I’ve only gone and caught it

My positive LFT

Two years on from the start of the coronavirus pandemic during which I’ve (mostly) applied caution, followed the rules and guidance, been vaccinated (4 times now as I’m apparently in a vulnerable priority group due to my arthritis drug which is an immunosuppressant) I’ve finally succumbed.

I started coughing on Sunday and thought no more about it. On Monday evening I started feeling rough, had a temperature and shivers. On Tuesday I did a lateral flow which was negative, but still felt pretty meh, enough to knock playing golf on the head and forgoing a trip to CCS to watch City play Derby - although we won, it was an awful match, so probably no bad thing missing it).

Today feeling a bit better, and with a skittles match scheduled tonight, so to be on the safe side I did another LFT and what do you know? Positive instantly! Cue getting out of my wife and daughter’s way sharpish. Booked a PCR straight away at CCS and within 30 mins had been, and completed the test on the off chance my LFT was a false positive. We’ll see.

To be honest it’s just like a heavy cold, although to be fair those 4 jabs have probably kept the symptoms down to a reasonable level. 

I've no idea where I picked it up from - could have been skittles last week (Wednesday), or St Fagans Museum (Friday) when with a group of family - none of whom were symptomatic. Unlikely to have bee anywhere else though, as haven't really been anywhere else. Golf on Saturday, but was never that close to anyone.

A reminder then, that whilst things are getting back to “normal”, and whilst coronavirus has melted from the headlines due to what’s going on elsewhere in the world at the moment, it hasn’t gone away.

Stay safe out there folks.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks

Cardiff City - Shambles of a club

Mick McCarthy, former Cardiff City Manager
Photo: Wales Online

So, Mick McCarthy's reign as Cardiff City manager is over (thank God). After an initial honeymoon period at the end of last term when he hauled us into the play-off's it's all gone horribly wrong this season. With the fans back at CCS full of optimism (maybe a slight overstatement), we then got rid of our all our wide players so cutting off the supply line for last season's 20 goal hero Kieffer Moore to the point where he's netted just once this season. We've been unable to score (1 goal in the last 8 games I think it is), and all of those last 8 have been defeats, including the 3-0 humiliation against arch rivals Swansea. Playing 4 or 5 centre backs every game and continuing the "lump it forward" dinosaur tactics, with no attempt to do anything but defend (and we've been pretty shit at that) has further frustrated and angered the fanbase. 

McCarthy failed to genuinely engage with the fans at any point, and his downfall has been inevitable given the current run of form. The loss to former manager Neil Warnock's Middlesborough last weekend, along with a man of the match performance from former Bluebird hero Sol Bamba might have been the final straw, although there are plenty of suggestions around that the decision  to dispense with McCarthy's services was a done deal long before that match.

Anyway, it's onwards (saying "and upwards" would be overly optimistic at this point) as City begin a search for a new manager, with former Blades boss Chris Wilder seemingly favourite (but why he, or indeed anyone else would want to come to City at the moment is a question that needs answering - see later in this post). Other names in the frame include  a few of the regular faces as these things come around - Chris Hughton (no thanks),  and Tony Pulis (definitely no thanks) as well as fan favourite Craig Bellamy (extremely unlikely), Frank Lampard (no chance) and even former boss Neil Harris (that's a no from me).

For the moment, U23 manager Steve Morison takes charge (at least for the next 3 games). He's widely applauded for having an U23 side that play attractive football, although that seems to get beaten out of players when they get to the 1st team.  Whether with the players he's got available, 3 games is enough for him to radically change the style of play and fortunes of the club on the field remains to be seen. Once thing's for sure, he's got a tough job on his hands.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, following the 'Boro game it came to light that just before the match (literally 90 minutes before!) City Chairman Mehmet Dalman met with a few selected fan representatives to set out the challenges facing the club at the moment. And it doesn't make for pretty reading.

On the pitch, managerless City sit just one place above the relegation spots, with a threadbare squad, players who seemingly don't want to be here, and a playing style that's archaic at best. Dalman indicated in the fans meeting that there would be no money for transfers not only in the coming January window, but also next summer. Hence my observation about whether Wilder, or indeed any other potential manager would want to come to a club with apparently no prospect of being able to shape and strengthen the playing squad. Moreover, Dalman also inferred that the whole footballing approach and playing style are being directed by owner Vincent Tan, the multi-millionaire Malaysian businessman currently bankrolling City, who once urged a former manager to get the goalkeeper's to shoot more! 

There were also inferences that a number of the current squad will not have their contracts renewed at the end of season, and with up to 10 players out of contract in the summer, that's going to be a massive problem for whoever's the manager at the time especially if there are going to be no funds available.

Additionally, the club continues to face a number of significant legal actions with potentially serious financial implications - the Emiliano Sala, Sam Hamman and Michael Isaacs cases all in progress, with Dalman suggesting that potential monetary losses in those cases (although that's not certain by any means) could amount to £50 million.

Mehmet Dalman, Cardiff City Chairman
Photo: Wales Online

He also made a number of remarks about the stewardship of the owner that many have interpreted as a bit of the old "slopey shoulders" syndrome by the Chaiman, apparently distancing himself from his boss.

There was also talk of potentially re-financing the club, although quite what that means or entails was not forthcoming.

All in all then, Cardiff City are in a pretty grim place. 

Relegation to League 1, and even administration is a real possibility unless City start winning, but quite how any manager coming in can change things around quickly enough given the current squad and lack of funds is a mystery. Add to that an owner who knows little about football, but seems to be driving the way we play from Malaysia, and a bunch of legal cases that could financially cripple the club.

We've also got a group of players who will be out of contract come the summer, with no doubt some of them already looking at the shambles who will be looking to their agents to get them a move to a more normal football club. 

As a side note, the players have to take some responsibility for the on-field results too - McCarthy was the buck stop as manager, but he can't kick the ball. That's down to the players, and almost without exception, they've underperformed this season.

And a secondary side note, on Saturday I felt a great deal of sympathy for the two young players who came on (Isaak Davies and Eli King) who should have been revelling in their 1st XI debuts but were caught up in the toxic atmosphere of anti-McCarthy/general performance boos and jeers during and at the end of the game. Not a way they're going to want to remember their debuts.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Championship must be looking at their fixture list, and marking us down as a banker 3 points.

Grim stuff. Who'd be a football supporter?

It's getting silly now

So another week or two passes and still the (not) lockdown continues. I have to admit it's all getting a bit silly now. Initially I welcomed the Welsh Government's caution as Boris and his troupe started lifting lockdown in England.  It all seemed to early, too soon whilst here in Wales we seemed to be playing a wait and see game.

