As I’ve done in previous seasons, I’ll mark the players out of ten – where appropriate markings for the previous season will be shown in brackets alongside them.

One other thing, the markings given to some of our younger players may strike you as harsh, but they are for what they did in their first team appearances, not what they did at Under 21 or Under 18 level.

Leon Barnett

Only played eight times, but the loan signing from Norwich was the final piece in the Championship winning jigsaw. Given what’s happened in the last month or so, it’s easy to forget the situation Barnett came into – one win in five matches, defensive kingpin, captain Mark Hudson, out for the season and City’s lead at the top, which had been as much as eleven points, down to just four (all of this at a club which had a reputation for bottling it at the end of a season). Right from the start though Barnett brought an air of cool authority to our play. Norwich fans had said he was good at Championship level, but he’d make one bad mistake a game – he was much better than that though, strong, clean tackling (well, mostly!), extremely powerful heading of the ball from a great leap and more than decent passing ability, it was heart warming to see how much our promotion meant to him as well even though he was only here temporarily – 8.

Craig Bellamy

I kept on waiting for him to start dominating our late season games like he had done in 2010/11, but it never happened. However, could that be because he didn’t need to this time around – was he surrounded by more team mates with both the ability and strength of character not to need carrying like so many had to be two years ago? May not have stood out as much as he did first time around with us and his finishing was certainly not on a par with his earlier spell at Cardiff, but what must it do to City players to see someone who has done so much in the game working so hard to close down opposing defenders like Bellamy did all season long? Probably deserves a 7 for what he did on the pitch, but I’m going to give him more than that because of the attitude he brought to the club – a gradual easing down on the way to retirement is how so many 33 year old’s see things at that stage of their career, not Craig Bellamy though – 8.

Fraizer Campbell

With seven goals from twelve appearances, he would surely have been the consistent goalscorer the team lacked if he had been available all season. A Fraizer Campbell goal of the season competition would not make for fantastic viewing, but that proves the point about what a vital signing he was for us – with Joe Mason not featuring as much as last year and Nicky Maynard’s season ruined by injury, we did not have that player who was able to instinctively find space in the penalty area and tap in the “simple” goals until Campbell arrived. By the way, I reckon his first goal against the wurzels was Campbell’s best of the season – it was scored from about eight yards out which was about as “long distance” a goal as he scored for us – 7.

Matthew Connolly

We let in four on his debut, but it didn’t take long for Connolly to show why he had played a part in taking QPR and Reading to the title in the previous two seasons. Would rather play at centreback than right back and he was a little more effective  in the former position compared to the latter, but his all round competence, calmness and ability to play out constructively from the back gave us some of the qualities which marked the 2012/13 squad out as an improvement on their predecessors. Also weighed in with five goals that owed a great deal to Peter Whittingham’s dead ball skills, but a terrific volley which hit the crossbar at Huddersfield suggested he could be more than just someone who gets on the end of free kicks and corners in the finishing stakes – 7.

Craig Conway

It looked for some time as if Conway would be one of casualties of the increase in quality given us by the spending in the summer of 2011 and it got to the stage where he asked for a transfer in a bid to get the first team football which he couldn’t see himself getting at Cardiff. The request was rejected, but his superb attitude when picked to play for the Development team may well have played a part in Malky Mackay recalling him to the team for the game with Sheffield Wednesday – he scored  the only goal that day and never looked back. Was virtually an ever present after that and, although he was not as spectacular as some of his rivals for the wing positions when they were on their game, he provided solidity and a great work ethic as City ground their way to the title – his goal to win the Championship at Burnley was a beauty 7 (6).

Luke Coulson

Picked up in the autumn after his earlier release by Manchester City, youngster Coulson was a fine attacking right back for the Development side who was missed in their Final with Charlton when a broken meta-tarsal kept him out. Only got the one first team chance when he came on for the last half an hour of the FA Cup tie at Macclesfield and probably could have done more to prevent their equaliser – richly deserved the contract offer he has been given by the club though 4.

Don Cowie gets his manager’s approval after scoring at Sheffield Wednesday – given that we went into that game with a four point lead and came out of it seven clear, it was probably one of our most important of the campaign.

Don Cowie

Was sometimes referred to as Malky Mackay’s “son” in 11/12 because he appeared to be the first name our manager put on the team sheet, but he only featured twenty four times in the league in 12/13. Cowie’s relegation to something of a bit part player was one of the most telling examples of how the squad had improved from last season because it was difficult to see evidence of a decline in his play when he got his chance. He still provided hard working, technically proficient performances when called upon and he was one of a few City players who would, surely, have been a regular starter at most other Championship clubs – that said, it’s hard to see him starting too often next season. 6 (7).

