Strapping centre-back Ben Turner returns to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday for the first time since he left the Bluebirds last summer.
The 6ft 4ins defender will be in a Burton Albion team aiming to stop Cardiff City earning a third successive Championship win.
Manager Neil Warnock and his team have achieved back-to-back victories against Aston Villa (1-0) plus Bristol City (3-2) and now the Brewers stand in the way of their bid to continue climbing the table.
Turner, 28, will be given the task of stopping either Kenneth Zohore or Rickie Lambert in City’s attack, but the Birmingham-born stopper is adamant that has doesn’t have any point to prove in Cardiff.
He spent five years in South Wales, making more than 120 first team appearances for the Bluebirds, and gave everything for the Cardiff cause.
Turner played a major role in helping Malky Mackay’s men win the Championship title, made 31 appearances in the top flight and scored a memorable extra time equaliser against Liverpool in the League Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
“It will be nice to go back to Cardiff City Stadium, but I don’t feel I’ve got much of a point to prove,” he says. “I enjoyed my time there.
“I felt I was part of probably the best run the club has ever had – and the only period where they got in the Premier League. I was just lucky enough to be involved in that, I enjoyed every minute.”
There was even talk of English-born Turner playing international football for Wales and he knows manager Chris Coleman well from their time together at Coventry City.
Former Wales manager Brian Flynn was the man who first approached Turner, who said: “I don’t really have a clue how he (Flynn) knew about my Welsh roots.
“I do have two full Welsh grandparents – a grandad on one side and a nan on the other. I am eligible.
“Up to then I had always considered myself as an Englishman.”
Turner did play for England at under-19 level, but even now he could still play for Wales if selected – and he has a lot of respect for the job Coleman has done with the national squad.
“Chris had a massive impact on my career (at Coventry City),” said Turner. “There was so much he was able to teach a young centre-half.
“He was a really good guy to play for. Chris was a top class centre-back as a player and he had such a lot of information and experience to pass on to young players.
“I knew he would be a success in the Wales job. He is an extremely good manager with plenty of international experience and all the credentials to do really well.
“There were times when he could be a hard taskmaster. You have to have that in your locker as a manager or you won’;t be able to motivate players. But he wouldn’t shout his mouth off for no reason.”
Turner has always been a solid, effective centre-half with the hunger and desire to succeed and he attracted attention from England manager Roy Hodgson during 2013-14 when Cardiff City were playing Premier League football.
“Ben is a top young professional who is determined to be the best that he can,” said Bluebirds manager Mackay at the time. “I’m not surprised that England would look at him. He’s playing at the top level, he’s young and he’s English.”
Turner is one of three former Bluebirds’ players in the Burton squad, along with goalkeeper Stephen Bywater and defender John Brayford.
They are all likely to face Cardiff in a Burton team who are three places and five points below Cardiff in the Championship table. Only Blackburn, Wigan and Rotherham lie below Albion, who have lost six of their last seven League matches.
“When you’re in our position, trying to stay in the league, three points is massive,” says Turner. “You need just over a point a game to be definitely surviving. You might survive on a point a game.
“But we are on a bad run. It’s important to turn it around as soon as possible, because otherwise it becomes more and more difficult to turn it around.”
Top scorer Jackson Irvine, a 23-year-old Australian international, is rated doubtful for Burton – 50/50 at best says coach Andy Garner – after suffering a groin injury and will be assessed on Friday afternoon.
Goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin is expected to start for Burton even though he was replaced by Bywater at half-time during their 1-0 defeat against Wigan. That was due to a collision, but McLaughlin is fit and ready to play this weekend.
Cardiff City will include new signing Allan McGregor, who has signed on loan from Hull City until the end of the season.
Possible line-ups:
Cardiff City: McGregor, Peltier, Connolly, Morrison (capt), Bamba, Bennett, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Ralls, Pilkington, Zohore.
Burton Albion: McLaughlin, Brayford, McFadzean, Turner, Akins, Palmer, Murphy, Dyer, Ward, Sordell, O’Grady.