Well, we've waited. England continues to ease the lockdown with today seeing the re-opening of non-essential shops. Inevitable, and perhaps rather sadly we've seen massive queues at shops like Primark (who don't have an online presence) so people waiting for their shopping fix can now be sated.

People desperate for their Primark fix: Credit BBC News

In England too, you can travel anywhere (within reason) and form a ‘support bubble’ with one other household if you live alone or are a single parent with dependent children - in other words, you are in a household where there is only one adult. All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household - meaning they can spend time together inside each other’s homes and do not need to stay 2 metres apart. Support bubbles should be exclusive - meaning you should not switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple households (from gov.co.uk)

Here in Wales we can't do any of that. We can only travel 5 miles (roughly). Nevertheless you wouldn't know it. I've been out and about on some local walks recently and nice that.

1. Traffic seems to be back to "near normal" levels
2. Penarth sea front was absolutely heaving this weekend
3. Cosmeston country park (where the large car park is closed off) saw cars lining the adjacent road as people parked up to go and walk there

No doubt a large element of that is down to the Dominic Cummings affair. He settle standard that the country can basically do what it wants to in spirit if not to the letter of the guidance.

It's ludicrous and whatever frustrations I have must surely only be exaggerated in local small businesses. I was also taking to a local business owner (florist) today. She's providing deliveries but is not allowed to open. However, the garage across the road sells flowers where people can walk in, buy flowers and pay face to face (with a screen in place granted). The florist is potentially losing money because she can't open and sell what the Texaco place across the road does as a sideline.

I know coronavirus hasn't gone away. I know people are still dying. But it has significantly lessened and the projected "second wave" off the back of VE Day celebrations, mass exoduses to the beaches etc don't seem to have had any adverse effect. Surely, we can loosen things up in Wales?

I'm desperate to see Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Government see some sense and offer the Welsh population some serious and practical solutions to easing of lockdown this week, but I fear that for whatever reason they are going to remain cautious.

At least football is starting back this week, so a bit of respite and semblance of normality, even if I can't be there to watch the Bluebirds.

Until next time.... 

April 17th: Rain, pincushions, death and football

Well the weather's turned (hopefully only briefly), and sunshine has given way to rain, the first rainfall in these parts for getting on for four weeks or so (bar one short overnight shower). That means a couple of things.

• Firstly, I'm not doing any more gardening. That can wait until the rain stops, although the garden  and my fledgling crops will be thankful for the precipitation as my clay based soil has set like concrete and opened up big cracks.
• Secondly, I wonder if the inclement weather will see fewer people at the shops - especially as over the last few weeks people have been standing out in the sunshine. If you go today you'll need an umbrella.
• Thirdly, whilst I can, and have frequently walked/hiked in the rain, I think I'll just stay at home today and have a day off the daily walk, or jump on the exercise bike for half an hour (I did the latter).

I did get out today, but it was in the car. I was out early to the surgery for my (currently two weekly) blood test. However, my veins weren't playing today despite me having drunk copies amounts of fluid yesterday and a couple of pints of water before I went to the surgery this morning, but despite three valiant tries, I'll need to go back on Monday for another go.

As the death toll from/with coronavirus continues to rise, I suppose it's inevitable that more people who were well known during my childhood succumb - in some cases just because it was their time, but others have been tragically hastened to an earlier than planned audience with St Peter due to coronavirus.

Today it was reported that Leeds footballing legend and hard man Norman "Bites Yer Legs" Hunter" has died after contracting coronavirus. Now I've now been a die hard Cardiff City fan many years, so whisper it very quietly, but for a brief time between the ages of about 10-12 before I knew better, and when I lived in rural Lincolnshire I, and most of my childhood peers supported Leeds. We never actually went to games - too far away and the nearest club of any substance was Boston United! I can still remember most of the squad of the early 70's off the top of my head including the likes of left back Terry Cooper, Welshman Terry Yorath, captain Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer (reckoned to have the hardest shot in football at the time), Allan Clarke, Mick Jones (who famously played in a cup final with a broken arm), Jack Charlton and many others. Norman Hunter was a renowned hard tacking centre back who left his stud marks on may an opposition player when the game was still considered a contact sport.

I also recall the Leeds kit of the era had little tags with the players numbers on that went on their socks - something that seems to have been fairly unique and a passing fad. Anyway, my flirtation with Leeds was brief before succumbing to the lure of the then all powerful Liverpool, led by an equally ferocious Tommy Smith and starring the likes of Ray Clemence, Steve Heighway, Emlyn Hughes, Ray Kennedy and of course Kevin Keegan and John Toshack amongst others. In my later teens I lost a bit of interest in football before the family moved to Wales in 1979. I came to Cardiff to study nursing in 1980 and have lived in the area ever since. It wasn't until about the mid 80's when through some friends I started attending a few Cardiff City matches, although wasn't really a regular until the late 90's. In 1999 when my son was 5 years old I started taking him, and the following season we both became season ticket holders and have been ever since, and we were joined by my daughter a few years ago.

Leeds United players with sock tags

My son and I in 2002. Blimey I looked young then...

And a slightly later one, and perhaps one of my favourite photos (and I've got about 25,000 in my library -  not all Cardiff City ones I hasten to add), my son and daughter celebrating a goal against Manchester City on 25th August 2013 in a famous 3-2 win. This picture needs no caption.

Until tomorrow....

#bluebirds
#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 11th: Compost, lost footballs and birthdays

My wife did our shopping this morning. And.... she also managed to grab me three bags of multi-purpose compost from Tescos whilst she was doing her shop. Compost is clearly not 'essential' in itself, but as she was doing the weekly shop and there was a pile waiting to be bought....... it's the one thing I was short of in my garden - at least now I'll be able to pot on my seedling tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, beans etc and be salad self sufficient later in the year!

I still feeling incredibly guilty that she's doing all, or most of the shopping as well as doing her couple of shifts at the hospital and looking after her mum 2-3 days a week when she's not working. There are good reasons for me not contributing as much as I'd want to here, but it still feels wrong. She's going to need an enormous bunch of flowers.....💕.

On our (almost) daily exercise walk today stopped to admire some cherry blossom. It's staggeringly easy to take for granted, or just not see some of the beauty that's right in front of our eyes. Only a few weeks ago it was raining, incessantly, cold and dark and now we see sights like this. Nature is truly a wondrous thing.

Blossom on a tree near our house

Also out on our walk I spotted a misplaced football. In fact, if you open your eyes when you're out and about, you will probably see loads of lost footballs. A few years ago I was introduced by fellow blogger, friend and former cricket team-mate Andrew Pearce to a Twitter feed (now also available on Instagram), called @Lostfootballs (lostfootballs on Insta). Their bio says;

"The saddest sight in the world - lost or discarded footballs. Honour them, send in photos. No rugby balls allowed".

