Wales and the World Cup: Qatar 2022

Wales

Source: The Independent/Getty Images

Well, the dream is over. Wales are out of the World Cup in Qatar after failing to get past the group stage with what can only realistically be described as fairly insipid performances against all three of their opponents - USA, Iran and England. 

A 1-1 draw vs the USA in match 1 was a game of two halves. Wales were awful in the first period and only a Gareth Bale penalty saved blushes as a point  was salvaged in the second half.

with expectations high(wish) that that would be put behind them and they'd beat an Iran side trounced 6-2 by England quickly faded, and it looked like a point would be all they'd get until to (very) late goals by Iran meant defeat and the unlikely scenario of having to beat England by 4 goals to stand any chance of progressing.

Of course that never happened, and it was pretty much all England as our rivals from across the border made easy work in a 3-0 win, and that was that.

So what can we make of it all?

Whilst I am bitterly disappointed (as an Englishman who now considers himself more Welsh than English)  that Wales never really turned up in these finals, you have to accept that even getting to Qatar was an exception achievement for a country of just over 3 million people, the second smallest nation at the World Cup other than Qatar who qualified automatically as the host nation.

For so many supporters of Wales, now known as Y Wal Goch or The Red Wall, getting to a World Cup is somethings they've never known, 1958 being the last time it happened. The success of the team in getting to the semi-final of the 2016 Euros, and then the finals of the 2020 Euros and now the World Cup  finals in Qatar 2020 means the at the other end of the spectrum, younger supporters might feel this is the norm for Welsh football. It's not, and the achievement of team managers over these latter years - the late, great Gary Speed, Chris Coleman, and Rob Page cannot be underestimated. Yes, they've had some exceptional players in their squads. Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey at their peak were sublime, but the key has been getting the rest of the squad, often drawn from Championship or even League 1 level to perform as greater than the sum of the parts.

It's been an exceptional few years for the country's national team. Anyone who has been at a Wales match to experience first hand the amazing support of Y Wal Goch - well, I can vouch for the fact that it sends shivers down your spine, especially when the fans sing the national anthem unaided by music or some screechy would be diva. Trust me, you don't get that anywhere else.

So, on the one hand, the experience of getting to the finals has been incredible. For those that managed to get out to Qatar it must be an experience that will live with them forever.

But that said, and as I set out at the beginning of this post, the disappointment in the performances in our three group games has been palpable. The team didn't perform anywhere near their best, collectively or individually in any of the group games, and with one goal (from the spot) in those matches we didn't deserve anything either. Several of those players are now probably done in their careers in a red shirt. Neither Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey looked fit or had any real impact in any of the games (Bale's penalty aside). Joe Allen was wrapped in cotton wool until the England game but couldn't influence the game unduly. Those three have been outstanding servants for Wales, but it wouldn't surprise me if we don't see them in a Wales shirt in any significant or meaningful way again. 

But there are some excellent and exciting players coming through. Ethan Ampadu has significant tournament experience now even as a youngster. The likes of Brennan Johnson and Dan James who come in for a lot of stick are pacy and attack minded. Kieffer Moore is a great front man. Neco Williams has bags of potential and quality. And it was really pleasing to see two Cardiff City players in the World Cup squad - Ruben Colwill and Mark Harris, with Colwill even getting some minutes on the pitch in the England game. There's no time to stop and think with the Euro qualifiers just round the corner starting in March, but there's still room for optimism.

Much as it will incense my Welsh pals, I still have a soft spot for England, and I'd like to see them do well,  but I'd much rather have seen Wales do well and get out of the group stages, even at England's expense

Let's hope that Wales can keep this great run of qualifying for the finals of major tournaments going.

Bring on the Euros!

Twitter: @Statto1927 

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

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April 30th: Sport. Remember that?

So April peters out in a damp farewell after a period of prolonged sunshine and warmth. In any normal year we'd have had a great April, getting out and about in the nice weather, maybe some trips to the beach, seeing the start of the cricket season whilst moving swiftly towards the denoument of the football season.

