
Baddeley's revelation prompts a bit of digging on our side. All records seem to allude to the fact that Aaron Ramsey broke John Toshack's record to become the youngest player ever to play for the club in 2007.
But, a quick glance at the dates and Toshack, on debut, was 16 years, seven months and 23 days old, while Baddeley was 16 years, four months and 13 days old when he donned the brilliant blue for the first time. So Baddeley, in fact, broke Toshack's record.
It might be more romantic to say Ramsey took the mantle from an icon such as Toshack, but Baddeley quietly remembers the truth.
Toshack, of course, remains the youngest scorer, having netted on his debut appearance against Leyton Orient in November 1965.
But Baddeley held the record as the youngest Cardiff City player until 2007, when Ramsey, who was born in the year Baddeley made his first appearance, stole that title.
It is not unfair to say, then, that Baddeley is in esteemed company. All three were tipped for bright things and they all showed a supreme gift which belied their age.
Lee Baddeley once claimed his prize for being marked as a Face In The Crowd in a Football Echo competition
Unlike the other two, though, Baddeley says he was never blessed with great natural talent, instead believing himself to be more of a tireless worker who would throw his body on the line for his team.
Adding to that was the immense sense of pride he felt from lining up alongside the clutch of promising Welsh stars which served to tighten the bond between players and fans.
"The fans were unbelievable," he says, "there through thick and thin.
"We had a lot more Welsh players then. A lot of homegrown talent, the likes of [Damon] Searle, Blakey, Anthony Bird.
"It was like you were proud of playing for Cardiff City because you were Welsh and that's where you were from. You played with more hunger. I know I always did.
"I never classed myself as a great player, but I gave 110% every time I went out there.
"It was just really weird, the team spirit was unbelievable. You used to fight for one another."
Indeed it was our very own Blakey who introduced him to R&B music, which he still has a penchant for listening to now.
As that team grew, it wasn't until a few years later they tasted glory together in that special 1992/93 campaign.
A few players stick out in Baddeley's mind as the ones who had great influence. Kevin Ratcliffe is, of course, one of those.
"He liked to pass on his knowledge," the former defender says. "You just felt a lot safer and more confident out on the pitch when he was playing."
There were big personalities in there, too.
"There were a few dust-ups with players, it was just handbags at 10 paces," he says - but it was only because everyone was so passionate about pulling in the right direction.
In search of Cardiff City's most loved team: The class of 1992/93
They were the Cardiff City team that defined a generation. A group of players who sparked something within the Bluebirds fanbase few others have been able to replicate since.
In 1993, Eddie May's side delivered promotion for his barmy army at the end of a season those who were there will never forget.
This was the team of Dale, Stant, Blake, Searle, Pike and the rest. It was the year of that glorious, iconic kit.
- Chris Pike spoke about his days as a Bluebirds goalscoring machine and the moment he knew his 11-year-old nephew, Gareth Bale, was going to be special.
- Cohen Griffith speaks about his life before Cardiff City as a hospital dark room technician and a payroll clerk, as well as what he's been up to now.
- Here we found Nick Richardson, the former midfielder who enjoyed immense highs and crushing lows at Cardiff City.... before becoming an IT whizz.
But for a player who shot onto the scene in 1990, won the Division Three title, two Welsh Cups and a handful of Wales under-21 caps, by 1997, he was bizarrely surplus to requirements. And he was only 22.
"I never wanted to leave Cardiff, it's as simple as that," he says in his softly spoken voice.
"The management at the time weren't going to offer me a new contract so I decided to leave myself.
"Things then changed after I left. So, in hindsight, I might have been better off hanging around there.
"But you never know what's around the corner. Exeter offered to take me so I signed on with them.
"It didn't last long, though, because I retired at 25."
That last sentence is difficult both for Baddeley to say and for anyone to hear. A youngster, still, at 25, whose dream of being a professional footballer was realised before being quickly, and quite literally, torn from beneath him.
In truth, he is still feeling the effects now.
"I pulled the hamstring off the bone and it embedded further down the hamstring," he says of his wince-worthy, career-ending injury.
"Football was my life, that's what I woke up for, to strive to be as good as I could. To have that taken away from you, it's massive. A massive life adjustment.
"In all honesty, I probably still haven't adjusted to that now and I'm 45. It's still in the back of your mind; what if? How many games could I have got under my belt?"
"You learn to live with it, I suppose."
Baddeley cut ties with football completely after his retirement in 1999, save a short stint with Merthyr the year after, and settled down in Exeter.
He eventually studied a foundation degree in sports turf science before taking up a roll as a greenkeeper at a local golf course, Downes Crediton.
He enjoyed that job for 15 years, before another complete change of direction took him into the in-laws' family business.
"I left there [Downes Crediton] three or four years ago and went to work for my father-in-law," he says.
"I sell power tools and do servicing on them as well, it's a family business."
He seems to enjoy the job and speaks fondly of being around the family. He has a son, too, who is football crazy and he loves watching games with him as much as he can.
He keeps in contact with a few of the boys from those Cardiff City days such as Derek Brazil over Twitter or Damon Searle when he wants tickets to Cardiff City matches.
Circling back to his playing days, it is hard not to share the sense of regret that still lingers within Baddeley. It is always such a shame when football careers don't go according to plan and it's difficult to know how to react when the script is torn up before your very eyes.
But he takes solace in the fact he achieved his boyhood dream and, although his time on the pitch was cut desperately short, he can certainly look back with huge pride over what he achieved during those wonderful days in front of the roaring Ninian Park crowd.
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