Now whenever I'm out and about and see a "lost" football, I make an effort to post it to their Twitter feed.

A lot football spotted on today's exercise walk

And talking of Twitter. Today apparently marks twelve years since I joined this at the time, rather fledgling social media channel. Specifically it was Friday April 11th 2008 at 10.13 and 47 seconds (no, seriously). I've been a fairly avid user ever since, and at the time of writing this afternoon, I'm posted 29,521 times. That's almost 2.5k times a year or just under 7 times a day on average. I suspect much of what I tweet has been either

1. Football (and mostly Cardiff City) related
2. Replies to someone else (frequently about Cardiff City)  - seeing a trend here?
3. Photos of holiday places, or other things that have taken my eye
4. A load of rubbish
5. A combination of any of the above

I'm a Twitter Twelve!

If you hadn't already guessed I like Twitter. I like it's concise nature, although the move to a 280 character limit from 140 felt like a cataclysmic shift at the time (interestingly, despite this shift to 240 characters it appears from some quick back of the fag packet research that many tweets remain in the 30-40 character range. I haven't got the inclination to source this beyond a few quick Google searches). However, the channel also has faults. People are inclined to believe what they read without fact checking. People use it to troll/abuse/blame very quickly. There are the usual percentage of absolute idiots that use it - although you can level that at any communication channel. I also find that it can be good for customer service issues. Being a very public channel, (some) companies have realised that if they don't act quickly on complaints they'll get a bad rap pretty instantly, and have subsequently invested time and money in their Twitter customer service (CS). In some cases is rarely more than a "we're really sorry about this" (looking you train companies), but others provide excellent CS via this channel. It tends to be my first port of call these days. Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on about Twitter that much. Sorry.

I'm right out of cat news.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

19th March

So day 2 of my blogging about Coronavirus/Covid-19 (can I just abbreviate it to CV19 or is that a Coventry postcode 😂?)

We've just had the latest Government New Briefing with Boris and the Chief Scientific Officers. Whatever your views on Boris, you wouldn't wish this situation on anyone to have to lead a country through and all politics aside, I think he's doing a fairly decent job in what must be a monumentally pressured job. Whatever he says or does, or those around hime recommend in terms of policy and actions, he's not ever going to please everyone - this is completely unprecedented. I also must give a shout out to the two CSO's Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty who in my view are both hugely impressive in both conveying their messages, their knowledge and their demeanour.

I haven't been out and about today - not social distancing particularly, for one it's been a rainy old  grey day and not conducive to going out - I did think about walking a dog but chickened out, so have stayed inside cleaning lights and curtains and sorting a dodgy radiator - all those things that when I was working I never really had the time (or rather the inclination) to do.

My wife has been to see her mum and make sure all is well with her. My son continues to work at home, although he did pop into Cardiff to the office to collect few bits. My daughter is at work, although is feeling incredibly anxious about everything - more worried I think about having CV19 without knowing because she's working with others and using public transport, and passing it on to others in the family. I've tried to reassure her, and hopefully that's helped a bit. I'm sure her company will continue to do the right thing, support their staff and make the right decisions for the good of their employees.

Some of the skittle team are having a last hurrah at the club this evening, but I've decided not to go. A load of men playing with their balls doesn't seem very sensible, although I'm sure they'll take appropriate precautions. Who knows, maybe CV19 is undone by beer? That could be a win.....

We've also almost certainly knocked on the head a trip to the Peak District the week after next with my wife's sisters and brothers and their other halves. The pub we were going to stay at for a couple of days is still open, but it just doesn't seem to be the right thing to be doing, although our daytime activities of walking in the hills and valleys would probably have been an ideal social distancing activity. The meals and beers in the pub afterwards perhaps not so much.

The cat's mostly been asleep.

In other non CV19 news, everyone associated with Cardiff City has been devastated today to hear of the passing of former Bluebird midfielder Peter Whittingham, who has died following a fall a couple of weeks ago. He was only 35 and with a young family. Truly tragic. He was one of the most, if not the most gifted footballer I ever saw in the flesh and gave me and all Cardiff fans many moments to remember over his time with the club. My condolences go to his family at this terrible time.

Peter Whittingham  8 September 1984 - 19 March 2020
(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

The magic of the FA Cup: City 2-2 Carlisle

FA Cup 3rd round day. One of the biggest football days of the season. David's v Goliath's. Or in this case Cardiff City v Carlisle United. Separated by around 300 miles and 50 or so league places, it should have been a walk in the spork for City, especially given Neil Harris, the City manager's resolve to bounce back after a 6-1 hammering by QPR on New Year's Day. But this is Cardiff City, and things never, ever go to plan. There were multiple changes to the squad as expected, but it was still a decent XI on paper. City appeared to be denied a penalty by the inconsistent referee within the first few minutes, only to concede a penalty themselves 11 minutes in, which was scored on the rebound after 'keeper Smithies saved the original shot.

City were all over the place, and chants by the decent number of travelling fans of "You're fucking shit" couldn't really be argued with. In fairness to the visiting fans, that wasn't the only song they had, and the predictable "Championship - you're having a laugh" and renditions of God Save The Queen were wheeled out, and they did their best to create some sort of atmosphere. With less than 5,300 fans in total, and the Grange, Grandstand and Canton stands closed there was never going to be any atmosphere from the City faithful.

But back to the football - if you can call it that. A Premier League side only last season, Cardiff's stock plan seems to be pass sideways, sideways, sideways, then back and hoof long. Come to think of it, that was our plan in the Premier League too. There's no visible plan, let alone a plan B. There's little quality on or with the ball, and a lack of composure and urgency right round the team. City had a fair bit of the ball, but could do nothing with it. Carlisle compounded City's woes by going 2-0 up on the stroke of half time, and the Bluebirds were roundly booed off at the break.

Manager Neil Harris said after the game there was no ranting at half time (there bloody well should have been), but City did come out of the blocks after the break for 10 minutes at least, pulling back a goal through Callum Paterson and then equalising  via a Gavin Whyte header (despite a suspicion that the ball had gone out of play before he scored), but any glimmering hopes of a City comeback win faded as they reverted to type and despite a (slightly) better second period, they failed to break down the visitors defence. Indeed, Carlisle had a couple of late chances to nick it, and whilst that might have objectively been harsh, you wouldn't have been surprised had they done so.

There were less boos at full time, but a hugely disappointing afternoon following on from the QPR game and the prospect of an unwanted long distance midweek replay beckons, but I suppose at least we're still "in the hat" for the 4th round.

More worryingly, the next home game is the fabled South Wales derby, with our friends from down west hoping to do the league double over us. On this form, who'd bet against it? Not me.