Karim Frei 

Talented and quick nineteen year old Turkish international winger who was signed on loan from Fulham in the autumn. He looked good during a brief substitutes appearance in the home game with Burnley, but did little in the away matches at Bolton and Charlton (where he made his only start) before returning to his parent club 5.

Rudy Gestede

An improvement in goalscoring terms from Rudy (who, curiously got all of his five goals at the Canton End in home matches). After missing the first couple of months of the campaign, he remained fit for the rest of the season and so was available for selection more than was in the his first year with us. Saw more action in the closing stages of the campaign when injuries reduced Malky Mackay’s striking options than might have been expected and, although there was some evidence of an improvement in  his all round game, he didn’t make too much impression in the games he started. Seems better suited to being used as an impact sub (his late equaliser in the match with Leicester was a very important goal in our season) and, although there will be those who’ll think I’m mad for saying this, I can see him being pretty effective at times in that role next season 6 (6).

Aron Gunnarsson

Jordon Mutch’s arrival presented Gunnarsson with a challenge and he found himself out of the starting line up at times in the opening weeks of the season, but even when Mutch’s nerve injury in his foot caused him to drop out of the side, the Icelandic captain could not be sure of a game. Three goals while coming off the bench in four games showed his worth to the squad, but it was only when he did the same again against Palace on Boxing Day, that he became a regular starter. Once that had happened though, he became  indispensable and it would have been unthinkable of him  not to be a starter by the time the season ended. Gunnarsson is a very impressive footballer for someone so young – he provided one of the crosses of the season for Mark Hudson’s goal against Hull while filling in at right back and his lovely little pass to Joe Mason to set up our second goal against Blackburn on Easter Monday showed an inventiveness he’s not always given credit for 8 (8).

Kadeem Harris

Again hit by injuries in the first half of the season, the winger signed from Wycombe finally made his first team bow in the FA Cup tie with Macclesfield and didn’t really seize the opportunity. Can be very effective in Development games at times, but he’s one of a few of our younger players who are very unlikely to see Premiership action and you wonder whether his career would be better served by playing first team football elsewhere while on loan next season 4.

Heidar Helguson

The veteran target man was not the sort of player with the pace to get himself on the end of a quick counter attack, so it was hard to explain why all but two of his nine goals for us came in away matches. One of those rare home goals in the game against Hull epitomised what Helguson is all about as he hurled himself into an aerial challenge with the visiting keeper with no thought of the damage he could be doing himself. Malky Mackay often refered to the Icelandic international as a “warrior” and, although we may have had more aesthetically pleasing players, he still played an important part – not just on the pitch either, he was one of a number of newcomers who brought knowledge of what it takes to put together a successful promotion challenge at this level in the dressing room. Helguson has been released by the club having told them of his wish to return to his homeland – I’m sure he does so with the good wishes of all fans after his contribution this season 7.

Never mind ten homes wins on the trot to start the season, we wouldn’t have got one if Mark Hudson hadn’t scored in added time against Huddersfield – besides all that he does defensively, he’s not a bad finisher.

Mark Hudson

Questions are being raised in some places as to whether our captain will be able to cope with the Premiership next season. We’ll only know the answer in a few months time I suppose, but, surely, what cannot be disputed is that Mark Hudson was right up there with the best in his position in the Championship in 12/13. Selection alongside Leicester’s Wes Morgan in the PFA team of the season confirmed what his fellow pros thought of him and there was also a fairly unanimous recognition from the media that he was the best around in the second tier – until this season, I’ve always said Hudson was good, but not as good as some of the other fine centrebacks we have had during the past decade, I reckon he’s done enough now to be ranked up there alongside Gabbidon, Johnson, Collins etc. 8 (8).

Nat Jarvis

Scored at Macclesfield to add to the goal he got at Oxford last season and hitting the target twice in three senior appearances for your home town club is something to remember with pride, but it won’t get any better for Nat Jarvis following his release this week. Having been given a second pro deal a year ago, he was not offered a third one by the club and, to be  honest, this news did not come as too much of a shock when you consider that, apart from at Newport where he was a regular in their side last season, none of his four loan moves to lower division sides could be termed  a success. 5 (5)

Declan John

Arguably the young player who has made the most progress at the club this season. Has been regarded as a very promising talent for some time, but had done little to justify such a tag in 11/12 in the Under 18 team. His switch from winger to left back at the start of this season certainly came as a surprise to me, but he went straight into the first team and performed creditably at Northampton in the League Cup. His consistently good displays for the Development side saw him chosen as an unused sub for the matches at Barnsley and Derby and he was one of a number of youngsters selected for the FA Cup match at Macclesfield. He was generally considered to be the best of the bunch as well, in fact many critics had him down the Cardiff man of the match that daywhen one of a number of fine attacking runs down the left saw him lay a goal on a plate for Nat Jarvis 6.