Instead, everything remains up in the air. We're still in lockdown (or a variation of it depending on how compliant you're being). It's still open to question whether any cricket will be played this year. The sport's governing body has said no professional cricket will take place until July 1st at the earliest, the launch of the new Hundred competition has been postponed until next year and the recreational cricket suspension remains in place for the foreseeable future. Our league has just today suggested that they think the chances of cricket starting up by 1st July is unlikely (and I agree).  The football powers are still debating options for the completion, or cancellation of the current season (or something else), let alone the implications for the 2020/2021 campaign.

On the brighter side of things, the panic buying at the shops seems to have dissipated with most things bar flour (blame all those lockdown home bakers) readily available and those retailers that are open for business having put sensible and appropriate social distancing measures in place, or have adapted their business models to focus on home deliveries.

The calls continues for the Government to provide at least it's thoughts on an exit strategy form lockdown, although there seems to be a reluctance from on high to do this at this time.  Personally I believe it's too early to ease things (much as I'd like them to). I saw an interesting meme on Facebook this morning for which I can claim no responsibility which summed it up for me:

Reopening the country early, is a bit like stopping your antibiotics early because you're starting to feel better

I checked my car mileage this morning. It's a nerdy thing or perhaps OCD, but I like to know how many miles I've done each month. In the last month I've racked up the grand total of 43.9 miles. For many people it might be zero. I've had two or three trips to the surgery for my blood tests, and one trip to Canton with my wife to check on my mother-in-law one evening when we thought there was problem (there wasn't). That compares with just over 1,000 miles a month before I retired last November, and 560 in February and 400 in March. Apart from the obvious fuel saving that I and every other driver in lockdown has made, the impact on the environment must be huge. We've seen pictures of before/after lockdown improvements in air pollution across the world (although be careful believing everything you read/see - photo editing software is very good these days 😉. This article from Guardian at the end of March, a whole month ago was already showing some striking effects of the improvement due to the reduction in travel - it's probably even more significant now, even though traffic seems to be picking up again.

Although the weather's been a bit showery today, we did manage to get out for an hour. This shot was taken on the local golf course.

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club: 10th fairway

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 24th: Lockdown and disinfectant

So we're just over a month into Lockdown (Monday 23rd March).  How are you all coping?

We've settled into a pretty regular pattern at Chez Stats. Mrs H who's a nurse works Mondays and Tuesday's, but not directly at the coalface of CV-19 and thankfully things have been relatively calm for her at work. On her days off she continues to support her 94 year old housebound and frail mum who lives in Cardiff, alternating days with her brother, so she gets some down time. She's also i/c the shopping duties. My son who was initially working from home, has now been furloughed, and has another couple of weeks before that's reviewed. In the meantime he's taking the time to do some online learning relevant to his industry. My daughter who works for a big insurer as a customer service rep is working from home, but continues to have struggles with IT systems issues which seem to be affecting quite a lot of people.

I've got the garden looking tip-top, and have after some procrastination commenced some overdue decorating. I'm also taking the time to do some reading and practice my photography skills, although I'm finding it hard to concentrate on doing any one thing for very log, but that's just me I think, not a result of lockdown. I've also turned my hands to a few culinary projects, which thus far haven't ended up poisoning anyone. Apart from some shortish walks, which aren't daily, I've only been out of the house a few times. Twice for a blood test (a regular requirement for the arthritis drugs I'm on), once when we though there was a problem with my mother in law, and one other time to pick up a takeaway.

The general feeling is that the data are suggesting we're past the peak of infections, and whilst we are technically still in a lockdown situation, it seems that we are beginning to see a very gentle easing of restrictions. I've seen that some B&Q stores are opening, and anecdotal reports that locally traffic is up 25%-30% on three weeks ago. There's continuing chatter in the media about strategies for getting our of lockdown, perhaps fuelled by news that some of the European countries are now starting to relax restrictions. Today's news is reporting that Wales could introduce a traffic light type system for easing the restrictions at the end of the current lockdown period in early May.

However, there's also a fairly strong message coming across that restrictions of some form or another, particularly in respect of social distancing are likely to need to remain in place until at least the end of the year. How this will manifest practically is anyone's guess at the moment.

On the sporting front, we now know that professional cricket won't commence until at least the 1st July, and the recreational game remains suspended until further notice. Realistically I don't see any chance of any cricket of substance this year for my local club. As far as football goes, no one's any the wiser as to whether the current season will be cancelled, finished behind closed doors or something else. It's too early to even think about that that means for next season, but on the upside it means I haven't had to fork out money for next season's season ticket yet.

