City boss takes another pop at the fans

I can believe Cardiff City boss Dave Jones is blaming Cardiff fans for the losing out on Bolton defender Andy 0’Brien. There was never anything official from the club but rumours, and there are always lots of rumours.

Dave Jones said, “There are always possibilities, but it is difficult at the moment because what I’m looking at, everyone else is looking at.

“That is why we moved so quickly for big Parky, because there was a lot of interest.

“I probably lost Andy O’Brien because the famous message boards and everything else alerted Leeds that we were talking to him. We probably could have signed him on the day, but they stepped in and took him away from us. But we’ll just keep looking.”

O’Brien was at Leeds on loan at the time and Leeds wanted to extend the loan to the end of the season anyway. Bolton would have told Leeds of the interest from Cardiff. Jones himself said there were our clubs interested and they would have talking to Bolton probably. O’Brien must be about the only player at the top end of the football tree without an agent.

Far from the being outed by Cardiff City fans on message boards maybe the Cardiff boss should look to the player maybe. From a interview he gave to Sky,

"I got the impression Cardiff liked that I had the guts to do everything myself without an agent.

"What I wanted to do was be up front all the way through and not mess about behind anyone's back. I like to think I did that.

"Cardiff came in with an offer and the first thing I did was ring Leeds and telling them exactly what the deal was.

"There was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and then I said to Ken Bates 'If you offer me what Cardiff have offered then I'll sign.'

"That is what happened. Personally, it's a relief to have sorted things out. Two months ago, I was scratching my head as to where my future would lie.”

 It looks like the deal was never going to be an exclusive, Leeds were always going to be in there with a shout.

O'Brien staying at Leeds

Andy O’Brien will not be facing is old team mates at Leeds on Tuesday night as a deal as been done between Bolton and Leeds.

On the official Leeds United website Ken Bates said:

"I met with Andy on Friday and despite a tempting offer from Cardiff, he has agreed to join us on a two-and-half-year deal which we are delighted about."

He signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the Elland Road club after reports suggested he held with Cardiff on Thursday and was close to signing for the Bluebirds.

Latest rumour is Andy O'Brien

Cardiff is being linked with another Premier League player Bolton’s centre-back Andy O’Brien.

O’Brien is on loan with Championship rivals Leeds United and his loan period ends on the 4th January the same day Cardiff play Leeds at the Cardiff City stadium. Leeds is very keen to keep him at Elland Road with Leeds United boss Simon Grayson telling the BBC,

"We would like to try and keep Andy if possible, try at least to extend the loan to the 93 days and then the next option is to extend the loan to the end of season.

"Another option is to try and do a permanent deal, but that all depends on what Bolton want to do with Andy.

"We'll be having a conversation with Bolton and Andy over the next few days to see where we can go with it." 

The Republic of Ireland international is understood to have held talks with the Bluebirds in the last few days. Since joining Leeds he has been a permanent fixture in starting line-up and scored a goal.

At the beginning of December O'Brien told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I won't be surprised if they didn't offer me another contract.

"Although I feel I'm playing hard and well here I don't think my progress here will have any bearing on my future at Bolton."

Cardiff would have to pay a fee to grab the centre-back has like most players of his quality I would be surprised if there was no-one else keen to sign him.