Michael Reeves
It has been used by many as a stick to beat him with for two weeks with the reality being that the only thing Michael Duff did wrong was to answer a stupid question made at a time when he would have been disappointed (and probably to a certain extent angry) following a defeat to Bristol City.
When Michael Duff said two weeks ago that beating Cardiff was not the be all and end all then it was immediately jumped on and for two weeks he has been accused of not understanding what the derby means to the supporters of both clubs.
It was a naive comment at worse – naive in so much as he was answering the question put to him by a local journalist who wanted to focus on the next match (two weeks in the distance) rather than the issues highlighted in the game that we had just been beaten in. And well beaten in despite the 2-1 scoreline suggesting it may have been closer than the performances dictated.
There was never any evidence to suggest that Duff didn’t understand the performance of the fixture and what it meant to the fans of both clubs. He was accused of taking the fixture as lightly as Dave Jones who was often well criticised by Cardiff fans of that particular ‘crime’ but there was no evidence to actually back up that accusation bar a few words made in the heat of the moment.
There would always have been some level of taking the pressure off (both him and his players) after a fifth league game without a win but that was overlooked as the videos of Russell Martin came out where he talked about the importance of the fixture. As referenced earlier naivety from Duff rather than anything else – he said something that didn’t appease the fans when the reality is the judgement on tomorrow should be driven by the performance and the result on the pitch not something said in a back room at the Liberty two weeks prior to the fixture.
Such was the reaction to those comments the same group of journalists wanted to address it at his press conference yesterday and got the answer from Duff that said “From my point of view, of course we want to win both games and get promoted,”
“I think I was caught on the hop in terms of a really disappointing performance after the Bristol City game. So was I focusing on the game in two weeks? No.
“This is one of these games that everyone knows about. I’m an outsider coming in here, but you know there are games in the UK that everyone knows about. This is one of them.
“It’s a big game, when you’re in it it’s an even bigger game.
“If I wasn’t involved in this game I’d be watching it on Saturday night because it’s such a bitter rivalry.
“I’m really looking forward to being a part of it and hopefully we’ll see a reaction from the last game.
“If you only walked in the door last week, you would know what this game means,” he added. “There is pressure within that, but once you wear this badge you know what you’re representing. It’s more than just a football match, you’re representing the city and the people, and the significance of it is clear straight away.
“There’s a different feel. There’s a different atmosphere. The intensity in training has been great. There’s been a little bit of disappointment from last week, but there’s competition for places. After last week there will be players on the training pitch thinking ‘I might not play this week’. That’s what you want. That’s what we need. You can’t have players playing no matter what. That’s showing in the training.
“These are games you want to be involved in, you spend your life watching games like this on TV, and dreaming of playing in front of a full house and scoring a winner in a derby.
“You can feel that connection here between the club and the people. It’s really powerful, the people here have been so welcoming and when I go walking the dog on the beach people let me know what it means. These are the games you remember in your career, you are part of a tiny bit of history and you want to be remembered as a team that succeeds in these fixtures.”
So as he put the comments to bed from two weeks ago (not that it needed doing really but it still meant they were referenced in Cardiff’s own press build up) he could finally continue to focus himself on the game itself which sees the Swans manager looking for that all important first league win.
And that is what he has been doing ever since the dust settled on that Bristol City game despite whatever words were used after the game.