Dekel Keinan

When Keinan wasn’t even in the group that flew to Switzerland for pre-season training it became obvious that, just as in 11/12, he would play no part in Malky Mackay’s plans – he was included for the League Cup match with Northampton, but, apart from that, it was games with the Developments side for the Israel international centreback before he signed for Maccabi Haifa in September 4 (4).

Bo-Kyung Kim

Having been under used in the eyes of many up until the last month of the season , the South Korean international made a big impact when finally given a regular starting place as he featured as part of a central midfield trio having been used mainly on the flanks up until then. “Kimbo” was voted Man of the Match on his first start (the 4-0 win over Burnley) and, generally seemed to save his best for televised matches as he netted his only two goals of the campaign at Blackburn and Blackpool, but when he was selected for the return game against the Ewood Park side he played a major part in a team display which saw far more urgency and quality than in recent games. Apart from a muted showing at Hull, Kimbo maintained those high standards for the rest of the season – one small quibble about him I have is that he doesn’t always maintain the fine starts he makes to games, but he certainly looks like someone who will have no problems coming to terms with the technical requirements of the Premiership 7.

Filip Kiss

Another to suffer through the increase in depth of quality at the club in 12/13. Saw some action in the closing stages of the season opener with Huddersfield, but that was it as far as league appearances went apart from when he replaced Kevin McNaughton in the nineteenth minute of the home game with Hull and then found himself withdrawn at half time for Joe Ralls. For the rest of the season Kiss was a regular in the Development team which meant that got a game in the FA Cup at Macclesfield where his performance did little to show that Malky Mackay was wrong to leave him out of the first team squad when it came to Championship action. Scored some important goals and offered some reminders of his talent for the Development side as the season went on, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be an over age player next season, so he looks a strong candidate for a loan move or, maybe, a permanent transfer – 4 (6).

Sadly, this is the abiding image of Simon Lappin’s Cardiff City career so far as he protests his innocence after becoming the third Cardiff City player to be sent off on his debut.

Simon Lappin

Initially signed on loan from Norwich as cover for the injured Andrew Taylor, Lappin made the permanent move to Cardiff in January and has not played for the first team since. He had the dubious distinction of being the first City player to be sent off in over two years when he picked up a second yellow card on his debut in the win at Barnsley. He was also on the winning team at Birmingham on New Years Day in his only other game for us where his composed performance suggested that he could have done a useful job if had been got more chances – it’s hard to see him getting many of them next season 5.

Joe Lewis

Back in February 2012 whilst playing at Cardiff City Stadium for Peterborough, Joe Lewis let a Peter Whittingham corner go over his head and into the net to put us a goal up. He had no chance with the two goals which quickly followed and at 3-0 the match was as good as over by half time, but in a one sided second half, he defied City time and again with some great saves. Having seen Lewis perform in about six matches at different levels this season, I’d say that those ninety minutes against last season sum him up pretty well – not as commanding when the ball’s in the air as you expect someone of his height to be, but a very good shot stopper who has fine reflexes for a big man. In the two matches he played for the first team this season, he came through a searching aerial examination at Northampton fairly well and did little wrong at Macclesfield 6.

David Marshall

In my piece on Malky Mackay earlier this week I wrote about one of the roles of management being to improve the players they have – David Marshall is someone who it seems to me has definitely improved in the two seasons under our present manager. There were goals he conceded that he may feel he could have done better with (two at Charlton in particular spring to mind), but saves such as the one he made from Troy Deeney at Watford defined Marshall’s season – when the stakes were highest he could be depended on to deliver. Fully deserved his selection in front of Alan McGregor for Scotland’s last World Cup group match and with the likelihood of him being a first choice Premiership keeper next season, the chance is there for him to actually become Scotland’s number one – his form over the past two seasons makes him the best City keeper I’ve seen 9 (8).

Joe Mason

Maybe his excellent first season at Cardiff had people expecting too much, but there has to be a sense of disappointment about Joe Mason’s 2012/13 campaign. That said, there were definitely times when I thought the situation was crying out for his cleverness and goalscoring instincts, but the tendency was for Malky Mackay to look elsewhere and, especially towards the end of the season as we found ourselves missing our top three strikers through injury, when he was given his chance, he was cast aside pretty quickly as our manager turned to Gestede. Time is definitely on Mason’s side though and his two goals against Blackburn in particular (the one at Ewood Park was as clinical an example of quality striker’s play as City managed all season) showed that he can cope with the step up in standards – maybe he won’t get too many chances to show that next season, but I would expect him to be featuring pretty regularly if we stay in the Premiership for two or three seasons 6 (8).

