Perry Ng's Wish to Become a Lion for His Grandpa

SINGAPORE – This weekend, Cardiff City right-back Perry Ng will be making a special trip to a Chinese temple in Bedok to honor the memory of his late paternal grandfather, James Ng. James Ng passed away in 2011 at the age of 63 after a long battle with illness. Perry will be paying his respects and reflecting on the impact his grandfather had on his life.

Ng, who is also known by his nickname Buster, told The Straits Times: “Every time I come to Singapore, I will go visit his niche at the temple. I always feel spiritually he’s looking down on me and it would be nice to come back and honour him and see the family who are here.”

The 28-year-old made headlines in Singapore and England this week when he was invited to join the Lions’ training camp for a familiarisation stint during the international break. Noting that “the intensity and quality have been really good”, the Liverpool-born footballer confirmed that he will be applying for Singapore citizenship.

If successful, Ng, who first expressed interest as early as 2017, will be the first Singapore footballer to play for the Lions via the heritage route – his grandfather was born here but moved to Liverpool in the 1970s to study and pursue his love for the Beatles. The latter started a family and built a business in importing and manufacturing.

The defender’s links with Singapore are clear as he and his parents, Perry senior and Lisa, were warmly received by 14 extended family members at his grandaunt Ng Pel Leng’s Fu Xing Ji hokkien mee stall at the 511 Market And Food Centre in Bedok North on Sept 4.

Perry senior, 49, pointed to the sweaty stall workers – Pel Leng, her husband Yeo Eng Cheng and younger sister Ng Seh Eng – and noted that “the first generation, all they do is work, right?”.

And Ng reckons that is where he gets his work ethics from.

He said: “When I was younger, I wasn’t very good at football, but my determination always shone through, and I always ended up impressing because of that.”

Neither of his parents are football fans, but when he was five, Lisa took him to a summer camp where he caught the eye of talent scouts with his boundless energy and joined the Crewe Alexandra academy.

As there were no official contracts for children under nine, he also went to try out at the Liverpool and Everton academies but “hated it” despite being a fan of the Reds. He felt they focused only on winning while Crewe emphasised coaching youngsters in different areas of the game.

Even as he improved and enjoyed a growth spurt when he was 16, his football journey was riddled with challenges. As he was turning 18, some coaches were unconvinced he had what it took to make the step up to the senior team in League One.

He said: “As soon as I signed my first professional deal, the first team coach called me in his office and said he didn’t want me. But this was quite good because it gave me that drive and made me hungry to prove him wrong.”

While Crewe were relegated in 2016, he went on to make 182 appearances for the club and helped them return to the third tier in 2020, before signing for Championship side Cardiff City in 2021.

After making the transition from centre-back to right-back, he won two consecutive Player of the Season awards in 2023 and 2024 with the Bluebirds and stressed that “reaching the Premier League is a goal of mine which I’m working towards”.

As he targets Premier League glory, Ng and his family also hope that he can don Singapore colours soon.

Lisa, 50, added: “It made us all emotional when he told us he wants to play for Singapore and do it for his grandpa. He’s tried to do this (play for Singapore) for years so hopefully it will come true soon.”

Pel Leng, 71, said: “Little Perry has always been a good boy who always enjoyed my curry chicken and curry crab when I went over to visit them. I’m so proud of him but I’ve watched him only in training there, so it would be great if we could watch him play for Singapore here.”

Second cousin Anselm Franck, 18, added: “He’s a fantastic guy who is kind and easy to get along with but also very driven and works very hard. He inspires me, and I could try out for the Young Lions and who knows, we could be a cousin duo for the future.”