The alternative revealing first interview of Paul Trollope - Cardiff City's new boss

New and old
New City boss Paul Trollope with former manager  Russel Slade
Courtesy of talksport

This afternoon, Wales Online published what it called "The full revealing transcript of Paul Trollope's first interview as Cardiff City boss". Having read this, I think it's neither full, nor revealing. In fact, it seems to me that this is a bunch of tired old football cliches, and answers that you would absolutely expect from a new manager - after all, we've all heard most of these answers every time a new manager is unveiled anywhere in the world.

And for the record. This isn't a dig at Paul Trollope. It's a dig at the way this story is reported. I mean, is there really any revealing substance here? Really? 

• I'm pleased to have the opportunity (well I'm glad he's not pleased about it)
• It's a challenge (No, really?)
• I will look to add (name me a new manager who hasn't said that)
• I'm a football man (thank God for that)
• I'm passionate about the game (thank God again)
• I've got a good work ethic (that'll help)
• I'm not going to compare myself to Russell (no, he's *cough* larger and got no hair)
• The fans have their views (yes we do)
• I look forward to building a positive relationship with him (the owner.....until it all goes pear shaped as it inevitably will unless you're Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson)
• Progress = play-offs or hopefully promotion. (no-one's going to say anything different are they?  Let's face it, he's not going to say "Mid-table mediocrity would be just fine by VT")
• We have to create positivity and belief (good, but hardly revealing) 
• We have to strengthen but I'm not telling you where. We need to add quality. (yes we do)
• I want to play progressive football (but I'm not telling you what that looks like because you'll hang me out to dry when we can't do it)
• We need to find a way to win, that is important (ah, that's the revealing bit...no I'm joking. Bloody obvious statement of the interview)

I therefore offer there, and alternative version of my imagined responses by Paul Trollope to those same questions that came to my mind whilst I was reading this. It's obviously tongue in cheek, and I hope no-one, not least Paul Trollope should he ever sink low enough to read this blog would take offence. 

Congratulations Paul. You're now the man in charge

PT: Thanks. Never saw it coming to be honest. I mean, who'd want to be the boss of this outfit? You're on a loser from the start, but the missus said she wanted an increase in her housekeeping.

It can be seen as the start of a new era, but with Russell Slade head of football and now you being confirmed it's the same faces.

Absolutely. We've just moved the labels. Russell is still the man, I'm just the front. I'm looking to bring some new staff in, add my own stamp to the club. The last cleaner we had was terrible.

Can you talk us through got process? Have discussions been going on very long?

We've been talking for months. No idea have come out of it, we just rabbit aimlessly. The Chairman said we need to give them something, do you fancy a go, it can't be as bad as it's been. Look, I'm not a football man, I'm just trying to earn a crumb. People said opportunities like this don't come round very often, but they do here. Malky, Ole, Russell and now me in the space of a couple of years. You can't say the club isn't full of opportunities.

But you would have seen the struggles that Russell faced in getting the fans support from the start. Perhaps there were some looking for a big name appointment - where can you improve on where Russell perhaps failed in that regard?

Are you saying I'm not a big name appointment? Are you? Do you know how much that hurts? I'm, as good as Neil Warnock, Roberto Di Matteo, Jose Mourinho. You'll see. The only problem I can see is when the fans shout "Do the Ayatollah Paul". I could do with an extra syllable in my name couldn't I?

Have you spoken to Vincent Tan?

I'm not allowed to say his name. We must all call him "The Owner".  I have had a number of constructive conversations with him, and he's told me get promoted or you're out. Oh, and can we shoot even more, because shooting a lot isn't working.

Did you ask him if there's money to spend?

Look, he gives me an allowance every week. What I spend it on is up to me within reason, although the prices they charge for chips and a beer in CCS are outrageous. Have you seen the cost of half a cup of hot water with a teabag in it?

Have you been set any targets?

Be in the Premier league by Christmas. I told him it's a marathon not a sprint. I don't think he gets that.

Do you know where you'd like to strengthen the squad?

All over. People say we need a striker, but frankly I think we need a few more defenders and about 6 reserve 'keepers. Strikers are over-rated.  It's getting people to come to South Wales is the problem. I mean, I know they're planning to cut bridge tolls, but these footballers are on the breadline.

What can Cardiff fans expect from you? What does a Paul Trollope team look like?

Well, it'll probably be 11 men on the pitch. Oh and they'll wear football kit and luminous boots. I like those.  I like to play progressive football as I said, so a bit of passing and if we have to shoot then so be it. 

For all that, I wish Paul Trollope well. He wasn't my choice for a new boss, but he's in now, so let's back him.

Cardiff City 2-0 Reading: Some stuff we knew, and some we didn't.

Cardiff City finally ended their goal drought today as they eased past Reading 2-0 at the CCS. For the first time in a long time, fans gave the team a rousing cheer and a well deserved round of applause at the final whilst celebrating a good win against a decent side with an improved all round display. 

I'm not a micro analyst of City,  and this isn't intended tone a match report. But during the game a number of things occurred to me that would exceed  140 character tweet that is my more usual form of social media communication.

1. David Marshall is by far and away the best keeper in the Championship - and probably as good if not better than many in the Premier League. We all knew that anyway, so we didn't find that out today, but half a dozen outstanding saves - three in quick succession, reinforced that.

2. We didn't miss Peter Whittingham. I was going to write that we don't "need" Peter Whittingham, but that may be a step to far. Certainly Slade was forced to juggle his plans after Whitts missed the match though a fifth yellow picked up last time out. But I thought Ralls did a superb job in the centre, and he provided two great deliveries from set pieces for our goals. Whitts shouldn't be a shoe in. Ralls should.

3. Matt Connolly is class. Contentious maybe, as I know he has his detractors, but I've always liked him. He plays football, can play in several positions, although CB is his best spot, has a cool head and can come up with important goals.

4. Mason is good, but only when he gets service. But obvious really, but today he just looked like a short version of Alex Revell. 

5. Noone should start every match. End of.

6. In the brief time he was on, Idris Saadi looks good. Eager and hungry. But it looked like he'd tweaked his hammy just before the end.

7. Slade is still not the man for the job. 

8. Reading's kit. Meh.

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Is there anybody there?

It's not too hard to understand why attendances at Cardiff City have fallen this year.

Firstly the dire football served up last year will have inevitably put people off. Why pay several hundred pounds to watch such poor entertainment?

Secondly, albeit reasonable value by some clubs prices, it still ain't cheap. Combine that with the end of the 5 year price freeze for those like me that bought "the golden ticket", and it effectively means your paying more to watch some pretty uninspiring football.

The club has made some big noises about doing things to being back the fans. The drum at last nights game v Bristol City, or the half time "entertainment" - in this instance consisting of making small children dizzy and then trying to kick a ball into a goal - aren't really going to do it for me.