Nicky Maynard

Two promising home performances after his £2.5 million signing from West Ham in which he played a prominent part in three of the five goals we scored was followed by the injury which looked to have ended his season seven months early. However, he was able to return for the last ten minutes or so of the campaign at Hull and he was centre stage in that incredible finish to the game as he coolly put away the penalty which could have ruined the party at the KC Stadium. Is he good enough for the Premiership? Sam Allardyce obviously didn’t think so, but Maynard has never had the chance to prove him and other doubters wrong – he should get it at Cardiff next season 6.

Kevin McNaughton

His reaction at the final whistle in the Charlton game said it all about why Kevin McNaughton has been such a fans favourite during his seven years at Cardiff and now he has the chance to extend it to nine with the two year contract extension he has been offered – I thought the best “Super Kev” could expect was half of that and, if I’m being honest, I watched the game at Hull expecting it to be his last for the club. Who knows, maybe those last seven matches starting with when he came on after just ten minutes at Watford to replace Matt Connolly may have been enough to convince Malky Mackay that McNaughton warranted another contract because he was certainly near to his best defensively in them, but, for the second consecutive season, he was never really convincing in the more advanced areas his current manager expects him to get into in home matches especially 6 (6).

I couldn’t have found a photo of Steve McPhail in competitive action in the new red shirt even I was minded to – he never wore it during a season which saw him not even being named on the subs bench in Championship football.

Steve McPhail

Although he certainly had his supporters amongst the fanbase during his time at Cardiff, no recent player at the club has encapsulated the difference between the way the game is perceived by the pros and the enthusiastic amateurs more than Steve McPhail. Meida pundits were forever praising his his bravery on the ball and the way he’d always make himself available for his colleagues, but many fans were not convinced and never really took him to their hearts. His struggles against illness united the supporters in recent years and there was less “McFail” references than there were, but, the truth is that McPhail was never going to be the subject of arguments this season because he was just not being seen by the majority of fans. He was one of those who was restricted to just a couple of appearances in Cup ties in which he turned in okay performances in a losing cause – I’m sure he has a lot to offer still and I hope he finds a club where he can play regularly and prosper, that’s the least he deserves after all he’s been through lately 5 (5).

Jordon Mutch

The first and last five weeks of the campaign were very good for the £1 million plus signing from Birmingham, but the bit in between was a frustrating period for player, club and supporters as a lingering nerve injury in his foot kept him sidelined for long spells. In fact, he only made four starts between the Millwall match in mid September and the game with Blackburn on April 1. After an inconsistent sequence over the Christmas Holiday period, there were times when Mutch was not even included on the bench and had to rely on Development team games to get some football. Once he got his chance against Blackburn though, he was instrumental, along with Kimbo, in providing the momentum from midfield that had been missing – does things other City midfield players can’t and, when you consider how young he is, he looks an excellent prospect who should get by in the Premiership if he can stay fit 7.

Craig Noone

I’m afraid I struggle to come up with something new to say about the £1.5 million signing from Brighton, because, whenever he has a few games in the team he just proves he’s a “typical” winger – mercurial and brilliant one match and frustrating and over indulgent the next! Noone’s season was like a few players in that he was good in the autumn (make that superb in games like Wolves and Burnley) and pretty ordinary in the winter before recovering in the spring. One thing that surprised me about Noone was the number of goals he scored because there was nothing in his career record to indicate he’d score seven times (his goal against Bolton at home was a beauty) – I suppose there have to be questions as to whether he has the power to cope with the Premiership, but, if he has, I can see him causing problems at that level if the force is with him 7.

Ben Nugent

You only had to see the use Malky Mackay made of Ben Nugent in pre season matches to realise that he rated the lanky young centre half and when the team were hit by a defensive injury crisis in November, the manager didn’t hesitate in using him. Nugent made his league debut when he replaced Ben Turner early on in a top of the table clash with Middlesbrough and coped admirably in helping the team to a win and a clean sheet. A week later he marked an imposing first start at Barnsley with a goal as City ended a run of away defeats that were threatening to derail their season before playing a full part in a good 1-1 draw at Derby. An unfortunate own goal marred his next start, against Bristol City, but, again, he didn’t look out of place at all amongst his seniors – if subsequent performances weren’t quite as impressive as earlier ones, then they still weren’t poor by any means 7.

Adedeji Oshilaja

This versatile defender played every minute of every game of the season for the Development team and got his chance with the seniors in the two Cup ties they played. Struggled a little at Northampton in the League Cup, but was one of the better performers in the game at Macclesfield – another player who I’m sure could do a good job out on loan somewhere, but, as he still qualifies as an Under 21 player, I’d expect him to be a regular with us at that level again 5.

