PRE-CHRISTMAS CHECK!

8 games since my last post - 2 losses, 1 draw and 5 wins. Surely that’s promotion form? Fixtures since my last post:-

Charlton 5 Cardiff 4

Cardiff 2 Hull 1

Cardiff 1 Middlesborough 0

Barnsley 1 Cardiff 2

Derby 1 Cardiff 1

Cardiff 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Blackburn 1 Cardiff 4

Cardiff 1 Peterborough 2

After the Charlton debacle, we took 16 from the next 18 points available, including 2 wins and a draw away from home. This is definitely promotion form! What I think is more pleasing is the number of different ways we are managing to win, varying from the flamboyant to the downright dour! We are the top scorers in the division, and now have 6 different players who have scored 4 goals or more - a true reflection of the TEAM effort, not relying on certain star individuals.

The home loss to Peterborough? Well, the less said the better. Every team is due a bad day at the office, and we weren’t ever going to win all 23 home games in a season. Let’s hope they put that bad performance behind them moving into the Christmas fixtures.

CHARLTON 5 CARDIFF 4

Well, this was “one of those games” for sure! I was quite happily keeping an eye on the score on Skysports and saw that they were winning 2-0. I switched on the radio to listen to the game a few minutes later when I discovered it was 2-2. By the time I switched the radio off in disgust 20 minutes later, they were losing 5-2!

I really shouldn’t listen to away games on the radio - they always seem to do badly! The proof of this is that we scored 2 late goals after I switched it off!

In general, it seems like we just had an off night. Marshall was at fault for 2 of the goals, and the defence went AWOL for the others. However, it does seem like that they got all of  their mistakes out of their system in one go, as the next 6 matches provided 5 wins and a draw.

CARDIFF 2 HULL 1

Make no mistake, this win was much more convincing than the scoreline suggests. An early Heidar Helgusson goal was quite comfortably defended until the 82nd minute when Mark Hudson got the second.

Goalmouth action against Hull - (picture by Jon Candy)

Basically, Cardiff never gave Hull a chance to score until the 90th minute, when Robert Koren scored with a high class shot from a half clearance from the defence. A classy performance against a team in good form.

CARDIFF 1 MIDDLESBOROUGH 0

This was a much harder victory. Although Boro became the 9th consecutive team to lose at the Cardiff City Stadium this season, they did look like a very good side. Yet again Cardiff had to defend an early goal, and had to do it without Ben Turner who had to limp off with a hamstring injury after 20 minutes.

However, this meant a debut for 19 year old Ben Nugent. This followed an injury to Andrew Taylor which meant that young Joe Ralls had to come on to play left back. I think a few of the fans looked on this with some trepidation, but both youngsters played particularly well and were well looked after by 

captain Mark Hudson.

Connoly scores the opening (and winning) goal against Boro (Pic by Jon Candy)

At times we rode our luck, but we hung on for a hard fought win. These are the sort of games we would have lost or drawn last year - definitely the form of a good team.

BARNSLEY 1 CARDIFF 2

Having lost our previous 3 away games, this was a big test against a struggling Barnsley who usually try to play some good football.

This game was notable for the first league goal for young Ben Nugent, starting a game for the first time in the absence of Ben Turner. A second goal,by Aron Gunarsson, after 7 minutes of the second half, should have settled Cardiff nerves. But, we never seem to do things the easy way and giving Barnsley an equaliser 8 minutes from the end put on the pressure.

Added to this pressure, loan debutant Simon Lappin, who had joined as cover from Premier League Norwich earlier in the week, was sent off for a second bookable offence. However, we held on for a valuable win after 3 consecutive away defeats.

Notably, this was the first points won whilst wearing blue this season!

DERBY 1 CARDIFF 1

Prior to the Barnsley game, no player had received a red card in a competitive match since Malky Mackay took over. Now, with the dismissal of Craig noone for a second bookable offence with 30 minutes to go, we had had players sent off in 2 consecutive matches.