There's really only one solution. Start playing decent football and winning games. Sorted


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Back to blue, but the football's pooh

Roger Johnson - always gave it 110%

I last blogged about Cardiff City on 10th January and the return to blue.

In that post I pondered on what I thought the benefits of that rather unexpected u-turn might bring.

1. The horrendous 'beer mat' badge will be redesigned to make the bluebird far more prominent, but also an interestingly incorporate elements "representative" of VT's culture and beliefs.
   
   Outcome: Well, we'll see on Monday went the new badge is unveiled. VT says we'll love it as the bluebird features prominently and there's a lovely oriental dragon on it. I'll hang fire on this until I see it.
   
2. Season ticket prices would be levelled off bringing parity between the price freeze people like me and others.
   
   Outcome: As expected, it's a bit more for price freeze people, and a bit less for others. Still decent value, or at least it would be if the football was any good - more on that later.
   
3. I suggested a lot of people are going to start buying merchandise if was blue and has a better badge.
   
   Outcome:It's probably too early to tell, and there's not a load of blue stuff available yet, but I think this will pick up. It may be dependent on that mysterious new badge though.
   
4. The crowds will also pick up. The happiness factor about going back to blue will bring people back who said they'd never return whilst we were in red, as well as help the general demeanour and atmosphere at games, where the crowd can direct support at the team rather than venting frustration and anger at the directors box. Just the feel good factor should help crowd numbers.
   
   Outcome: Er......Well this is awkward. According to Ali when he announces the attendance, we seem to be getting a good 20,000 people plus through the gate. In reality I think it's much less than this. It's clear that the attendances announced are on tickets sold (including ST's) and no bodies through the turnstiles on match days. In fact at one match the crowd even laughed when the attendance was announced it was so far off the mark. We're not idiots (well most of us). Just say the right figure. Or tell us the tickets sold but tell us its tickets sold.
5. Either way, the return to blue hasn't brought the crowds flocking back, and that's because the quality of football being served up is dire. More on that later.
   
6. We might even see a return of my favourite podcast from the boys at 'View From The Ninian'.
   
   Outcome: No luck yet. I don't think they can find their way out of "Pessimism Corner".
   
7. Finally of course VT will be ensuring that there's a free blue scarf giveaway at the next midweek match.....
   
   Outcome: I did make that up. But he hasn't, although it might be a nice gesture. Perhaps he's waiting for the new badge.

So what about the football? I'm not going to dwell on this. It's crap. Dire. Awful. Abysmal. Shocking. And it's clearly not just me. I don't know anyone apart from Russell Slade who thinks we're playing good football, and even he's admitted at times it's awful.

I have renewed my season ticket(s). God knows why. Having said earlier it's still good value, I guess it's good value if you like being built up with hope and expectation every week, only to have all that hope torn out of you by 5pm every Saturday (or 9.45pm on a Tuesday).

Cardiff City are playing unbelievably bad football. The only saving grace is that there are some teams in the division who are even worse than us.

The manager doesn't appear to have a clue. I don't know anyone who wants him to remain in charge. Today's capitulation against Charlton was awful. They didn't play well, but had shown some glimpses of the old City, but as soon as we went a goal up I knew we'd concede and once Charlton equalised I knew they'd win. There's no fire and no passion. Perhaps that's why VT is changing the badge?

Some players try. Some don't. Some run around like headless chickens. Some still look very unfit. Many look way below the quality we've come to expect at Cardiff City. There are a few bright sparks. I like the look of Kennedy. Manga's generally solid. Marshall of course is imperious in the main. Erm....how many is that?

It was good to see Roger Johnson back with Charlton today. One of my all time favourite City players. Now there's a player who could be a bit of an idiot at time, but when he pulled on a City shirt you just knew he was giving it 110% every time.

I await the remainder of the season with no excitement, no great buzz, no.....nothing. I just go because I've paid my money and I'll support them whatever - isn't that what we die hard fans say?

At last

Looks good doesn't it? It certainly felt good.

The Bluebirds back in blue. Lots of references to the "Bluebirds", including the electronic scoreboard showing "Bluebirds" rather than "Cardiff". Hardly a red shirt or scarf to be seen anywhere. Mascots in blue. Oh, and we won! Three points in the bag, thank you very much a great day all round.

It's perhaps a bit naughty to post anything negative, given the events of the last two days but well, the football was still dire. No creativity from either side. Shots on target? Hardly any. Great saves? I can't remember any. Rigid formation. Yes. No plan B. Nope. The atmosphere wasn't as great as I'd hoped for our first match back in blue either. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. And the crowd - just over 22k, which means that there were still lots and lots of empty seats. Maybe it'll come. On the plus side the new signing at the back Malone looked pretty solid and level headed and impressed me.

As an aside, I'm constantly astonished by how little attention some people pay to the game. There's a bunch of fans who are next to us. They nearly always turn up late - sometimes 10 minutes after the match has started, and nearly always leave early before half time and then early at the end. They also spend large portions of the match talking to each other with hardly an eye on the football.

Today they turned up as the teams came out. Literally 29 minutes into the game (I checked the clock) they were disappearing for a pint and didn't come back until the 2nd half was underway - then left early before the match was finished (again). I know the football wasn't great but.....

Back to Blue - Get your free blue CCFC scarf here!

Courtesy of Wales Online

Well, well, well.

It's been a momentous week, especially the last 24 hours  for us Bluebirds fans. Following Vincent Tans assertion in the "Christmas Day" message that we'd stay red, and the dismal, dismal on field showings in the last few weeks, the club announced out of the blue (pun intended) this week that it wanted to have a meeting with supporters, at the request of VT.

And it did. Quickly and apparently efficiently, with key supporter groups, MP's, local businessmen and other interested parties. Hell, it even invited all City fans to email them with their thoughts (and I did).

The meeting took place last night with Chairman Mehmet Dalman, CEO Ken Choo, Manager Russell Slade and others. Very quickly news was circulating on social media that the meeting was positive, friendly, and that the outcome was very likely a return to blue that so many had been calling on. Ever a cynic, I remained to be convinced, but by late evening people who know far better than me and whose opinion I would trust were calling it a done deal. Even so, given the history of our current owners approach to running the club, I took the view that I wouldn't believe it until I heard it myself. And I also suspected it would come with a huge catch.

So at 2pm today at a news conference, it was announced that Cardiff City are indeed going back to blue with immediate effect - so immediate in fact we'll play in blue at tomorrows match v Fulham. And apparently it was all down to VT's mum, who told him to get a grip, or words to that effect.

In an instant, the club has rectified what was a short sighted, unfathomable and lets face it, ridiculous decision that has divided the club, the fans and football generally. The craic is back, and by the looks of it, it's going to be a pretty good day at CCS tomorrow whatever happens on the field (and lets face it, that's still a bit of an issue).