Tommy O’Sullivan

With City able to field a strong midfield combination in Development games, O’Sullivan’s chances at this level tended to come with substitute appearances and he was more often seen playing for the Under 18′s. His performance in the 6-1 win over Swansea at Cardiff City Stadium was probably the best I saw by a City player at that level during the season, but, like many of his team mates, he was somewhat inconsistent at times. Was used as a substitute for the senior team in the two Cup ties they played – had a decent late chance to force extra time at Northampton and, generally, didn’t do too badly, but he did find it quite hard physically – should be okay if he can fill out a bit because the ability is certainly there 4.

Joe Ralls in action during his impressive performance in the 4-1 win against Newcastle in a pre-season – the young midfielder got one of the goals that afternoon and I must admit that, at that time, I thought he was destined for more first team appearances than he managed in 12/13.

Joe Ralls

Rather like Joe Mason, Joe Ralls was unable to make the same impact in his second season as a first team squad member with Cardiff as he did in his first. Just as with Mason though, I don’t believe this was down to any decline in performance on his part – it had more to do with the introduction of two or three newcomers who improved the depth of quality in his specialist area. In fact, Ralls saw more Championship action as an emergency left back than he did in his favoured central midfield position as he filled in with distinction for the injured Andrew Taylor against Middlesbrough for an hour and then deputised for the suspended Simon Lappin at Derby. He also started both of the Cup ties the team played and captained the side in their Under 21′s Final with Charlton last week – I wouldn’t be surprised to see him loaned out next season 6 (7).

Kevin Sainte-Luce

Started the League Cup tie with Northampton in his normal wing position, but was making an impact at right back for the Under 21′s when his contract with the club was terminated following his conviction on assault charges – was offered a way back into the game with AFC Wimbledon by his former Academy manager at Cardiff, Neil Ardley and scored a couple of important goals in their successful fight to retain their Football League status 4.

Tommy Smith

Made a very impressive start to his Cardiff career after arriving from QPR as his habit of taking the right option allied to his good all round technical game made him an important member of the team. However a hamstring injury against his first club Watford was a serious blow for player and team and, although he marked his first starting appearance at Blackpool after three months out with the winning goal as his fine volley (albeit with the aid of a deflection) finished off a rapid counter attack, he never really recaptured his early season form. He was one of those who lost his place in the reshuffle of personnel and tactics Malky Mackay decided on after the defeat at Peterborough – has previous Premiership experience which could prove useful, but he’ll be thirty three next week and his opportunities are likely to be limited 6.

Andrew Taylor

Might well have been City’s most consistent player week in, week out. Whereas he had his defensive problems at times last season, it’s difficult to remember a winger getting the better of him this time around, while his two superb crosses for late equalisers in successive home matches with Derby and Leicester were testimony to the quality he can offer going forward. His influence within the team was recognised by Malky Mackay as he named Taylor as captain for a few matches towards the end of the campaign, but he blotted his copybook somewhat with his sending off at Hull which means he’ll miss the first game in the Premiership in August – I still believe that he will be the manager’s first choice at left back for the new season though (he deserves to be after the season he’s had) 8 (7).

Ben Turner

I’m a Ben Turner fan – not just for the way he came to the fore at the business end of the season when some of his defensive colleagues succumbed to injury, but also for the fact that his views on the game are always interesting to hear when he appears in front of the media. As an example, his decision not to take up an offer to throw in his lot with Wales because he had always thought of himself as being English could have put him in a very awkward position with City fans, but I think I’m right in saying that very few could find fault with what he had to say on the matter once he got the chance to explain his decision. On the field it was another good season for a player whose habit of performing on the big occasion is something that we could have done with more of in others over the past four years or so – could do with upping his passing game a bit, but he has a decent turn of pace for such a big man and his sound all round defensive game gives him every chance of being able to cope in the Premiership 8 (7).

Etien Velikonja

I’m not sure if there’s ever been a City player who has engendered as much messageboard debate on so little evidence of his playing ability! Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of people who were calling for his inclusion in the squad in for most of the season had not seen Velikonja play in the flesh. I had the advantage of having seen him score during a decent second half showing in the pre season friendly with Newcastle and then saw him get plenty of goals for the Development side in their home games – initially I was on Malky Mackay’s side in thinking that he wasn’t ready for first team football, but the finishing ability he continually showed for the Under 21′s had me thinking he could do a job as a substitute if we needed a goal. In fairness, he did little to suggest that our manager was wrong in his assessment during his all too rare first team opportunities – although I did feel he was thrown to the lions (sorry tigers!) somewhat at Hull when he was left to cope by himself up front 4.

