It’s hard to come up with a single Sol Bamba moment during his time at City, there was the goal on his debut which beat Bristol City, the sending off at Ipswich which saw him arguing with the manager who, I believe, adored him and the late, late winner against Brighton the team we almost, but not quite, managed to relegate in our place back in 18/19 to name a few contenders.
However, i’d opt for his goal at Brentford in March 2018 during our promotion to the Premier League season. Although City were on a run of six straight wins, they went to an in form Brentford with a smooth Fulham side, who were media darlings because of the stylish football they played (whereas we were seen as the ugly ducklings!), snapping away at their heels. Brentford began confidently and were soon a goal ahead, but, when City needed someone to step up and face the challenge, there was no surprise that it was Sol who did so.
His hooked shot as the ball was bouncing away from goal from the edge of the penalty area was in the net almost before the keeper had moved. I think it’s fair to say that the goal was generally considered to be our best of that season, it was a significant goal which set us on the way to a notable 3-1 win that blared out that our cussed side were not going away, but it was also a goal out of character for Warnock’s scrappers, it was a Fulham type goal featuring excellent technique.
That was the thing about Sol, his fine defending, leadership qualities (on and off the pitch) and never say die spirit sometimes masked the fact that he could play as well – his time as a very effective defensive midfield man at Hibs and Leicester gave you a clue as to that.
In fact, Sven Goran-Eriksson (who himself died in the past week) one of his managers at Leicester would compare Sol to Franz Beckenbauer in terms of his ability as a ball playing defender, but, of course, Neil Warnock wanted none of that and so it might be true that City fans never really saw the best of Sol the footballer.
I’m firmly in the Neil Warnock messed up with his transfer dealings in the summer of 2019 camp, but, to be fair to him, his first two signings set a standard he was always going to struggle to match. In fact, looking back now, Junior Hoilett and Sol Bamba have to be the two best signings Warnock made for us don’t they?
Hoilett was a class act who was a level above any winger who has played for us in recent seasons, but Sol had something about him which made him such an influential performer. That influence extended beyond the pitch and onto the terraces and into the stands because, more than any other player I can think of in the last couple of decades, Sol connected with the supporters, they loved him right from the moment the ball flew into the net against the wurzels from all of about eighteen inches out on his debut!
Able to speak four languages, Sol was often a lucid and interesting guest on Sky Sports and there could have been a career for him in the media, but he was always going to opt for stayimg in the game and he had a short spell as City’s Assistant Manager during Sabri Lamouchi’s time in charge – he was working as a coach for Turkish side Adanaspor at the time of his death.
Sol came through a serious injury suffered in a game at Wolves that hardly helped our chances of avoiding the drop from the Premier League and then beat life threatening illness, but, in this remarkable tribute to her husband, Chloe Bamba suggests that the shadow of the Non Hodgkin Lymphoma was always lurking and on Friday the biggest personality to have played for Cardiff City in the twenty first century fell ill and could not recover this time.
Chris Barker, Emiliano Sala, Peter Whittingham and now Sol Bamba -Cardiff City have had more than their fair share of men who should have been in the prime of their life taken from them since January 2019 – my commiserations to Sol’s friends and family.
RIP