As far as holidays go, our June Corfu trip is still technically on at this moment in time, but I can't see any way that it's going to happen. Similarly, the chances of our late September mediterranean cruise happening are vanishing rapidly, and there are huge questions about future of the whole cruise industry. We do have a couple of "in-country" breaks booked later this year, so finger's crossed one or both of those might yet come off.

And I can't close today without a nod to the good ol' US of A. Their parody of a President incurred disbelief overnight at his suggestions that disinfectants and light might be used to treat coronavirus. He even suggested that light could somehow be injected into the body. I was staggered that he got elected in the first place, but over his tenure his actions and messages have become increasingly "bizarre" (I'm being kind here). It seems no one has got the gumption to stand up to him and tell him he's an idiot. What is even more amazing, is that there are people stupid enough to listen to him, believe him, and vote for him.

Inevitably, this story dangerous as it is, has been widely mocked on Twitter. This is my favourite...so far

Until tomorrow....
#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

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.

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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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.....

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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Top of the League!

Ok, it's still only October, but Cardiff City tonight sit top of the Championship, three points clear of Leicester City, with the BBC website headline "Cardiff thrash Burnley to go top".

It was as comfortable an afternoon as City have had this season. Burnley, the league's top scorers showed little threat, nullified by an organised and disciplined team performance.

Malky Mackay opted to start with Kim Bo-Kyung the Malyasian summer signing for the firsttime, and Jo Mason stepping in for the injured Bellamy. It was Mason who struck early after a cracking Noone shot cam back off the bar. It was Noone who made it 2 after the Clarets keeper could only palm a fierce shot which cross the line before the keeper clawed it out.
2-0 at half time and the game looked to be in the bag. City enjoyed dominant possession in the 2nd period,  and Connolly, impressing at right back made it 3 on 81 minutes before in a replay of Tuesday's game Gunnarsson came off the bench to score making it a 4-0 rout on the day.

Everyone looked on top of their game today, but Cowie, Connolly and Kim particularly impressed. Karim Frei, on a month loan from Fulham covering injuries cam on late and looked a class act too.

That's 7 from 7 at home from City. They haven't all been as comfortable as this, but that's 21 points at home from 21. Excellent stuff. Up the Bluebirds!

Will football ever learn?

The disgraceful scenes during and after the Serbia v England U21 game last night should be a final nail in the coffin of racism in international football. If the accusations are true and there's little to suggest they are not), the book, nay the library should be thrown at Serbia (who are not alone in the international arena in this it has to be said). They should receive a massive ban from international competition for years and an even more massive fine. But they won't. It'll be fudged

In other farcical scenes, England's senior WC qualifier against Poland was postponed because some numpty decided that despite torrential rain forecast, and duly arrived, even though the stadium had a roof, they wouldn't close it and the ground was waterlogged. Bizarrely, when the European Championship matches held in the same stadium in the summer were played, they had the roof closed.

I'm not sure what the qualifications are to get a job in football, but clearly common sense, a sense of justice and right from wrong isn't part of what is required.

King Whitts: City 2-0 Crystal Palace

This was a tough match for City (are there any easy matches in this division?), but on the back of a 3-0 away win at Derby in the week, even a Palace side that hadn't conceded in their last six matches shouldn't have put any fear into the Bluebirds.

Malky Mackay is moulding this squad into a genuinely tough to beat side, with a team ethic that has been starkly lacking in Dave Jones' sides of the past few seasons.

As was fitting for Bonfire Night, this started off as a slow burner, but burst into life and left City's faithful dazzled by the sparklers provided by a fantastic 2-0 win.

In truth, the first period was a fairly turgid affair for City bar one Miller glanced header and a thunderous shot from Whittingham that cannoned off the bar. Heaton, in for the ill Marshall, was the busier of the two keepers, as City struggled to win second ball, hold onto possession or pass with any accuracy.

However, in the second period City started to pick up the pace, and with great effect. Miller was put through one on one with Speroni, who had been inspired against us at CCS last year, and it looked like he was in the same form as he denied Miller's effort. That though was the spark that lit the blue touchpaper, and thereafter, City were virtually unstoppable.