Theo Wharton in action for Wales against Germany in an Under 19′s international – another season of quiet, but definite progress for the midfielder.

Theo Wharton

Wharton nearly always impresses me when I watch him play. He has great stamina, very good close skills, passes the ball well and in last week in the Development Team Final showed a tenacity and technique in his tackling which came as something of a pleasant surprise to me – maybe he could score more goals, but it’s hard to see too many others weaknesses in his game. As the season developed, he spent less time in the Under 18 side where it seemed to me he had little left to prove, but with Ralls, Kiss, McPhail and Harris all being available for the Under 21′s, he found it hard to force his way into that team until the closing weeks of the campaign. His only senior team involvement came in the last twenty minutes of the FA Cup game at Macclesfield and he made little impact in a side that conceded twice late on to lose the game 4 (5).

Peter Whittingham

One of the very few negative aspects of a great season was that the player who had been the talisman of the team for so long was not there to play a part in it’s closing stages, but the decision to finally leave Peter Whittingham out of the team after he had been, first, moved back into his old wide midfield position was completely vindicated as Gunnarsson, Kimbo and Mutch gave us an authority in the middle of the park that we had been lacking for weeks. Whittingham was given a huge work load last season by Malky Mackay and he was struggling by it’s end, but this time around, his game started to decline before the turn of the year when the glorious hat trick against Wolves and the brilliant free kicks and corners that were responsible for so many goals were becoming distant memories. His selection in the PFA Championship team of the season proved the season wasn’t a disaster for Whittingham, but that old line about form being temporary and class permanent is going to be put to an interesting test next season 6 (9).

In my opinion, the two Merseyside clubs are amongst those which fall into that second category and, currently, Malky Mackay is being strongly linked with one of them for the vacant managers job. Now, I don’t care if you have been supporting Cardiff City for half a year, half a decade or half a century, I’m pretty sure that you’ve not seen a manager of this club being quoted as a realistic candidate to take over a side with the history, prestige and talent of the Everton FC of 2013. Malky Mackay doesn’t appear to be a popular choice as Everton’s next manager amongst their support, but it looks like he definitely has his admirers in the corridors of power at Goodison Park – whether he gets the job or not, he is being looked on as a serious candidate for the post.

Therefore, it appears that important people at “bigger” clubs than ours rate our manager even if some City fans appear to be loath to give him much credit even after our promotion. Malky’s critics say that has never managed at Premiership level, but that could be said about so many notable current bosses – it didn’t put Everton off when they went in for David Moyes and he turned out pretty well for them. There was a time when not having much playing experience in the Premiership (Malky only played fourteen times in the top flight during the final year of his playing career) might have been seen as  a drawback to someone who was looking to manage at that level, but a look at the playing careers of four of the men in charge of the top five sides for most of this season suggests that this no longer applies (the managers of both Merseyside clubs didn’t pull up any trees during their playing career either).

Malky Mackay is congratulated by friend and former colleague Chris Powell as our promotion is confirmed in the closing stages of the game with Charlton.

There are those who denigrate our manager’s achievements this season reasoning that anyone could have got us promotion with the money he was given to spend in the transfer market, but having the money to spend and spending it well ate two different things – Mark Hughes’ spell at Queens Park Rangers springs to mind in that regard and, at a different level, I always thought Frank Burrows was someone who did better in the transfer market with a really tight budget than he did when he had something significant to spend.

However, it is true that our manager had a bigger transfer budget this season than most of his rivals in the Championship and he didn’t do too badly on that front last year either, but, when you look at the twenty nine players Malky Mackay has brought in since he took over nearly two years ago, how many of them can be called duds? Sad to relate, I think Earnie falls into that category and when you consider how much was paid for Etien Velikonja, I suppose he does as well – it’s hard to see the likes of Kadeem Harris and Filip Kiss making an impact next season, but the former is seen as one for the future and the latter showed himself to be a useful performer last season.

The good signings far outweigh the bad ones then for me – a lot of money was paid for the likes of Kimbo and Jordon Mutch and it would have been reasonable to rank those two as dodgy signings without the fine contributions they made from Easter Monday onwards at a time when questions were being asked about whether we were “doing a Cardiff”.

Anyway, bringing in players from other clubs is only part of the manager’s job, for me a good manager also improves the ones he has already at his club. Of the players he inherited, it may well be true to say that David Marshall has had the best two seasons of his career under Malky’s management, Aron Gunnarsson’s game came on leaps and bounds last season, Ben Turner (who I thought was tremendous in the closing stages of the campaign when we were short of experienced centrebacks) continues to develop, Andrew Taylor was a model of consistency and, although his legion of critics will no doubt disagree, Rudy Gestede looked a more complete player to me compared to last year.