An early Heidar Helgusson goal helped settle the nerves, but Derby are being built into a decent side, particularly at home. The dismissal of Craig noone put the team under extreme pressure, which eventually led to a Derby equaliser with 20 minutes left. However, the team never completely buckled and were good value for the draw (only the second draw of the season).

CARDIFF 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0

The return of our former manager Dave jones added a little bit of extra spice to this game. also, we were going for a record breaking 10th consecutive home win.

Ben Turner heads away (Picture Jon Candy)

Unfortunately, I had to miss this home game due to family commitments. It seems that it was possibly a good one to miss, as by all accounts Sheffield Wednesday “parked the bus”, doing their best to hold on at 0-0 and try to sneak a goal on the break. Considering their desperate form coming in to the game, it was quite understandable.

However, with 10 minutes left Craig Conway turned and shot into the far corner for a hard fought 1-0 win.

Much has been said recently about Craig asking for a transfer due to his lack of first team opportunities. He only played in this game as Craig Noone was suspended following his red card at Derby. However, it seems that he took his chance to impress. The ability to bring in decent replacements when regular first team players are missing shows the strength in depth we now have in the squad. This is something we haven’t had in recent years, and is another positive factor in our progress.

BLACKBURN 1 CARDIFF 4

It is always my perception that we don’t play well when we are covered live on TV. However, this was our third win in a televised match this season (plus one defeat), and it was a really convincing one.

Although Blackburn have been largely disappointing since their relegation from the Premier League last season, they still have a decent set of players. Quite simply, we controlled this game. It was an excellent all round team performance. The only negative was that we should probably have been more than one goal ahead at half time.

A Mark Hudson header from a Craig Noone cross gave us a first half lead, but even when Blackburn equalised early in the second half, the team didn’t panic or let their heads get down. Almost immediately we re-took the lead with a goal from Craig Bellamy (NB we seem to have a lot of “Craigs” at the club), and late goals from substitutes Joe Mason and Kim Byo-kyung (his first for the club) sealed an excellent victory.

At this point, we had really cemented our place at the top of the Championship table.

CARDIFF 1 PETERBOROUGH 2

Well, it had to happen eventually. The Championship is often described as a league in which any team can beat anyone else. This was a good example of that, where our 100% home record was lost to the team at the bottom of the table!

Cardiff go close against Peterborough (pic by Jon Candy)

In fairness to Peterborough, this game could have been 6-1 to them. Cardiff looked totally lost for long periods of the game. Basically, the Cardiff man-of-the match was goalkeeper Marshall, which gives you some idea of how bad the rest of the team were.

The absence of skipper Mark Hudson may have had some influence over this performance, but essentially it was a very forgettable performance, and surely we can’t be that bad again?

YOU DON’T WIN ANYTHING IN DECEMBER!

True, but you can put down a good marker for the rest of the season. And we remain at the Top of the League!

The next 3 matches are all against some of the top teams in the division, starting with an away game at Leicester this Saturday. Leicester have spent big over the last couple of seasons, and I feel that they could yet be one of our closest rivals for automatic promotion this year. Then we have the big home game against Crystal Palace on Boxing Day - who would have thought at the start of the season that this would be a clash between the top 2 teams in the division? (OK - I know both teams could lose matches before then, but either way its a top of the table clash!). Then its Millwall on the 29th December - who would have thought that they were going to be challengers for a playoff spot when we beat them back in September?

So - the big question is “are we going to get promoted to the Premier League this year?”. I don’t like to say yes, although we are clearly in a strong position. I will say that despite losing in the playoffs for the last 3 seasons we CAN make it this year. But the natural position of any regular football supporter is slightly negative and pessimistic, so you won’t catch me saying that we WILL get promoted until we mathematically can’t be caught.

It seems like Vincent Tan is making more money available for Malky to spend in the January transfer window, and rumours abound that there will be up to 3 signings, one of which will be a “big name”. If we are to push on, we certainly need a big name target man striker, and also at least 1 if not 2 full backs. Regular injuries and suspensions to the team over the last few months have shown that we have the squad to cover most positions, and we have (generally) kept winning despite the disruption. But a replacement for Maynard, now we know he is out for the rest of the season, is essential.   

