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!

Its in our hands!

I THINK IT’S GOING DOWN TO THE WIRE!

10 games since I last posted, just after the Carling Cup Final. How you interpret the results of those games depends on whether you are a “glass half full” or a “glass half empty” person. On the positive side of things, we have only lost twice in those 10 games. However, there have only been 2 wins in the last 10 games, and neither of those wins have been at home!

And despite this strange run of results, we are still in the play-off places with 4 games left in the regular season! Few of the teams at the top of the table seem to be able to string together a series of results. Reading seem to be the only team with a good, consistent run of results - so much so that they now look nailed on for automatic promotion. To think that we have beaten them twice this season!

After a disappointing loss to West Ham, and a very disappointing loss to Hull (who didn’t win for 6 games after), we have had 3 successive home draws. At least against Watford last Monday we appeared to show some form, and some of the team seemed to be showing some sort of form - we remain hard to beat.

Rudy Gestede gets airborne against Coventry (picture by Jon Candy)

RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:-

4th March Cardiff 0 West Ham 4

7th March Brighton 2 Cardiff 2

10th March Bristol City 1 Cardiff 2

15th March Cardiff 2 Coventry 2

18th March Cardiff 0 Hull 3

21st March Cardiff 0 Burnley 0

25th March Birmingham 1 Cardiff 1

31st March Cardiff 0 Millwall 0

7th April Middlesborough 0 Cardiff 2

9th April Cardiff 1 Watford 1

Tomorrow we make the trip to Barnsley, who are not on a particularly good run of form at the moment. Lets hope they keep this up tomorrow! As we are in the play off places at the moment, we only need 4 wins to be certain of a place. A win against Barnsley and I think we’ll make it!

Goalmouth action against Watford - a drawn game we should have won. (picture on Candy)

The Carling Cup and other stuff!

THE CARLING CUP FINAL and other stuff!

Picture by Jon Candy

Despite being a Cardiff City supporter for all of my 53 years (alright - I was 8 when I went to my first game!), and despite only returning as a regular watcher 7 years ago (when I decided it was time to put my sports kit away and stop playing), I cannot think of an occasion that has given me more excitement and more pride in watching my team. And we didn’t even win!

The team did us proud, against one of the big names in world club football, and held them to a deserved 2-2 draw after extra time. I don’t really care that we lost in the lottery of the penalty shoot-out, the Ben Turner equaliser in the last 2 minutes of extra time will live with me forever! I am so glad that I was one of the 31.000 Bluebirds fans who were there in the 89,000 crowd.

Ben Turner - off with his shirt! Celebrates the equaliser!

Unlike our previous Wembley appearances, this time the team played to the best of their abilities, and nearly pulled off a really big shock. It was a great day - but now its back to the reality of the league.

Let’s use this to boost the rest of the season!

3 losses in the 4 league games prior to the Carling Cup final means that we’ve now slipped down the league to 8th (writing this Saturday evening 3rd March). Let’s hope this is the end of our “bad spell” which good teams are supposed to suffer from time to time. One thing is certain - if the team continues to play as well as they did last weekend in the remainder of the Championship season, then we will at least make the playoffs this year and could yet make an automatic place.

Rudi Gestede scores the second against Peterborough - nice pic by Jon Candy

Those 3 defeats - against Blackpool, Leicester and Ipswich - are all teams we have had difficulty beating in recent years. In the middle of this run was a slightly bizarre win against Peterborough, where we played badly in the first half but were 3-0 up at half time, but followed this with a second half where we played well but lost it 1-0! All in all, it was a comfortable win though.

So, tomorrow, its West Ham United. Probably the best team in the division, although at times they seem to lack a little self belief. Back last August, we began to see some glimpses of Malky’s new team when we made ourselves hard to beat and snatched a late winner. Let’s hope for more of the same tomorrow.

Onwards and Upwards! Wembley Again!

Where has the time gone? I can’t believe that I haven’t posted to this blog since the 17th November last year! So much for my resolution to post more regularly!

The transfer window has just closed without any major signings, although this was not for want of trying. Malky Mackay says that he was very satisfied with the financial backing offered by the board, but he was not quite able to bring in the players he wanted. We know that Malky is meticulous in making sure that  he is bringing in the right type of player into the squad, and so far he has done an excellent job - In Malky we Trust!

