MALKY MACKAY: "WHEN I ARRIVED AT CARDIFF & LOOKED AT THE SQ

Ex-Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay shares heartwarming Peter Whittingham tribute

By Luke Phelps

16th May 2020

Malky Mackay managed 125 games in charge of Cardiff City between 2011 and 2013.

The highlights of the Scot’s time in South Wales include reaching the final of the 2012 League Cup, and winning the Championship title in 2013.

Mackay also made the Championship play -offs in his first season and departed Cardiff City leaving the club above the Premier League relegation zone.

Peter Whittingham was present for all of Mackay’s tenure, having spent ten years with Cardiff from 2007 to 2017. The news broke in March of this year that Whittingham, aged 35, had suffered serious head injuries, before his passing was announced on March 19th.

It shook the footballing world and left Cardiff fans in despair – they worshipped Whittingham, who features in both the top-ten appearances, and top-ten goal-scorers list for the club.

He featured 457 times for the Bluebirds and scored 96 goals from midfield. An understated midfielder throughout his career, and Mackay’s tribute pays homage to that.




Writing for http://www.viewfromtheninian.com, Mackay, in short, wrote:

MALKY MACKAY:

“When I arrived at Cardiff and looked at the squad, Peter was one of the players I was very interested to see. I had known him from playing against Villa and Cardiff. Maybe I didn’t quite appreciate how comfortable he was on the ball and how he rarely gave it away until I watched him at close quarters.



“The general perception of him was of a quiet shy introvert. He was also articulate, intelligent and giving. He also had a dry razor-sharp wit, which now and again would have everyone laughing. Peter genuinely enjoyed living in Cardiff. He embraced the city and supporters the same way they gave it back.

“I still can’t quite believe that you’re gone Peter. You gave so much joy and happiness to so many in Cardiff. My condolences and prayers are with Amanda and the Whittingham family. You’ll live long in the memory of many people and have already gone down as a true legend of the club.”

Mackay wrote the feature length piece for the Cardiff fans’ website, and goes into greater detail about the type of player Whittingham was, and the man behind that left-foot.

It was a loss that left many mourning, and one that still shocks the world today. Ex-players and teammates, Cardiff fans and those of many other clubs have since paid their tributes to the late midfielder.





The verdict

Mackay achieved good success at Cardiff and a large part of that was down to Whittingham. He is a genuine Cardiff City legend and his passing is untimely, but fans have some great memories to cherish, and to remember the great man by.

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Nice comments by Malky.
It's a shame Vincent Tan didn't put their differences to one side until the end of the season and then pull the trigger.
I actually felt Malky would have kept us up.
Alas we will never know.

Nice comments by Malky.
It's a shame Vincent Tan didn't put their differences to one side until the end of the season and then pull the trigger.
I actually felt Malky would have kept us up.
Alas we will never know.

I think he could well have kept up up too mate. Trigger had to be pulled as you say and I suppose it’s difficult to put oneself in VTs position at the time. Morals v business.

Agree with your comments. Loved having Malky as our Boss. He’s the only manager that we’ve had that I was genuinely worried we’d lose to a bigger club. Gutted for him about the way it turned out.

He's been shit ever since leaving us.

He's been shit ever since leaving us.

Tan made sure of that hounded him b*stard

Nice comments by Malky.

Did Tan ever manage to dig up any evidence to prove Malky did anything wrong?

I still wonder why Kim Bo-Kyung signed for Malky again at Wigan?

Nice comments by Malky.

Did Tan ever manage to dig up any evidence to prove Malky did anything wrong?

I still wonder why Kim Bo-Kyung signed for Malky again at Wigan?

Ross, Malky had a great heart / passion and your right nice comments by him


Nothing.

Tan Wasted £millions yet again.

Malky Mackay:


"Peter Whittingham had such a good understanding of when to receive it, where to take it, how to check his shoulders for pressure, what his options were and who to give the best pass to help the team." I remember watching Whitts constantly looking over his shoulder to get a picture of the game. He always reminded me of gunners on planes in war-time constantly scrutinizing the sky.