The current Championship table can be found via the following link:-

http://www.skysports.com/football/league/0,19540,11687,00.html

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers!

Red luck runs out!

RED LUCK FINALLY RUNS OUT!

Its been a mixed bag since my last post - but we are still TOP OF THE LEAGUE. Our home form continues to go from strength to strength - 7 straight wins from the start of the season for the first time in club history. Our away form hasn’t been so spectacular - 2 consecutive away defeats - but there are bound to be a few defeats through the course of a season. Our most recent defeats have come against Forest and Bolton, both teams likely to be near the top 6 at the end of the season.

The most encouraging thing about recent performances is that some of the back up players have stepped in and done well. Kim Bo-kyung made his first start against Burnley, and the fact that Malky has been patient with him  appears to be paying off - he looks to be a very classy player. Joe Mason has now made a couple more starts and reminded us how good he was last season. Ben Turner has returned after injury, although at the expense of Kevin McNaughton who has moved to the bench while Matthew Connoly has moved from Centre back to right back.

So, despite having a number of key players injured - Bellamy, Mutch, Smith and of course Maynard - the team continues to produce results and remains top of the league.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3 CARDIFF CITY 1

I must admit that I saw little of this game - I didn’t even watch it on the Football League Show! The message boards and newspapers were almost unanimous in saying that we were outplayed and deservedly beaten. My personal feeling is that Forest are a strong team and will probably make it to the top 6 by the end of the season. They are a well supported club who have received a good bit of investment, and a good young manager in Sean O’Driscoll - I remember what he achieved with limited resources at Doncaster. no shame in losing away to them.

CARDIFF  2 WATFORD 1

This was a night for that old cliche “a good team can win even when they play badly”. Watford were pretty negative in their intentions, and once they scored after 20 minutes you just knew that they were going to do their best to hold on to that one goal lead. For most of the first half we seemed to lose the ability to pass to each other, and even Peter Whittingham seemed out of sorts.

The second half was better, but we rarely looked like scoring. Then the fates took a hand! Firstly, Watford had a player sent off for violent play on Craig Noone. The Assistant Referee gave this decision, and I suspect that he was the only one in the ground who saw the incident! It was right in front of my place in the stand, and nobody around me had a clue what had happened! So, we were playing 10 men. Then, a fortunate penalty (although a clear handball), when Matthew Connoly’s shot was blocked by the arm of a Watford defender. The penalty was suitably dispatched by Peter Whittingham.

Whitts puts away the penalty against Watford (Pic Jon Candy)

Then, a bit more luck came our way as Watford had another player dismissed for a second yellow card. So, we had 20 minutes left against 9 men - surely we could do this now? Of course, these things never seem that easy. Again, we seemed to lose the ability to put a decent cross into the penalty area, and it was a minute into injury time when a cross was finally put into the danger area for Aron Gunnarson to head home the winner.

This could easily have been our first points dropped at home this season, but somehow it got turned into win number 6!

CARDIFF 4 BURNLEY 0

No real drama in this game - just a comprehensive win for the Bluebirds. It was a comfortable victory as the scoreline suggests. Joe Mason’s goal after following up a Craig Noone shot on 3 minutes set up an easy and enjoyable afternoon, with later goals from Noone, Connoly and Gunarsonn (again) to seal victory.

This game was the debut for Kim Bo-kyung. He looked a really classy player throughout the game, doing the simple things well and passing quickly and efficiently.

Matthew Connoly celebrates the 3rd Cardiff goal against Burnley (Pic by Jon Candy)

BOLTON 2 CARDIFF 1

Well - it finally happened - we lost in “lucky” red! This was the Saturday evening game on SKY - somehow we never play at our best on live TV!

Not that this was a bad performance. The first half was pretty even, with few chances for either side. But when Craig Noone’s shot squeezed in just before half time I thought it was going to be our day. However, a couple of inspired substitutions by new Bolton manager Dougie Freedman on the hour saw them take the lead. Although the first Bolton goal followed a questionable penalty, they had already had a perfectly good goal disallowed. They took the lead a few minutes later.