Mention of Gestede brings me to my main bugbear with Malky Mackay’s management of the club – we don’t play the sort of football I thought I saw his Watford team play when he was in charge there! Even here though, I wonder if I’m really being fair to Malky – I think you tend to be more critical when you are watching your team play, whereas the “good bits” you see from a game you watch as a neutral tend to stick in your mind, while the dross gets ignored. It’s easy to look at a City team including Gestede or Heidar Helguson and the number of set piece goals we scored and dismiss us as a long ball team (it’s a reputation we’ve got in some places – for example, I’ve seen Malky dismissed as a long ball merchant by Everton fans on some of their messageboards.

Not many City managers have been able to pose with a national trophy that his team has just won – in fact, take away the FA Cup in 1927, and Malky Mackay is probably stood next to the most prestigious trophy Cardiff City have won.

I fall into the same trap myself sometimes, but keep on going back to what Malky said at his first press conference after taking over here when he told the media that his Cardiff side will play in a way that causes our opponents most problems. I take this to mean that if the side we are playing are thought to be weak in the air at the back, then we’ll go more direct, but if we are up against a side that are strong aerially, but lack a bit of pace defensively, then we’ll try and exploit that by trying to work the ball into areas where we can cause most damage.

I suppose when you think about it, isn’t it best to be flexible tactically rather than stick slavishly to one method of playing through thick and thin? Although I think it’s fair to say that there weren’t as many instances of us turning on the style as you might expect from a team which topped the league by an eight point margin, it would be wrong to say we only played one way – the two games with Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley along with Wolves, Brighton, the wurzels and Forest at  home are all examples of matches where we’ve passed the ball well which I’ve come up with off the top of my head.

In the two seasons under Malky Mackay, City look to me to be far more professional in terms of training and preparation. Squad discipline and togetherness is much stronger than it was and there appears to be a coherent structure below first team level following the appointment of Dick Bate – Dave Jones used to talk about building a club, Malky Mackay doesn’t, but he seems to be making an excellent job in doing it. Put all of that together with the fact that in each of the two seasons he has been with us, there have been achievements which, arguably, rank in the top five in the club’s history, I’d say Malky deserves to follow his seven out of ten ranking for 2011/12 with a nine this time around.

Nearly fifteen months later on 16 April 2013, City secured promotion to the Premiership with a 0-0 draw against Charlton and once again, Malky Mackay and the playing squad basked in the applause of around 25,000 Cardiff fans. Vincent Tan was there on the pitch as well and the reception he got from many supporters (almost certainly a fair sized majority) was probably as euphoric as it had been a year and a quarter earlier, but it could not be denied that, amongst significant numbers present, his reception was, to put it diplomatically, mixed. Less than a fortnight later at the Club’s Awards night, Mr Tan gave a speech which was occasionally interrupted by disparaging comments and singing from some of those present.

What had happened in such a relatively short time to change peoples perceptions of the man whose financial input in 2010 had, arguably, saved the club? Well, although there are those who are now far more critical of Vincent Tan’s general handling of the club and there are a few who have problems coming to terms with his role in Malaysian politics, the simple truth in most cases is that Mr Tan’s standing has dropped because he changed the team’s kit and badge just under a year ago as part of his “re-branding”  of the club.

I’ve seen and heard at least three interviews that Vincent Tan gave in the aftermath of the Charlton game and they all begin with him repeating “lucky red” over the interviewer as they tried to question him. Doing this once would probably be understandable in the excitement of the situation he found himself in, but three times sounds almost defensive to me – it’s as if he is having to justify the decision to himself. Anyway, leaving my amateur psychologist bit to one side for now, what it does do is offer evidence that the re-branding is an issue which is still featuring very prominently in the thoughts of so many involved with the club at every level.

That’s the thing, I’ve done one of these end of season pieces for two of the three previous seasons when the onus was on the club’s finances. Last season I didn’t do one because the re-branding furore overshadowed all else and the truth is it has continued to dominate off field proceedings for the past twelve months. In saying that, the accounts for the year ending 31/5/12 showed the club’s debt getting very close to £100 million (it may well have passed that figure during the season). but the fact that around a quarter of that figure is still owed to the Langston Corporation offers a reminder that Vincent Tan has not yet delivered on the majority of the “benefits” which were originally supposed to accompany the change of kit and badge.

I am right in thinking this is the only red shirt in this picture aren’t I?

