Adam Matthews was a prodigy. He broke into the senior squad as soon as he signed professional terms at 17, but had left by 19. That’s the way the football food chain works, but now 33, he’s still playing and I got the chance to chat with Adam recently about breaking through at Cardiff and his subsequent career.
Cardiff have had a few Swansea-born players over the years, most recently Mark Harris and Rubin Colwill. It sounds like Swansea’s loss was Cardiff’s gain in your case. Can you explain how you ended up crossing the divide.
When I was eight, I was supposed to go on trial with Swansea, but then I fell off a climbing frame and broke my arm! By the time it had healed, they said all their spots were now full and Cardiff got in touch.
You ended up signing a professional deal at Cardiff when you turned 17 and were very quickly in and around the first-team. How did you find the step up? It appeared to be a pretty seamless transition, despite joining a very successful team that made the play-offs twice in your two seasons with the club.
At the time, I didn’t think much of it. I was just enjoying my football. When I was coming through, Cardiff had a really good squad, which probably helped with my transition. I was good mates with Joe Ledley and Aaron Wildig was the same age as me, so we made the step up at the same time. I had been training in and out with the first team since I was 15, so I didn’t get the shock from suddenly training with men. I think Cardiff did it well and it couldn’t have gone much better for me if I’m honest. When I did make the step up, Kevin McNaughton got injured and that gave me my chance. I think in my first season I ended up playing 35 games.
Embed from Getty ImagesYou were named the Championship apprentice of the year and was understandably soon linked with a number of Premier League teams. Was there ever any truth in the rumours?
I know there was a couple of teams looking, but you don’t really know if it’s a load of rubbish or not. I imagine some were looking at me because I was a 17-year-old playing in a tough league. I remember reading one linking me with Inter Milan after they had just won the Champions League! When you’re young, you try to not think about it, so I didn’t take much notice.
There was a high-profile incident early on in your career when you scored an own goal at Ipswich and Dave Jones was very critical of you post-match. How did you receive that as an 18-year-old? Did it toughen you up, or did you take it to heart and did it affect your relationship with him?
It was probably the first time in football where something like that had happened to me and he had every right to have a go at me because it was a horrible own goal! I think it helped me, but you probably can’t do that in football these days. There were players there at the time like Jay Bothroyd and Peter Whittingham, who helped me and said that Dave was just trying to make me a better player. Every manager has a different way of going about things, but it didn’t ruin our relationship and I didn’t hold anything against him. It probably made me mentally stronger and helped me in a way.
I think the narrative at the time was that it may have led to you running down your contract, but it sounds like they were two separate situations that did not really feed into each other.
I think it was just a coincidence that the timing of the two things happened in the same season. I have nothing against Dave and we didn’t fall out because of it either. Its not nice when you make a mistake and get called out for it. I was good mates with Joe and he went to Celtic the season before me. He told me Neil Lennon was interested in me and what a massive club it is. I spoke to Joe a lot about it and Cardiff did offer me a new deal, but I wanted to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, which I what Celtic are. It would have been silly for me to turn that down.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs was the case with Joe, joining Celtic meant that Cardiff received no financial compensation from the transfer. Did you feel under pressure to join an English team, so that the club would benefit from you moving?
I was only 18 or 19 at the time, so I didn’t think like that. Looking back, I had been at Cardiff since I was eight, so if you come through an academy, they deserve some financial gain from me moving, but as a player, it’s out of your control. I can see why some people didn’t like it, but it was a tough decision and it wasn’t off the cuff. I loved playing for Cardiff and I’ll be forever thankful that they gave me my chance in football.
I imagine part of the appeal of joining Celtic is those massive Champions League nights and you featured in one of the greatest ones, when you beat Barcelona 2-1. That must have been an incredible occasion. Were you up against Lionel Messi that night, or would it have been Pedro or Alexis Sanchez?!
That’s probably the highlight of my career, along with representing my country. I played left back that game, so I was up against Pedro in the first half and in the second half they moved Messi over! It was surreal. When you’re growing up, you want to play against the best players in the world, but not all players are lucky enough to do that. It was an incredible experience and the only game I wasn’t nervous for because I was so excited. It was a great experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
You joined Sunderland in 2015, but it probably didn’t pan out like you would have hoped and it seemed like you were entering a stage of your career where niggling injuries were starting to crop up.
If I’m honest, at the time I didn’t really want to leave Celtic, but Sunderland offered decent money and playing in the Premier League appealed. They’re another massive club and hopefully they get back to the Premier League, where they belong. It was another one that I couldn’t turn down and was another good move for me. The manager that signed me left after eight weeks though and then I got an injury that kept me out for eight weeks, so it wasn’t the best start.
I’ve never had an injury that has required surgery, apart from a shoulder injury I had at Celtic. Around the age of 24 or 25, I started picking up a lot of hamstring injuries, which I think was relating to issues in my lower back, but thankfully I’ve managed to sort that out in the last few years and I’m still playing now. Sam Allardyce came in when I was injured and loaned me to Bristol City, so it didn’t go as planned, but that’s football.
Embed from Getty ImagesYour international career spanned the period of time when Wales evolved with a great crop of players to become a force in international football. It must have been great to play some part in it, when you were afforded the opportunity.
Representing your country is the greatest honour and I would have liked to have played for Wales a bit more. I came through with John Toshack, but when Gary Speed took over, he changed everything and you could see we were moving in the right direction. Chris Coleman finished what Gary had started and when you’ve got players like Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, you’ve always got half a chance.
After a few years at Charlton, you joined up with your old Celtic boss Neil Lennon at Omonia. How did you find living and playing in Cyprus? Were you always keen to play abroad?
I think it appealed more the older I got. I didn’t know much about football in Cyprus, but as soon as Neil got the job out there, he rang me to say they were looking for a new right back and asked if I would be interested. At the time, I was at Charlton and not knowing if I would be signing a new deal. It was very different out there, with the heat and a different lifestyle, but the standard surprised me and it gave me the chance to play European football again.
Now 33, you’re a relative veteran now, especially having started as young as you did. You signed for Shamrock Rovers at the start of the year and I know your former team-mate Stephen McPhail is the sporting director there. Did he have any influence in your decision to join?
He was the one that contacted me. The season here runs from February to November, but he got in touch with me in July to see if I would be interested. Being without a club for six months is not easy for a footballer, doing your own training, but I signed in January and started pre-season training. I’m enjoying it and it’s a good standard of football with another chance of European football.
Shamrock Rovers have made a great start to the season, are currently top of the table and I’m sure you’re hoping to continue playing for a while yet, but have you given any thought to what you will do when you finish playing and where you will base yourself?
I’ve done my C and B coaching badges. I’ve signed up to do my A licence this season, so hopefully I can stay in football in some capacity. I’m not sure where I will be based because I’m from Wales, my fiancé is from Northern Ireland and she lives in London, so we have a good spread, but it depends where football takes me.