I thought we put up a good effort in the last 10-15 minutes, keeping up sustained pressure, but this time the late goal didn’t come our way. Even in the last minute of additional time, when David Marshall was sent into the Bolton penalty area, things didn’t go our way when his shot hit the Bolton goalkeeper in the head and bounced harmlessly wide.

Our first loss in red. Our next game is against Charlton on Tuesday 6th November, when we will wear our “changed” strip of blue. Lets hope we can overcome our bad luck in blue by winning!

Ssh! Don't say it too loudly, but we could have a good team here!

DON’T SAY IT TOO LOUDLY, BUT I’M STARTING TO BELIEVE!

5 consecutive home wins to start the season for the first time since 1946. Say it quietly, but I’m starting to believe that this could be our year.  I like to think I’m not too confident - any true football fan is naturally pessimistic - but the squad that has been put together could go all the way.

CARDIFF 2 LEEDS 1

How Leeds United must love playing us! They have now failed to beat us in 14 games stretching back to the famous FA Cup win in 2002 (9 Cardiff wins and 5 draws). Now managed by the man you love to hate, Neil Warnock, the latest Leeds team returned from their trip to Cardiff with another loss by 2 goals to 1. The return of Craig Bellamy proved to be crucial. The game was still 0-0 when he was introduced with half an hour left, then just 4 minutes later an unstoppable Bellamy free kick put us ahead. A Peter Whittingham penalty a few minutes later gave us a little breathing space, and despite a late Leeds goal from a free kick, we held on for a deserved win.

Whittingham puts Cardiff 2-0 up from the penalty spot (Picture Jon Candy)

MILLWALL 0 CARDIFF 2

Our first win at Millwall for 30 years was overshadowed by a serious injury to our new £2.75m striker Nicky Maynard. A torn anterior cruciate ligament means that he is likely to be missing for the rest of the season, and just goes to show that there are no certainties in sport. Maynard was starting to look really good up front, especially with his pace. However, we now have to manage without him for the rest of the season. Lets hope he’s ready for the Premier League next year! A classy Peter Whittingham shot, and a first goal for the club by Craig Noone gave Cardiff a comfortable win against a struggling Millwall side.

CRYSTAL PALACE 3 CARDIFF 2

Apparently this was a slightly subdued performance after the Millwall game. However, after 15 minutes the Bluebirds were leading 2-0, with goals from Aron Gunnarson and Don Cowie. If Craig Bellamy had converted the chance that fell to him after half an hour then the outcome of the match might have been different, but 2 Crystal Palace penalties from Scott Murray and a further goal for his hat-trick clinched a 3-2 win.

In fairness, this was probably a justified result. The reports suggest that even when we were 2-0 up, we didn’t deserve it. however, it is disappointing to lose a 2-0 lead.

Mark my words - Palace are a good side, and if they are able to hold on to Wilfred Zaha when the big clubs come calling in the January transfer window, then they are good bets for at least a top 6 position. Dougie Freedman has made a really good team with limited resources, and is another manager that could be poached up to the Premier League.

CARDIFF 3 BLACKPOOL 0

After our last defeat against Bristol City, the bluebirds followed with 3 consecutive wins. This first game back after the Palace defeat showed positively that the team was in that sort of form again.

To put it briefly - we were EXCELLENT! A 4-4-2 formation with Helgusson and Bellamy up front caused Blackpool problems all afternoon - Bellamy in particular at his best, constantly harrassing the opposition and using his speed to make space for the other Cardiff players.

This was a very good team performance, and showed that although we are going to miss Nicky Maynard, we are still a formidable team without him. Rather bizarrely, 2 of the goals were scored by defender Matthew Connoly - the 3rd and 4th goals of his career! Sandwiched between these goals was another classic Peter Whittingham free kick (although the Blackpool goalkeeper clearly got himself out of position - I think every spectator on the Bob Bank could see that he had left too much space to his left, and Whitts promptly put it in the space!

