Joe Ledley hopes to show he was right to leave Cardiff

JOE Ledley is hopeful Celtic can produce a level of performance in Cardiff tonight which will prove he was right to leave his home town club for the SPL.

Many Cardiff City supporters were critical of the midfielder's decision to sign for Celtic 12 months ago and questioned whether he was moving onto a higher standard of football.

Ledley, who anticipates a mixed reception from the home fans at the Cardiff City Stadium, insists he and his Celtic team-mates are intent on enhancing the reputation of the SPL.

"We want to go there and show what the SPL is all about and that we can play good football," said the Welsh international. "We showed last season we can play good football at times.

"I'm not really expecting to be cheered by the Cardiff fans, it depends what they think of me now. They were frustrated when I left but I think they've accepted it now. I'm still a Cardiff boy but I'll go out and give 100 per cent against them. I had a great career there, was the last captain of the club at Ninian Park and played in an FA Cup final for them.

"It was an honour for me to play for Cardiff, I was at the club since I was nine years old, but if the fans want to boo me or cheer me, that's up to them. It'll be worse when we go down to play Swansea in a couple of weeks. They just completely hate me in Swansea."

Ledley would savour the prospect of leading Celtic out tonight. Manager Neil Lennon handed the armband to Georgios Samaras for the match against Melbourne Victory in Australia earlier this month because of the large Greek contingent in the city.

"I've heard nothing on that, I'm not sure what the gaffer is going to do," said Ledley. "If he decided to make me captain, it would be a great honour."

Ledley concedes that Celtic's unusual early season schedule, with a series of friendlies punctuating their start to competitive action, poses a fresh challenge.

"It's the first time I've been involved in anything like this at the start of a season," he said. "But by Sunday we should be pretty fit for the first league game against Hibs at Easter Road and ready to give it 100 per cent."