I'm not going to go as far as many in thanking VT profusely and pandering to his ego. I'll give him fair praise for having the balls to admit he needed to accept the reversal of his rebrand and move to red, but frankly, if he'd done the right thing and consulted with everybody two and half years ago, none of this would have happened - and who knows where we'd be now? Certainly most people associated with the Bluebirds from staff to players to fans would have been a lot happier over the last two and a half years.

So, is there a catch? Well yes and no. We'll play away games in a red strip. That's not a big deal, we've played in red away before, and we have to play in some colour. And clearly white didn't go down too well. The horrendous 'beer mat' badge will be redesigned to make the bluebird far more prominent, but also an interestingly incorporate elements "representative" of VT's culture and beliefs. Hmm, forgive me if I hang fire on that one just for the moment.

And finally there's to be a levelling off of the differential in season ticket prices between those like me that were on a 5 year price freeze  (didn't mine go up this year?) and those that weren't. Probably fair and certainly not a 'catch'.

And what of the benefits of this about face, which is being flatly denied as a U turn?

Well for one, a lot of people are going to start buying merchandise if it's blue and has a better badge. I don't know how much City make from merchandise, but it's pretty evident that they've not been selling anywhere near as much in the last two years. I haven't bought anything red in that time and would have continued to give the red stuff the cold shoulder. Give me a blue shirt with a better badge/crest though, and you may well see me in the shop.

The crowds will also pick up. The happiness factor about going back to blue will bring people back who said they'd never return whilst we were in red, as well as help the general demeanour and atmosphere at games, where the crowd can direct support at the team rather than venting frustration and anger at the directors box. Just the feel good factor should help crowd numbers.

We might even see a return of my favourite podcast from the boys at 'View From The Ninian'.

And let's not forget, that thanks to the efforts of all those who fought, in their many and varied different ways for the history and tradition of Cardiff City, that although there's probably still a way to go, we're on the road to having our club back.

Finally of course VT will be ensuring that there's a free blue scarf giveaway at the next midweek match.....maybe I made that last bit up.

Blooooooobirds!!!!!!

Bad to worse...

I started by last post by saying "Just when you think things can't get much worse at Cardiff City...", but oh, how they can.

Today's dismal 2-4 defeat to Watford took both Cardiff City, and my support for them to a new low. Manager Russell Slade had called for a reaction after their capitulation of a 1-0 lead against 10 man Charlton on Boxing day, but even when they went 1-0 up today through an Adam LeFondre header, you just knew it wasn't going to be a great afternoon.

Empty seats throughout the stadium showed that a lot of people had stayed away (more on that later). City started brightly enough, and got that early lead, but Watford always looked neat and precise and a goal was always coming. It came on 42 minutes after some typically comic book defending by City, and then just 3 minutes later Watford took the lead after more defenders went awol. The boos were inevitable. The fight that City showed in the second half against Brentford never materialised, and Watford added to their lead on 63 minutes with another belter from way outside the box (this is happening every game now). By the time the Hornets bagged their 4th, the crowd were "ole-ing" Watford's passes, had chanted "You don't know what you're doing" to Slade when he subbed Adeyemi (arguably one of the better of a bad bunch today), and topped it off with "You're getting sacked in the morning" as the visitor's 4th went in.

I didn't see Jones get a second for City, because I'd walked out by then. I think I've only ever walked out of a City match in disgust once before, but at the moment they are an utter, utter, utter, shambles.

Slade appears to be way out of his depth. In mitigation it's not his squad, he's got too many overpaid and under-achieving players, but he was brought in (by Vincent Tan lest we forget), because he was such a good man manager. Well, let's just leave that thought there shall we?

The crowd also broke into laughter at Ali's announcement that there were 22,208 in attendance because there were clearly no where near that many there, and that's before most people walked out. There's a difference between tickets sold and bums on seats, and I reckon there were 18,000 there at most. If the club wants to delude people that it's being well supported, they need to get a reality check. The club is going down the pan fast. It saddens me, because the club is never going to admit things are bad - it's their jobs after all. But someone needs to sit Vincent Tan down, and be brave enough to tell him that frankly, he needs to go, or he needs to change things. Listen to people who know football. He doesn't, and I doubt he ever will.

I really do despair. There's a sickness, a poison around the club. The disillusionment is immense. On and off the pitch the club is an embarrassment, and no one except the supporters are prepared to say it.

Grim

Just when you think things can't get much worse at Cardiff City, our glorious owner issues a special Christmas Day message to fans saying we will not return to blue and any protest will be futile. Thanks, and a Merry Christmas to you too Vincent.

And then, to cap off a truly wonderful Yuletide for the Bluebirds, we chuck away a 1-0 lead away at Charlton against 10 men. Not only did we squander the win but apparently only managed 38% possession against the 10 men of Charlton. Seriously, what sort of management, leadership and focus is being shown by this club?

Whilst I've always opposed the rebrand I've stuck to the club but I have to say my resolve is waning by the week. For the first time I am now really beginning to wonder about the thought of not renewing my season ticket for next season.



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Christmas crumble

Regular readers will have noticed that...well, there's been nothing to read. I haven't posted since March when Cardiff were beaten (trounced) by Liverpool back in the halcyon days of our Premiership season.

I keep meaning to write something but never quite find the motivation. Normally, because I've been exhausted by another inept display, either by the club as a whole, or the players on the pitch. My regular tweeting on Cardiff City and other stuff (@Statto1927) at 140 characters, is normally enough.

But I can't restrain myself any more. Today I watched my side capitulate as we went 3 down at home in 33 minutes to a side who were two divisions below us last season. They were great, we were woeful. In fact we weren't as good as woeful. The final score was 2-3, which rather hides the fact that it probably could have been about 0-7. Frankly Cardiff City on the pitch are awful at the moment (read the last two seasons), and anyone who thinks otherwise (and the club and some supporters seem deluded enough to think we should be much better) is on a different planet. At best we are ordinary. In the last week we've been beaten soundly, and deservedly by two sides who were in League 1 last year who have played neat, incisive football with a team ethic that's sadly lacking in the borough of Leckwith.

Where to lay the blame?

Well a lot of people blame the players. That's understandable. They get paid a lot of money to kick a bag of wind around a field, and whatever the manager says, or the tactics he asks them to play, it's them out there against 11 other blokes. But some of the play recently makes parks sides look good. Passes going astray when no pressure, attacking players whose shooting power wouldn't dent a paper bag, and an alarming degree of being static and not challenging for the ball when opposition players are running and challenging everything. And let's face it, we've got some donkeys in our squad.