Whitts’puts the free kick in the space left by Gilkes in the Blackpool goal (Pic by Jon Candy)

Connoly scores his  second. Amazingly, 3 of his 4 career goals have come against Blackpool! (Pic Jon Candy)

CARDIFF 2 BIRMINGHAM 1

On then to the following Tuesday night. Mercifully, the rain stopped for the walk to and from the stadium, so the spectators at least were dry However, during the game it absolutely p--d down for much of the time, and the weather meant that it was hardly a night for flowing football.

A more workman like than spectacular performance, the Bluebirds thoroughly deserved their win against a rather disappointing Birmingham side. Our former player Chris Burke had one or two good runs, but was largely kept under control by Andrew Taylor who has been playing well recently. A first half Craig Bellamy goal following a flowing move and a second half winner from Mark Hudson saw the City home - our 5th Consecutive home win, and our best start to a season since 1946!

Celebrations after the first goal. This picture does not do justice to the torrential rain! (pic by Jon Candy)

IPSWICH 1 CARDIFF 2

An away game in Suffolk where we have only won once in 60 years. Well make that TWICE!

This was the teatime game live on SKY. It was hardly a spectacular look at the new Cardiff team - a combination of injuries and Malky’s natural tendency towards a 4-5-1 formation away from home meant that this was essentially an outing for last year’s team, with Helgusson instead of Miller up front and Connolly instead of Turner in defence.

We ground out a win here when we could quite easily have lost. Ipswich are a side near the bottom of the table and lacking in confidence, particularly in defence. A couple of useful loan signings - Wellens and DJ Campbell - made them a slightly more difficult proposition.

An outrageous Campbell goal just before half time, when everyone saw him blatantly handle the ball into the net except the referee, was cancelled out and then beaten by 2 Helgusson goals in the second half. Both of these goals came from  Ipswich defensive errors in the 6 yard box which were thankfully put away.

If winning when playing badly is a sign of a good team, then we are a good team!

Onwards and Upwards?

Let’s hope so. After almost a quarter of the season we are top of the league. If we carry on taking points at the same rate then we will get automatic promotion easily.

Malky has been promised further investment for the team in the January transfer window - he acknowledged today that we need more defensive cover and another top class striker to make up for the loss of Nicky Maynard. I hope he has his dossiers ready.

What about the red? I can honestly say that I keep forgetting about it, although it was a little strange to see Birmingham play in royal blue against us at home! Our only 2 defeats have come in games when we haven’t worn red - let’s hope we can overcome that with 3 points against Forest tomorrow!

Still Excited!

If you think I was excited before........!

...then I’m probably 10 times more excited now!

The season started quietly enough, with a loss in the Capital One cup (formerly the Carling Cup) to Northampton. I know we probably shouldn’t make excuses for a competition that we reached the final of last year, but a team made up essentially of reserves and under 21 players nearly pulled it off. To use a well-worn phrase, we have bigger fish to fry this season!

Then, on Friday 17th August we had to start the season proper against newly promoted Huddersfield Town. Not only was it our first league game of the season, but it was the first league game in the whole league, as we were moved forward to the Friday night so that SKY TV could see us in our new red kit!

The game itself soon took on a familiar pattern though. Malky had the team lined up in a 4-5-1 formation that he used for much of last season, with Helgusson the lone striker up front. Huddersfield’s star player from last season, Jordan Rhodes, was not even amongst the reserves, and as a result they lacked a little cutting edge.It wasn’t really much of a spectacle, and Huddersfield probably had the better chances, but after making ourselves hard to beat, skipper Mark Hudson appeared in the penalty area one minute into stoppage time at the end of the game to snatch the late winner.

Cardiff attack against Huddersfield (Picture Jon Candy via Flickr)

3 points to start the season, so no complaints. Its easy to win when you play well - winning when you are not at your best is a sign of a good team!

AWAY DAYS.

The following Tuesday saw us play away at Brighton. By all accounts, this was an entertaining 0-0 draw (my American friends can’t believe that a 0-0 draw can be “entertaining”). The match could have gone either way but the draw seems to have been a fair result.

