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AFTER leaving Fulham FC a few years ago, Neil Etheridge joined a couple of clubs before finding his mark with Cardiff City and becoming an integral part of the team that earned a promotion to the Premier League.
Of course, thousands of his fans followed his progress by following those teams’ Twitter accounts. I remember an official club account that tweeted after Etheridge’s departure: “I guess now we’re going to lose half our supporters.” It was true, as Etheridge had almost 10 times more followers on Twitter than the club.
Now Etheridge has left Cardiff, almost a year after losing his starting job and has signed with Birmingham, and according to the retweets I’ve seen on Twitter, many Pinoy fans have started following the team’s official account and I’m sure the manager of social networks of the club has noticed the jump.
Of course, there are other bigger stars in the big leagues who have Filipino bloodlines, but I think Pinoy’s soccer fans aren’t as interested in them as they are in Neil Etheridge. We first heard of him when he was 18 years old and he first played for the Philippines during the Challenge Cup qualifiers in Iloilo City in 2008.
I remember talking to Jack Biantan, who covered that tournament, and when I asked him about Etheridge, he just said, “Kuyawa bata-a.”
Two years later, most Filipino fans finally learned how good Neil was during that memorable 2010 Suzuki Cup semi-final.
Etheridge has worn the Azkals’ number one jersey since 2008 and has not dropped it. Sure there were times when he couldn’t play, but there has never been a question as to who the team’s top goalkeeper is.
Which is why, I think, most fans want to stay up-to-date with his career development at the club, which ironically took a hit about five or six years ago just as Azkals’ popularity was on the rise. Just days before Cardiff’s first Premier League game, we all knew Etheridge was just weeks away from deciding to try his hand at the burgeoning local national scene before he was called in for a test that changed his career in England forever.
A couple of years after that, Pinoy fans followed Cardiff’s successful promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.
And now, with a new club in Birmingham, I think it’s safe to say that Pinoy fans are again looking forward to seeing a similar campaign and seeing Etheridge back in the EPL.
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