HEIDAR: MALKY PHILOSOPHY IS KEY

would certainly be a good fit. The experienced Icelandic striker, alongside his fellow senior professionals has the knowledge to help Cardiff City, though Heidar sees his role model status far easier to administer thanks to the young level heads at the club.Heidar HelgusonIf you’re looking for a player who has been there, seen that and got the T-shirt on a Championship promotion run, then

“The biggest thing is to keep everyone focussed on the next game, not starting to look two, three or four games ahead thinking, ‘what if, what if?’, he said. There are always ups and downs and at this stage of the season everyone can lose a game or lose points. It’s really important not to panic if that happens, even for a bad game. It’s just how this league is.

“But the young lads to be fair are all very good lads with great attitudes, so it hasn’t been hard to keep them focussed. The manager is very good at picking the right kind of characters and the right kind of players to fit in with his philosophy.”

Two quick fire games, starting with Saturday’s trip to Peterborough and Monday’s hosting of Blackburn means that the squad will have to be smartly used. For that, Heidar says Cardiff are well set, saying, “I hope to keep my place in the starting eleven at Peterborough, but if not someone else will come in and do a good job for us.

“There are no guarantees, you’re not guaranteed that you’ll have a starting place in the team. But one of the big parts of what we do have here is that everyone realises that we have a talented squad and that the players, even those on the bench are pulling together.”