As the end of the transfer window approached, Malky was busy, and by the time of the Bristol City game away another two former QPR players had joined the Bluebirds - Tommy Smith and Matthew Connoly. Both started against the Wurzels, but a combination of bad luck, individual mistakes and a team getting used to each other resulted in a 4-2 defeat to our local rivals. There were few excuses though in what was essentially a bad day at the office. However, this match proved to be quite a wake-up call.

THE TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSES

Just for once, the club was active right up to the end of the end of the transfer window. In the last two days, Malky finally got his man when he signed winger Craig Noone from Brighton. A deal had been organised in the last transfer window in January, but Brighton called off the deal at the last moment.

And finally, during the last hours of the window, Nicky Maynard was signed after only half a season at West Ham United. This was the signing that I really wasn’t expecting, although there had been rumours for a number of weeks that Maynard was one of Malky’s targets. He is a class player who is still getting better, and will hopefully be the goalscorer we need to make the team complete,

CARDIFF 3 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1

So, on Sunday 2nd September we saw in essence what is Malky’s new team! And it was GOOD! Even without Craig Bellamy who was out with a calf injury, this was clearly an attack minded side. The team lined up with a 4-4-2 formation with Maynard making his debut up front with Helgusson. The main problem for us fans was to identify who was who out of our new players - this was a different team and formation to the one who beat Huddersfield 2 weeks earlier.

The players introduce themselves to each other before the Wolves game! (picture by Jon Candy)

This was a great attacking display, and despite going behind early on, ended up being a comprehensive victory. Craig Noone would have been man of the match on most other occasions - his sheer speed and enthusiasm caused the Wolves defence problems all afternoon. But it was our “old” established player Peter Whittingham who stole the day with a hat trick of goals, the first a penalty after Noone was brought down in the area, the second a powerful shot after great approach play by Maynard and Mutch, and the third a trademark free kick.

Whittingham equalises from the penalty spot (picture Jon Candy)

LOOKING FORWARD

Well, next its home to Leeds United on Saturday. There are now so many options available. Kim Byo-kyung still hasn’t made a start yet, and Etien Velikonja stayed on the bench against Wolves. I’ve no doubt this strength in depth will be useful as a long Championship season continues. But for now, its an exciting time, and I can’t wait for Saturday to come!

New Season Preview 2012-13

EXCITED? Of course I’m excited! New season preview.

Well - its finally here. The last pre-season game has taken place and the proper football is about to start.

The Olympics is ending today, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed (much more even than I expected).

I’ve been on this year’s family holiday (not during the season, you notice!)

So now its back to the Bluebirds!

SOMETHING HAPPENED IN THE SUMMER?

My last post, on 7th June, commented on the so-called “re-branding” and the change to red. Despite all of the rhetoric and arguments amongst the fans since that time, my position on the subject remains unchanged.

I will be making a small and probably insignificant protest. At the Huddersfield game, I will be wearing a blue shirt, to register the fact that I would have preferred to stay blue. However, at the next home game against Wolves I will be wearing my new red shirt with pride, to show my support for my home town club, the ONLY team for me, whatever colour shirts they are wearing.

That’s my last word on the subject of red v blue this season in this blog.

NEW INVESTMENT - THE SQUAD IS DEFINITELY STRONGER

Our Malaysian owners have certainly kept to the first part of the bargain concerning the re-branding - they have given Malky the funds to heavily invest in the squad. Our squad was already multi-national, but has now become even more so! Off the top of my head, the squad now includes players from Wales, England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Slovakia, Slovenia and now South Korea - the bill for translation services must be phenomenal!

Then came the biggest investment of all - the return of CB39 - Craig Bellamy! It’s rumoured that he has taken  a huge paycut to return to his hometown club - let’s hope he stays fit as I’m sure he can have a major influence on the team and its performances, especially at Championship level.Jordon Mutch - the first signing from Birmingham City - this caught us all by surprise, but this could be a really top class signing. The Birmingham fans were really upset at his departure.

