Cunningham reflects on contrasting tales of two cities
Greg Cunningham has known more than a few hard knocks in his career but learning to roll with the punches didn’t make a doubly unrewarding season with Cardiff City — one which saw the club relegated from the Premier League and appearances in short supply for the Galway full back — any less easy to take.
“It was very frustrating from a personal point of view and disappointing for the club as well,” is how he sums it up.
Cunningham, who has two years left on his contract at Cardiff, says he discussed his lack of game-time with manager Neil Warnock.
“When you’re not playing I don’t go in banging doors down but we had a chat and I asked what I could improve on and what I’ve done wrong and where he sees I can get back into the team.
"I still worked hard and kept my head down and waited for my chance. It kind of came in little blocks with a few games here and there which was hugely frustrating but that’s football.
“He’s got to pick 11 players and the boys playing are happy, the boys not playing are not happy. I’m not content being a squad player and picking up a wage.
"I want to be playing every game. That hunger is still there and will be until I retire. I think he understood the frustration.”
While Cardiff were falling through the trapdoor, Cunningham’s former club Manchester City were cementing their dominance of the domestic game.
While a broken leg during a loan spell at Leicester limited his impact at City, for whom he made two Premier League appearances, Cunningham was still able to command an insider’s view as the erstwhile ‘noisy neighbours’ were transformed out of all recognition.
“They’ve kicked on massively in a few years,” he says. “You could see the infrastructure developing every summer, the players coming through the door, the money that was floating around. It was definitely a club going places.”
And a case of what might have been for him?
“You can look at it both ways. I’m sure as one of the younger players my opportunities would have been limited but at the same time you have to embrace you’re at a world-class club and try to feed off that.
"You’re training with the best players, so you try and get advice, watch how they go about things. You have to look at it as a positive.”
After the season he has been through at club level, Cunningham, who picked up the last of his four caps in 2013, is determined to make the most of his recall to an Irish squad which finishes up its Algarve training camp today.
“I have been out in the cold on the international front for a few years now so it’s nice to get in,” he says.
“My first game was 2010 so it’s been stop-start, you could say, but that’s how football goes sometimes. A few injuries stopped me in my tracks but that’s part and parcel of the game.
I’m only 28 and I believe my best years are ahead of me. If called upon I’ll do what I can but it’s about being consistent, getting back into games at club level, and going from there.
In the meantime, it can’t be forgotten that a difficult season for Cunningham and Cardiff was completely overshadowed by the tragic loss of new signing Emiliano Sala in an airplane crash.
“He came over to do his medical, signed on Friday, then he was going home for a few days before coming back on the Monday,” Cunningham remembers.
“God rest him, he never got back. Even though we never met him, he was still connected massively with the club and it did impact the club.
"You put football to one side: It’s a loss of life, a young player getting his move to the Premier League and it was taken away from.
"All our thoughts were with him and his family. Now his father has sadly passed away as well. I hope the two of them are resting in peace.
“You can get zoned in, and football is all that matters. It does shock you and puts things in perspective.
“Like how many times have we all flown home to see the family? It’s very sad.”
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