One who isn't a donkey though, shows that players talk and play a different game. Peter Whittingham after the loss at Bournemouth said.

"We have to be better. We must start quicker".

Yes and yes. So why didn't you?

So it's the player fault.

Or the manager. Since getting rid of Malky Mackay we've never looked like a team. I'm not defending Mr Mackay - clearly something went awry there, although I don't think us ordinary folk will ever know the truth, but I don't believe it's as one sided as Vincent Tan seems to delight in telling others. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was woefully inept as his replacement, and some of his signings beggar belief in hindsight. The current incumbent, Russell Slade was dragged from Leyton Orient (and let's not forget he's Vincent Tan's man this time), on the back of being a good man-manager, but with no experience at this level. A brief honeymoon period when a few results went our way, even though we weren't playing very well, and some nice media interviews, doesn't disguise the fact that he may be out of his depth too.  He blames a big squad, but hey, you've got them all to pick from. Surely there must be 11 who can play as a team in there somewhere?

Managers don't help themselves though do they? Here's one of Slade's quotes after todays performance.

"There were two ways to go at half time after we were knocked down and on one knee. We needed a response, we had to get up fighting. The players did that and they are the type of people you want in your changing room, the type of people I want around me".

No, no, no Russell. I want players around me who don't play so ineptly that they end up 3 down after 33 minutes in the first place.

So it's the manager's fault.

Or the fans. Clearly the fans aren't supporting their team and that's the problem. (That's a joke by the way). Idiots like me turn up to every match paying good money, cheer on the team and get rewarded with the dross we've seen lately. Don't blame the fans. Even the ones who boo, walk out, or have even given up coming.

Or the owner. Now we may be getting to the nub of it. The rumblings against Malaysian owner Vincent Tan have been loud and long, but not universal. The change of colour from blue to red caused an outrage, seemed to die down, and is back with a vengeance. The change of badge/crest to the awful beer mat effort is just laughable. And to what end. Lucky red certainly isn't lucky. But Mr Tan is too arrogant, or more likely stubborn to see that his re-branding and handling of the club is what I think is pushing the club to crumbling point. Fans divided. Fans fighting amongst themselves, and all because of what Tan has done. An we were supposed to be debt free by now. Instead we are still in HUGE debt. And pretty much of it all owed to the owner.

Just going back to the fans for a moment, let's remember everyone is different. Those who walked away at the first sign of a rebrand were perfectly entitled to. I thought they were wrong. I thought the rebrand was wrong too and still do - vehemently. But they had a point of principle. I'm now getting as disillusioned as they are. But I don't think I'll walk away. After all, supporting a club is about supporting through thick and thin, and whilst I think the club is in a mess, it's still the club I support. It doesn't not become so because we've got an owner and a lick of red paint. If you have a different view that's fine. It's not mine. Vincent will be gone at some point, and a new owner has a gigantic gimme of a win over for the fans waiting for him (or her) on a plate. Back to blue.

It could be worse. We could be Hereford United.

If the club had half a brain, they wouldn't be in this position. You've got to wonder.

Merry Christmas people.

Referees, the laws of the game and fans

I left CCS today after seeing City beaten 3-6 by Liverpool with some sense of frustration, despite seeing City play perhaps some of the best football they've played for a long time.

Yes, on paper we had been walloped by one of the title contenders, but it wasn't as straightforward as that.

Having played like relegation contenders for what seems like months, the Bluebirds really took it to Liverpool in the first period, bouyed by a vocal home support, no doubt swayed by the pre-match protest march for a return to blue. Indeed, to see much of the stadium bedecked in blue scarves was a sight for sore eyes, and the fans were loud and proud.

City went ahead twice against the in form Reds. First Mutch slotted home leaving Mignolet rooted to the spot, but after only 6 minutes Suarez, inevitably, equalised. Incredibly, City went ahead again, this time, a collector's item as one of the Bluebirds strikers actually scored - Campbell. A defensive lapse (and we've seen a few of those this season) then let in Skrtel to draw the sides level at 2-2.

You sensed City would struggle to keep up the momentum in the second period, and that Liverpool would tighten up, and so it was. Liverpool's third though was wrought with controversy. In conceding a corner, two Cardiff players appeared to get injured. Although Mutch got up and shook himself down, grabbing a drink from the physio, Theophile-Catherine needed treatment. Inexplicably the referee, Neil Swarbrick, who had a poor game in my view insisted both players left the field having been "attended to" by the physio. Whilst that might be what the rule book says, the law is an ass in this scenario. Through no fault of their own therefore, City were down to 9 men, and Swarbrick then restarted play with City having to defend a corner two men light, from which Skrtel headed home.

This rule that players have to leave the pitch after getting treatment has to be looked at by those that govern football. As often as not, it's the defending team that is penalised by this ridiculous rule. Mutch & T-C were genuinely hurt by the ball, but they have to go off leaving us 9 men to defend a corner. Ludicrous. If the referee thinks a player is pulling a fast one when he goes down, just stop the bloody clock. Players would soon stop rolling around time wasting, if as soon as a player goes down the watch was stopped, and they knew that time would be made up, instead of it still being pretty much guesswork as to how much "added time" the man in black will allocate. After some of the added time I've seen given this season from supposed elite referees, I'm beginning to wonder if any of them can actually count, or know how to use a stopwatch.

Anyway....

When first Sturridge and then Suarez made it 5-2, it was well and truly over for the Bluebirds. Mutch grabbed a late second to make it 5-3, but the referee had one more poor decision left. In the dying minute the ball was whipped upfield to Suarez who appeared to bundle over a City player before slotting past Marshall on a 1 on 1 situation. My unshakeable belief, is that had than been Kenwynne Jones at the other end, Swarbrick would have blown for a foul.

On the downside, we conceded 6, the referee was poor and yet again we didn't get the rub of the green on any 50-50 decisions.

On the upside, we scored 3, including one from a front man, against an in form title chasing team. In addition, all the teams around us lost, so we didn't fall any further adrift, but it's very much a case of "as you were".

A further positive was the great support, and the sea of blue, which even a short-sighted arrogant man like Vincent Tan could not ignore.

Do I think we can escape the drop? If we play like we did today, against those teams we have left to play and win, most especially West Brom, Palace and Sunderland then perhaps. But that's a HUGE "if", and personally I can't see it happening.

Grim and Grimmer

Three weeks ago, I wrote a post call The fat lady is gargling, ahead of the Bluebirds "must win" match against Norwich (which they did indeed win - just).

Since then we have been thumped by Swansea, scraped a draw with Villa, and have been beaten by Wigan in the FA Cup. Today's 0-4 loss to Hull, means in our last 4 games we've scored 1 and conceded 9. All pretence of the fat lady gargling can be cast aside. She's warbling, and City, bar an absolute miracle are doomed to relegation and Championship football next term.