Kim Bo-kyung - fresh from his success with the South Korean Olympic team. This could be a really big signing, and we had to beat off some other big European clubs to get him.

Etien Velikonja - became our third international signing - a Slovenian international. Apparently Malky has been keeping an eye on him for a couple of years.

Heidar Helgusonn. Although some feel that he is past his best, 9 goals in 16 Premier League games for QPR last season is a great record. Could be a very shrewd signing.

The prodigal returns! CB had offers from QPR to continue in the Premier League, but I suspect his wife put her foot down and insisted on a return to his home in Cardiff. The thought of being able to sleep at home in his own bed every night proved to be the clincher!

Apparently, there are more signings due this week - its rumoured to be a Premier League defender and possibly another striker. Exciting times indeed!

NEW SEASON PREDICTIONS

Like all football fans, we tend to be pessimistic about our team’s chances. But its hard not to be optimistic about the team that Malky Mackay has assembled. Let’s face it - last year’s squad basically over-achieved , and the team was greater than the sum of its parts. The new additions  appear to have improved the squad considerably, and so surely we can finish higher than our 6th place last season?

I’d like to think we can finish in the top 2 this year and gain automatic promotion, but there are too many unpredictabilties in this league to be certain of that. Lots of teams will raise their game against us as we will be seen as one of the favourites for promotion, and you can’t be sure of the form of the teams coming down from the Premier League or those coming up from League 1. After all, during the last 2 seasons first Norwich and then Southampton have gone straight from League 1 to the Premier League. I suspect that Charlton may be the most capable of the teams coming up, but I’m not sure they have the ability to go straight up.

TOP 6 Predictions.

I’m not going to try to pick the top 2, but I will try to predict the top 6 for the season. I will have to include the Bluebirds in this, a decision which is based on evidence as well as enthusiastic support for my own team. So, my top 6, in no particular order:-

CARDIFF

BOLTON

LEICESTER

CHARLTON

MIDDLESBOROUGH

BLACKPOOL

Relegation? The usual suspects I’m afraid:-

PETERBOROUGH

BARNSLEY

BRISTOL CITY

HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!

After all of the uncertainties of the close season, I’m really excited about the coming season. Could this really be our year to get to the Promised Land of the Premier League? I really hope so. One thing is for certain - its a really exciting time to be a supporter of Cardiff City Football Club!

BLUEBIRDS!

THE BIG RED QUESTION

Just over a month since my last post to this board - and the club has gone red! Remember when this story broke? Just an hour after the play-off defeat to West Ham. And at the time we all thought it was a late April fool joke. But it wasn’t  - it’s real. In exchange for an approximately £100million pound investment in our club, our Malaysian owners want us to be “re-branded” and play in red. The result - outrage and in-fighting! After a month of uncertainty and posturing, it was finally decided to proceed with this course of action yesterday. It became so big, that at one point Cardiff City and the Bluebirds were trending worldwide on Twitter!

Like just about every other fan, I want the investment and to stay blue. However, sometimes you just can’t have everything you want. I am sure I am in the majority when I say that I will grudgingly “Accept” the change to red in exchange for the financial stability that an investment of this size brings. The football authorities are beginning to tighten up on profligate clubs, and the Financial Fair Play rules which start next season are a part of that. The chance to start from a debt free position in this financial climate is too good to turn down.

Don’t call me a sell-out - call me a realist. Let’s look forward, not back. After all, it is more than 50 years since we were in the top flight of English football. This could be our chance to get back there.

My seat is just above the “A” - will it soon be red not blue?

Right - the decision has been made. We all wanted to stay blue, but for the time being its not going to happen. We can't always get what we want in life, and we all have to compromise. So let's move on. We can always try to get the blue shirt back at a later date.

Red kit apart, it is quite exciting to be involved in something new - I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that this hasn't been tried on such a big scale before with such a big club before. And what if it works? What if it is the impetus that propels Cardiff City to the top level of club football? This could be fantastic!

