‘ PETER WHITTINGHAMS FUTURE ‘

‘ PETER WHITTINGHAMS FUTURE ‘

After 10 years at Cardiff City

By Gary Field

Until the talks which NW has said are due to take place this week have been completed then there is still a chance that Whitts will be with us for next season, given his age any new contract will likely be the last of his playing career, so at many levels it’s as big a decision for him as it is the club.

I believe that if he does leave then it WILL be to another Championship club, and one with aspirations of promotion, and there will be many potential suitors out there who will offer him more money than we have. Having said that I don’t believe any other Championship club will be willing to pay him £25k per week.

This summer WILL see the high earners like Manga & Whitts either leave the club or stay on much reduced contracts and this will bring the focus onto the next highest earners. Noone, Pilkington and Huws will now come under the spotlight and I’m sure NW would like to offload those 3 to give him a chance of offering both Whitts and Manga more attractive contracts.

When first asked about the Whitts contract situation back in November NW said that he had told Whitts not to worry about it as NW wanted him here as long as he was. Make of that what you will but last week NW said that the Whitts contract situation was nothing to do with Whitts turning down any offers and that it had already been agreed that the situation would be discussed at the end of the season.

Many say that Whitts is not a NW type of player yet in the first 11 games this season Whitts didn’t score a goal but in the 26 appearances under NW he has scored 7 goals. Others say that he doesn’t contribute in “General” play – REALLY 😕 This season in respect of “Key Passes” PW is in a League of his own, despite having less playing time, his passing accuracy is over 77%, compare that to JR – 73% and AG – 67%, again in respect of possession loss with PW it’s just 9 times, compare that to JR – 34 or AG – 22. Even in the more defensive aspects of the game like tackling PW wins 65% of the tackles he attempts, the same as JR and 5% higher than AG.

There is a saying in life that you never really know the true value of something or someone until you lose them, PW is the prefect example to prove the case in point and I hope that something can be sorted out that will keep him here for the rest of his career.