Joe Ledley believes his old Celtic manager Neil Lennon would be a “brilliant” candidate to take over at Cardiff City.
The Bluebirds are still looking for a permanent replacement for Erol Bulut, who was sacked at the end of September, and Omer Riza has done an excellent job as interim manager. That being said, Cardiff still find themselves in the relegation zone and with no clarity over what the long term looks like.
And Cardiff academy graduate Ledley believes Lennon would be the perfect profile of manager to take the reins at Cardiff City Stadium, however he does believe Riza has earned the right to be given longer in the dugout to prove himself.
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When asked by Gambling.com who he thought would be a good fit for the job, Ledley said: “Neil Lennon. I think he would be brilliant there [at Cardiff City]. With his man-management skills, and the way he wants his players to fight for the club and fight for the jersey. I haven’t seen that there for a long, long time at Cardiff. I know Lenny and the way he can play will be exactly the same as other managers.
“I’d just like to see that fight from the players and that togetherness. I haven’t seen it since probably when (Neil) Warnock was at Cardiff. So I’m going to say Neil Lennon, whether he wants it, I don’t know.
“I think at the moment it’s right for the club to give Omer Riza a bit more time, maybe a few more games. It’s the international break, so the club can have a little bit more time to think about it.”
Lennon had two stints at Celtic, between 2010-2014 and 2019-2021, but has been out of work since leaving Romanian side Rapid Bucuresti back in August after just three months in charge.
The Bluebirds find themselves in the relegation zone at time of writing, despite coming off the back of six games unbeaten – however they did lose their final two heading into the break. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
And Ledley, like many City fans, believes Cardiff cannot get their January window wrong and simply must go all out for a striker signing.
“It’s got to be a striker [where Cardiff City should strengthen their squad in January],” he added. “We’ve been crying out for a striker for the last five to 10 years really. We haven’t had a striker who scores 15 to 20 goals a season.
“I know they’re very difficult to come by, but even if you can get someone in there getting double figures. Last season, Perry Ng was top goalscorer and he’s a defender.
“All the fans, the management and the chairman will all know that realistically Cardiff need a goalscoring striker. So hopefully in January we can go out there and find one.”
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The uncertainty surrounding the manager’s situation is certainly not helping anyone, that’s for sure, and Ledley has urged the board to make a decision, one way or another, before they take on Sheffield Wednesday following the international break.
“Now it’s all up in the air with who’s going to be the next manager,” he said. “At the moment there’s a few names flying around, but I think it’s down to the chairman to come out and decide whether they’re going to stick with Omer Riza, or if they’re going to go and invest some money in another manager. It’s a bit frustrating for the fans at the moment.
“To their credit the last four or five games have been a lot better, there’s been a lot more improvement in the team and they’re creating more chances. So time will tell. It’s a difficult league, but they need to get back to winning ways to stay away from that relegation zone.”