Today's match against another team who are having their history and tradition messed with was dire if you were a Bluebirds fan. Devoid of ideas, lacking fight in some areas, and low on confidence, we were soundly thrashed by a side who at the start of the season we were suggesting we'd finish comfortably above. As things stand, everyone is sitting above us. Everything that could go wrong today did, and even the 50/50 decisions went against us, whilst Hull looked up for it! broke quickly with confidence and benefited from some sloppy City play. I've never been a fan of Steve Bruce as a manager, but he clearly has his team playing as a unit.

Yes, we're "only" 4 points from safety, but we don't look like scoring, let alone winning one of the probably 5 from the last 11 that we'd need to win to be in with a chance of staying up.

And what makes it worse, is that since Malky went, we've gone significantly backwards in my opinion. Ole clearly doesn't know what his best 11 is, and on the evidence of the last half dozen matches, we have very few players who are capable of cutting it at this level, despite a rash of signings by the new manager.

Football is awash with opinions, and everyone has their own view. For me, Marshall and Noone have been a class above anyone else in a City shirt. Caulker and Cala look a solid partnership in a short time together. Mutch, when he's fit brings a positivity that is sadly lacking from others.

Campbell works hard but gets little decent ball to work with. Jones blows hot and mostly cold. Eikrem doesn't offer anything that Whitts, or Gunnar could. Daehli is good on the ball, quick, but has yet to deliver anything really incisive. Of the full backs, John and McNaughton shade it over KTC and Taylor with Fabio's defensive ability AWOL.

And of the manager? OGS was a superb player and clearly has done a job with Molde in the Norwegian League. But I'm not convinced. Tactically we seem to have gone backwards. His preference for an attacking style of football hasn't materialised. The defensive structure and discipline built and instilled by Malky appear to have disappeared.

Confidence means a lot of course, but City are devoid of that, and I can't anything that can change that happening.

To see huge numbers leaving the game at 3-0, and then 4-0 was hardly surprising, but still very sad. This should have been a celebration season, but it's felt more like a funeral.

Today I've seen a lot of tweets from people saying that that's it, and it'll be relegation. In all honesty, much as I've tried to be positive this season, I have never thought we had enough to stay up, even before the season began. I'm sorry I couldn't be more positive, but a couple of surprise games this season apart, nothing I've seen changes that view.

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The fat lady is gargling...

It's been a tumultuous year or so for Cardiff City. After then new owner Vincent Tan apparently "saved" the club with his cash injection, we were on a high. Then he unilaterally changed the kit from blue to red. We were devastated. Then he changed the badge to something akin to a beer  mat. We were even more devastated. Some supporters gave up the ghost vowing never to return until the club was restored to it's "pre-Tan" state. Others, were unhappy at the changes but vowed to keep supporting the club. Other, newer supports joined the ranks, and didn't care too much either way, and a few embraced the changes.

I made a point earlier this season about new supporters, and I want to clarify one thing. Sure, some jumped on board because of the Premier League bandwagon, and if that's the way they roll, fine. They'll probably fall off when we go back to the Championship. Other though are just new supporters. There's churn in supporters every year - fact. So it's unfair to supporters who have only known red (albeit they may be very young in the main) with "supporting" VT's changes - they're not. They're supporting Cardiff City.

Anyway, with that off my chest....

Then (in lucky red) we got promotion to the PL. Obviously we wouldn't have done wearing blue chuckled Vinnie to himself. And we started the PL on...well if not a roll, then with some encouragement. That huge win against Manchester City, a point off United, the fantastic win against Jacks. But somewhere along the way, the wheels started falling off. Ian Moody, head of recruitment went, to be replaced by a painter. The rift between VT & Malky who most though to the one of the best managers City had ever had widened to breaking point. VT even managed to boo the team after a match. What sort of an owner does that - in public? The points dried up and the inevitable happened when Malky was given his P45.

The circumstances will probably never be fully know to anyone apart from a few select people. VT, Malky, Mehmet Dalman and probably Simon Lim. Us mere mortals will never know, or at best sometime long in the future when autobiographies get published, we will hear only one side of the story.

All I know, is that there's rarely smoke without fire, and something very fishy has happened somewhere. The Cornelius signing is being cited as the catalyst, but again, we'll probably never know.

So, in comes Ole, and bang, we win in his first match ,an FA Cup win over Newcastle, and all's rosy again. But it's the FA Cup, not the Holy Grail of the League, where we still can't get any points, perhaps expectedly given our January fixture list, although the showing v the Hammers was woeful.

But new signings have come in, and player have gone out. Odemwingie's fleeting, and largely unsuccessful dalliance has ended. Hands up, I though he was a decent signing, but he just didn't perform, The bizarre saga of Cornelius has ended with him going back from whence he came - at a huge cost to the Bluebirds. I don't think he deserves the flack - he's young, and was injured, but whether he was worth £8m?

And so, to the moment. A huge game against fellow strugglers Norwich. New signings on board and available. 3 points would be absolutely massive. A draw or loss, hard to deal with. Can we do it? We can only wait and find out. Do I think we have enough to stay up? No. I think the fat lady is gargling, and it won't be too log before she starts warbling.

It's hard to admit that I think we'll be back in the Championship next year, but unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of months, that's where we'll be. I wonder what Vinnie will be saying then? Lucky red? He'll probably blame it on the times we wore blue. Or Malky. Or Cornelius. Or Moody. Or someone else.

Someone once said to me a long, long time ago. "Never trust a man who wears his trousers above his belly button".

Update
The Bluebirds took all three points in a gritty encounter. After falling behind on 5 minutes, two goals in a minutes early in the second half swung the game dramatically. City held off an onslaught by Norwich late on to grab the spoils. It wasn't pretty, but who cares.

The Promised Land

Surely Cardiff City can't chuck it away now? 9 games left in the Championship season, and City sit top of the pack, 7 points clear and more importantly 9 points clear of third and with a game in hand.

So often the "nearly men" in the last few seasons, it looks like the Bluebirds are finally going to make it to the promised land of the Premiership. And without wanting to count my chickens, it looks like years of aspiration will finally come to fruition.

Statistics rarely lie over the course of a marathon season, and City have ground out the points they need to sit at the head of the division. "Ground out" is the key here. City have, few games apart set the league apart with their fantasy football, but what they have had this year is strength and depth that's been lacking in seasons past.

So many times in the past we've looked at the bench on match days and thought there's no-one there who's going to change a game. This year, we've been bemoaning how such quality players as Kim, Mason, Helguson, even Bellamy at times, haven't been in the starting line up.

It's not over of course until the fat lady sings, but surely she's at least clearing her throat?

Up the City




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