On 69 minutes Taylor put the ball to the ever industrious McNaughton who layed the ball off to Miller who finished clinically with a shot across Speroni, the first goal Palace had conceded in over 550 minutes of play. But just 11 minutes later they'd conceded again. Nauts was up-ended outside the box to the right, and in prime Whittingham territory, City's King-Pin hit a beautiful shot right into the top corner with Speroni flailing and failing to get to the ball.

Despite a too late rally by Palace, City kept a second consecutive clean sheet. It looks like the back four are finally beginning to gel - some mistakes still, but with the assured Heaton marshalling the defence, there were few worries in the second period.

All the players were great today, but Whittingham was magnificent, pulling the strings and creating the guile City needed to break down a good defence.

Make no mistake. City are far from the finished article, but this tops off a very decent return of results as we go into an international break. City will be full of confidence, Mackay will be very pleased with his charges, and dare we say it - has City's November hoodoo finally been put to rest?

City lie a comfortable 4th, although Birmingham way down in 12th, but only six points behind have an incredible four games in hand. At this stage of the season would I have taken that? I'd have bitten your hand off.

Up the City!

Great win: Derby 0-3 City

Usually I'd be all over this - a three nil win for City away. And fantastic though it was, I just haven't got the enthusiasm to write about this see post below for the reason why).

So read about it here.

Sublime (and a bit awful): City 5-3 Barnsley

After Tuesday's disappointing loss at London Rd, having been ahead with 3 minutes to play, City were looking to bounce back against Barnsley at the CCS today.

With Miller back from injury, Malky chose to play the diminutive striker at the head of a 4-5-1 formation with the returning McPhail in the centre. Still at central defence were Hudson & Turner, needing to build on a fledgling partnership that had conceded six goals in the previous two games. Despite the somewhat conservative formation for a home match, City looked bright early doors, and took only 10 minutes to go ahead after Miller calmly slotted past Steele after a superb pass from Don Cowie. Soon after Miller had a glancing header superbly saved by Steele, and from the resulting corner with City looking in control, Miller was forced off after a clash with team mate Turner in the box. Much to the surprise of many, it was Mason not Earnshaw that replaced him. He immediately had an impact when running at the Barnsley defence he was hacked down just outside the area. Whittingham lined up the kick, and his powerful shot was parried only for Mason to react quickest. 2-0 City.

Almost immediately however the Tykes equalised, when former City loanee Dany Drinkwater's free kick was wickedly deflected past the helpless Marshall. But the Tykes jubilation lasted only a couple of minutes as City pressed again, with Mason influential, and the ball came to Gunnarsson who teed up a volley and rifled it past Steele who had no chance. 3-1 City at half time.

Barnsley made three subs at the start of the second half, but it made little difference, as City were in complete control, playing some sublime football.On the hour Mason played the pass of the game to put Cowie through, and after he rounded Steele and poked home it was 4-1. Gunnarsson then made it 5-1 on 71 minutes flicking home Taylor's cross. Barnsley looked long dead and buried, and had nothing to offer, and City fans were expecting every run forward to result in a goal. But a needless corner given away by Taylor's flicked header on 82minutes was nodded home almost in slow motion with City's defence static, and four minutes later, City were again all at sea as they failed to clear and Vaz Te fired home. So 5-3 from 5-1 up, and City were suddenly on the back foot and looked a bit rocky. But they held out, and the game finished with that scoreline.

For 90% of the game City were outstanding. The 4-5-1 formation worked superbly (until McPhail went off when it started to go a bit pear shaped), and although it could be argued that Barnsley were poor, it was because City controlled the game. Mason particularly was outstanding, and there were terrific performances from Cowie, Whittingham, McPhail and Gunnarsson.

It's probably not fair to pick holes when we've won, especially when we won so convincingly, but there are negatives, and Malky will surely want to sort these out. McNaughton is a fantastic defender - possibly one of the best right backs in the division, but his distribution is pants. In the first 30 minutes, every time he got the ball his final pass gave possession away. And at the back, although it could be argued that Hudosn & Turner are building a working relationship, they've presided over 9 goals being conceded in the last three matches, and that is just not good enough.

Still, three points and +2 goal difference from the match IS positive. Cut out the crap goals being given away, and City are a force to be reckoned with.