The loan window opens on 7th February, and we now know the finances are available to make use of this. Our needs are much the same as when I last posted - a fast wide player and another striker (preferably in the Jay Bothroyd mould) are needed, not least because we have been quite lucky with injuries so far this season. We should know soon.

RESULTS (since my last post)

19th November 2011 READING 1 CARDIFF 2

22nd November COVENTRY 1 CARDIFF 1

26th November CARDIFF 1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0

29th November CARDIFF 2 BLACKBURN 0 (Carling Cup)

4th December CARDIFF 1 BIRMINGHAM 0

10th December MILLWALL 0 CARDIFF 0

17th December CARDIFF 2 MIDDLESBOROUGH 3

26th December WATFORD 1  CARDIFF 1

31st December NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0 CARDIFF 1

2nd January 2012 CARDIFF 3 READING 1

7th January WEST BROMWICH ALBION 4 CARDIFF 2 (FA Cup)

10th January CRYSTAL PALACE 1 CARDIFF 0 (Carling Cup semi - 1st leg)

14th January DONCASTER 0 CARDIFF 0

21st January CARDIFF 3 PORTSMOUTH 2

24th January CARDIFF 1 CRYSTAL PALACE 0 (Carling Cup semi - 2nd leg)

(Cardiff win 3-1 on penalties)

31st January SOUTHAMPTON 1 CARDIFF 1

We’re still up there!

So - at the end of January, we’re in third place in the table. Only 1 point behind an automatic promotion place, and only 3 points off the top of the table. I’m not going to go into the details of all of the fixtures since my last post, but 3 of those matches really stand out for me. Southampton and West Ham are in our sights!

CARDIFF 3 READING 1 - 2nd January 2012

I like to think I’ve been a  bit more positive about the team than some this season, but lots of people sat up and took notice following this performance. Simply put, this was the best performance of the season so far. 3-0 up after 27 minutes against good opposition and this score could easily have doubled during the rest of the match.

I have been saying since quite early in the season that I saw no reason why we shouldn’t finish in the top 6. If we continue to play like we did on this occasion, then there is no reason why we shouldn’t occupy one of those 2 automatic promotion places by the end of the season.

Aron Gunnarson scores the second goal against Reading - picture by Jon Candy

CARDIFF 3 PORTSMOUTH 2 - 21st January 2012

The one that probably should have got away but didn’t! This wasn’t a bad performance, but at times we seemed a bit disorganised and out of sorts. A (thankfully) rare mistake by goalkeeper David Marshall let Pompey back in at half time at 1-1, and when they took the lead early in the second half I began to fear the worst.

However, this team is resilient and certainly plays out to the final whistle. Just as it seemed as if it wasn’t our day, Mark Hudson popped up with an equaliser. I think a lot of fans were satisfied with a point, but then Craig Conway’s quick thinking and thunderous shot stole all 3 points deep into stoppage time. A pleasing win if not a classic performance.

Goalmouth action against Portsmouth - picture by Jon Candy

CARDIFF 1 CRYSTAL PALACE 0 (Cardiff win 3-1 on penalties) 24th January 2012

Who would have thought at the start of this season that we would be having our fourth trip to Wembley? I have regularly criticised the League Cup in my blogposts, and despite our success I still don’t see a need for it in the modern football calendar! However - I can’t wait for another trip! This time against good Premiership opposition as well against Liverpool.

An early goal against Palace on the night, and I thought we had a good chance of going through comfortably. Really, we battered Palace, and on another night we would have won this game 5-0, but the ball just wouldn’t go in the net.

Then - the dreaded penalty shoot-out! When Kenny Miller put that first penalty into the crowd I think many of us thought that it wasn’t going to be our night, but the hero of the hour was Tom Heaton who saved the first 2 Palace penalties. The result was somehow inevitable from that point.

Tom Heaton saves Sean Scannell’s penalty.

This afternoon we play Blackpool at the Cardiff City Stadium. We have to put the Wembley final to the back of our minds for the time being and hope for another 3 points.