Neil Etheridge interview: 'All of us at Cardiff believe we will stay up. I mean, really believe it'

Portrait of Neil Etheridge, goal keeper for Cardiff City football club. Cardiff, Wales, UK.
We have a great chance,” says Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge  Credit: Stephen Shepherd

Those who remain certain that the journey is more important than the destination are clearly unaware of the ever-increasing gulf between the Premier League and the stopping points before. Neil Etheridge, the Cardiff City goalkeeper, sums it up eloquently and passionately.

“Getting to the Premier League is significant enough,” Etheridge says at the team’s training base in the Vale of Glamorgan. “But staying in it is another thing entirely, particularly when you’ve not spent much and kept the core of the team that was promoted from the Championship and was not even fancied to do so in the first place. That’s why, if we survive in the next three weeks, it will be a bigger achievement than going up last year. But in the dressing room, we believe we will. I mean, really believe it.”

Etheridge concedes it is out of Cardiff’s hands but the fact it is in those of Brighton, who are on a run of five defeats and a draw in their past six league games, only adds to the confidence in the Welsh capital. “We have a great chance,” Etheridge says. “And at the start of the season, everybody said we didn’t have a prayer. All these matches will feel like cup finals.”

Except Saturday could well seem more like a knockout round. While Cardiff play at Fulham at 3pm, Brighton entertain Newcastle at 5.30pm. Should Cardiff win and then Brighton lose, they will be level on points, and with the latter side having to travel to Arsenal and then host Manchester City, the former would suddenly be favourites. However, if the fortunes are vice versa, Brighton will be six points clear and, with a sizeable goal difference, Cardiff would effectively be down. “Yeah, you could say there is everything to play for,” Etheridge says with a wink.

In truth, the trip to Craven Cottage would have been resonant for the 29-year-old regardless. In 2014, he was released by Fulham after being on the books for six years and even though it was during the unfathomable Felix Magath tenure, Etheridge – a main contender for Cardiff’s player of the season – is still struggling to understand why.

“They had just been relegated from the Premier and at that time [Mark] Schwarzer had gone, [Maarten] Stekelenburg was on a ton of money and been got rid of, [David] Stockdale had left and so I was next in line,” he says. “I thought it’d be a case of ‘Neil’s been here a long time, he can compete for No 1’. But, no. At the very least, it would have been nice to explain why I was being released. It was bittersweet when they went up with us last season.”

Of course, Fulham, despite spending £100 million last summer, are heading swiftly south again, having been assured of relegation four weeks ago. “If you’d told me five years ago, when I was on my sofa with no professional contract, not a lot going for me and the dream fading, that I’d be going back to the Cottage playing for the opposition in a Premier League game against Fulham, who are already down, then no, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Etheridge says. “But one thing I’ve learnt since those darks days is that it’s strange how things can work out.”

Etheridge, born and raised in Enfield but with a Filipino mother, was already a Philippines international and had decided that was where his future lay. “I had no family over there but they were starting a professional league and I’d have ended up playing in other south-east Asia countries such as Thailand. The flight was booked, I was a week from going, but had a call from Oldham and it’s all gone from there … with Walsall in League One, then to Cardiff. It’s the sliding doors thing, not only with my career but with my life. If I’d got on that plane, I wouldn’t have met my fiancée, Alex. I think of what would have been different sometimes and hold on to it. I don’t want to forget how blessed I’ve been.”

Naturally, Neil Warnock was crucial in the tale. “The togetherness in this side is plain for all to see, it’s why we are still in with a shout,” Etheridge says. “We’d all run through brick walls for the gaffer and I’ll tell you why I would. He was completely honest with me when I joined [in May 2017]. He’d just signed Lee Camp [the Northern Ireland international] and he was going to be the No 1. But the gaffer said to me ‘look, Campy might not be fit to start the season, so if you get the chance, you go and prove me wrong’. For the first six months I was just finding my feet, but he stuck by me.

“In the second half of that campaign, I really progressed and I believe this season I have progressed again. It is now at the point where I believe I’ve proven I deserve to play in the Premier and, for me, its all about these next few weeks and doing so with Cardiff. 

“The gaffer found diamonds in the rough, if you like, players like me who will go that extra mile for him. He said to us ‘right, here’s your opportunity, you wanted it, what can you do with it?’ That’s what it’s still about now.”

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