I would have Malky back tomorrow

Yea he would have kept us up ,I reckon ,we ve had a few turkeys under Tan .The best 2 must be Malky and Niel

Er ,meant the best 2 we have had ,bit out of practice with this

Yea he would have kept us up ,I reckon ,we ve had a few turkeys under Tan .The best 2 must be Malky and Niel

He's been shit ever since leaving us.

Tan made sure of that hounded him b*stard

On the managerial side of things he didn't do well at any of the clubs including scotland after he left us.
He did well for us but i believe overated as a long term manager. Just my opinion.

The way Tan dragged Malky’s name through the mud and basically made him a Management outcast is totally shocking. Malky made mistakes, but didn’t deserve the vilification he received from Tan.

The way Tan dragged Malky’s name through the mud and basically made him a Management outcast is totally shocking. Malky made mistakes, but didn’t deserve the vilification he received from Tan.

SPOT ON.

Also Malky could not manage properly anywhere after he left us as he was hounded everywhere by the Dictator.

Funny Malky & Warnock both very successful managers for us, some of our fans turn on them as soon as something goes wrong and believe Tan, you could not make it up.

I would have Malky back tomorrow

What, you'd welcome a racist back into our proud club ??

He did a great job but was backed and threw that backing in Tan's face. If one of your employees had abused/belittled you like Malky did to Tan you too would have sacked him, I certainly would. It was quite telling that Malky withdrew his Employment Tribunal case and received nothing from the club.

We'll never know whether he would have kept us up, but many of us were worried when we went away to Villa (who were struggling around us) and he played without a centre forward until we went behind. It was a winnable game and, to me, signified that Malky was becoming too risk averse to keep us up.

People keep saying we weren't in the bottom three until after he left but the trajectory was definitely downwards so unless Tan had given him even more money to spend in January we would have been really struggling anyway.

It left a bad taste in the mouth the way Malky's reign came to an end but inevitable and brought on by him and Moody, nobody else.

By the way, he did get a job at Wigan and the fans thought he was awful with demonstrations against him. Perhaps one of those managers that needed money to mould a team ?

The way Tan dragged Malky’s name through the mud and basically made him a Management outcast is totally shocking. Malky made mistakes, but didn’t deserve the vilification he received from Tan.

But when he's had manager jobs he's been crap everywhere he's been? He went to these clubs including Scotland and he picked the teams nobody else so as i say he's been crap since Cardiff.

The way Tan dragged Malky’s name through the mud and basically made him a Management outcast is totally shocking. Malky made mistakes, but didn’t deserve the vilification he received from Tan.

SPOT ON.

Also Malky could not manage properly anywhere after he left us as he was hounded everywhere by the Dictator.

Funny Malky & Warnock both very successful managers for us, some of our fans turn on them as soon as something goes wrong and believe Tan, you could not make it up.

What did Malky apologise for then? If his hands were clean he wouldn't have said sorry?
The reason i was glad when Malky and Warnock left is because the football was dross and has been since Dave Jones's reign

The way Tan dragged Malky’s name through the mud and basically made him a Management outcast is totally shocking. Malky made mistakes, but didn’t deserve the vilification he received from Tan.

SPOT ON.

Also Malky could not manage properly anywhere after he left us as he was hounded everywhere by the Dictator.

Funny Malky & Warnock both very successful managers for us, some of our fans turn on them as soon as something goes wrong and believe Tan, you could not make it up.

What did Malky apologise for then? If his hands were clean he wouldn't have said sorry?
The reason i was glad when Malky and Warnock left is because the football was dross and has been since Dave Jones's reign

DJ was an arrogant knob that I disliked but I loved the football that we played under him.

The way Tan dragged Malky’s name through the mud and basically made him a Management outcast is totally shocking. Malky made mistakes, but didn’t deserve the vilification he received from Tan.

SPOT ON.

Also Malky could not manage properly anywhere after he left us as he was hounded everywhere by the Dictator.

Funny Malky & Warnock both very successful managers for us, some of our fans turn on them as soon as something goes wrong and believe Tan, you could not make it up.

What did Malky apologise for then? If his hands were clean he wouldn't have said sorry?
The reason i was glad when Malky and Warnock left is because the football was dross and has been since Dave Jones's reign

DJ was an arrogant knob that I disliked but I loved the football that we played under him.

I agree 100 %