Of course, it could all go badly wrong. If we thought Dave Jones was under pressure to get promotion, just think of the amount of pressure that Malky is under! I think that there are many people who are more afraid of us being successful wearing red than failing wearing blue, and this is essentially wrong. But I respect their point of view, and I won't hurl abuse at them if they don't hurl abuse at me!

A couple of my non-bluebirds supporting friends asked me whether I would wear the red shirt next season, and the answer is , YES!. Now the decision has been made, then we ALL have to get behind every aspect of the club, not just the bits we like, and wearing a red home shirt shows our support to THE PLAYERS and therefore to the club as a whole.I don’t like the thought of us not playing in blue, but I’ll go with it to foster some unity and support towards the TEAM.

I suspect that there are no half measures here - this will either be a spectacular success or a disastrous failure - but what a ride we're going to have! Its an opportunity that virtually every club outside the Premier League would love to get a shot at!

SO BUCKLE UP AND ENJOY THE RIDE!

End of Season Review (So far!)

Don’t Worry - Be Happy! Season End Review!

OK - I know - its not the season end yet as we still have the play-offs to look forward to, but you know what I mean!

And who would have thought last August that we would be going into the play-offs anyway? Well, me for one! If you refer back to my post on 6th August 2011, back before the start of the season, I tried to predict the top 6 in the Championship, not in any particular order. I included the Bluebirds in this selection as I didn’t think there were many stand out teams in the Championship this season, and we had as much chance as anyone else.

My top 6 as predicted on the 6th August 2011:-

CARDIFF

BRIGHTON

READING

WEST HAM

MIDDLESBOROUGH

LEICESTER

Well, 4 of those clubs reached the top 7 places, and they all finished in the top 10. Given the well publicised “anyone can beat anyone” nature of the Championship, I don’t that’s a bad effort!

My 3 choices for relegation were :-

DONCASTER

DERBY

PETERBOROUGH

I suppose that one out of 3 isn’t bad. Derby were a pretty decent side - Clough Junior seems to be building something good there with their youngsters. Peterborough also survived  in the Championship by their risk all “if they score 3 we’ll get 4” mentality. Unfortunately, they did that very same thing to the Bluebirds before Christmas!

Under-achievers of the season? Undoubtedly Leicester, who spent big but were very ordinary. A change of manager half way through the season didn’t help, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be better next season.

A close runner up for the under achievers award goes to our play off opponents West Ham, who really ought to have made an automatic promotion place with the players and resources at their disposal.

Best manager achievement of the season? (apart from our very own Malky Mackay!). This must go to Chris Hughton at Birmingham. Getting them into the play offs when all of his best Premier Class players were sold for financial reasons was a great effort, especially as they managed to have a fairly successful Europa League campaign along with it. Without the Europa League distractions, Birmingham may well have made an automatic promotion slot.

Goalmouth action against Leeds.

BLUEBIRDS PERFORMANCES

I have to judge these on home games, as the only away games I see are the televised ones.

Player of the season  - Mark Hudson, with Ben Turner a close second - they’ve put some real backbone in the defence.

Best performance of the season - the 3-1 win over Reading

Worst performance of the season: This one is a bit close, but I think the way we capitulated late to Blackpool was just a bit worse than the 3-0 defeat by Hull, on a day when nothing went our way following the bizarre own goal by McNaughton after 6 minutes.

Most exciting prospect has to be Joe Mason - I hope we are able to hang on to him as he could be VERY good one day.

Goal of the season: I’ve made this a tie! Ben Turner’s late equaliser at Wembley, and Mark Hudson’s 68 yard “wonder goal” against Derby!

And of course, the highlight of the season so far was the Carling Cup final against Liverpool, even if they did lose on penalties!

Don Cowie volleys the winner at Palace.

RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST

14th March Barnsley 0 Cardiff 1

17th March Cardiff 2 Derby 0

21st March Cardiff 1 Leeds 1

28th March Crystal Palace 1 Cardiff 2

A good solid end to the regular season - lets hope we can stretch it further and even make the Premier League! Whatever happens in the play offs, its already been one heck of a season!