You’ll certainly not get any complaints from me about the level of investment in the team over the past year – Vincent Tan has delivered on his promise there and the notion of increasing the capacity at Cardiff City Stadium going into a second consecutive season in the Premiership seems a more sensible one to me than adding almost 10,000 seats straight away. However, although Sam Hammam’s presence at the Bolton game suggested that a resolution of the Langston debt may be on it’s way, it’s worth remembering that those of us who attended those two meetings with club representatives when the re-branding story first broke over a year ago were being told that one was “imminent” back then!

Similarly, the promised training ground, which, presumably, would be a club asset which would help bring the debt down a bit seems some way off yet and, although I cannot speak for others, I would be surprised if I was the only “reluctant red” who currently feels that their decision to give the club the “benefit of the doubt” last summer hasn’t been justified. Now, I think it has to be admitted that for an awful lot of the 20,000 plus people who turn up to watch the team play at Cardiff City Stadium every fortnight, the re-branding has become something of a non issue – they are happy that Vincent Tan has delivered the goods in terms of investment in the team and promotion, but ask them what colour they’d prefer us to play in and I’d guarantee virtually all of them would say blue.

As others such as Gethin Jenkins, Doug Lee, Alan Whiteley and TG have left the club, so Vincent Tan has become more hands on and us supporters for whom he was previously something of a remote figure who would turn up at two or three matches a season have got to find out more about him. The last three months have seen him appearing in the media and in front of fans and, speaking for myself, each time he has it has confirmed an impression that they he doesn’t really”get” British football and the British football fan (actually I think the word “British” could be dropped in both instances there).

There are exceptions to every rule of course, but getting a team promoted doesn’t mean that it’s supporters are going to wholeheartedly embrace a change of kit and badge that has been foisted upon it on what looks like a whim. By the same token, “Scarfgate” on the night of the Brighton game was not the ringing endorsement of his re-brand that Vincent Tan claimed it to be.

In fact, my opinion is that it was a mistake on the club’s part because it led to a concentrating of people’s minds on the subject. Since that night, there have been more blue shirts and scarves being worn at games (particularly away from home), more blue related songs and even the occasional anti red one (I’ve still not heard a single pro red song yet). Furthermore, a supporters’ organisation has consulted it’s members and as a result it is now urging Vincent Tan “to seriously consider returning the first team home kit to blue at the earliest opportunity with red becoming the away kit” . Ideally, the voting sample in the Supporters’ Trust poll would have been a bigger one, but the “strong support” for a return to a blue home kit should not be ignored.

In the absence of any meaningful indications of financial rewards that the re-branding has brought the club so far, it increasingly looks as if the change to red was, indeed, just a whim on Mr Tan’s part – it certainly sounded like it was in his speech at the Player of the Year do a fortnight ago. If that’s really the case, then, for what it’s worth Mr Tan I believe it was the funding you provided for Malky Mackay which was responsible for our promotion, not our “lucky red” kit – you are the person who should be getting the praise of all City fans, not just a proportion of them and I’m sure you would be if it wasn’t for the change of kit and badge.

One year on and the re-branding controversy is not going to go away, it could do and everyone could share in the euphoria of promotion simply by Vincent Tan doing what the Trust have asked him to do – will it happen? No, I don’t think it will in the short term, but I’ve thought all along that we’ll be back playing in blue some time in the next four years – I’m prepared to donate £100 to charity if we are still in red then, but, after “Scarfgate”, I’m more confident than I was that I won’t have to do that.

With all that has happened to Cardiff City since 16 April (incredible to think that it is now almost a month since promotion was confirmed), you would have thought that those responsible for the entrance procedures for a Cup Final involving a team which had just been promoted to the Premiership would have made arrangements which included the probability that a good sized crowd would turn up – especially when you consider that it was the last chance for supporters to see their team perform for a few months.

Not at Cardiff though I’m afraid, what we got was, presumably, the same system that applied for other home Development team games this season whereby the crowd goes in through one entrance where each person is, first, given a ticket for the game by one of two people sat at a table and that ticket then has to be scanned (there’s only one scanner available at this entrance) before you are allowed to go into the Stadium. So, it would appear that the club were expecting the same sized crowd as they have got for the Development team league matches this year (an entrance fee was charged for these games)  - in my experience we are talking about something like two to four hundred. Instead of that there was a queue trailing from near the ticket office all the way back to the Family Stand and it was only with about five minutes to kick off that a decision was made to open another gate to help deal with demand.

Even when this happened, the queue I was in still stretched back well past the main entrance and it only started moving quickly when the decision was made to stop issuing and scanning tickets and just let everyone in – this, surely, meant that the announced crowd of two thousand five hundred and something was either just the number of tickets scanned or complete guess work. So it was that I finally got into the ground at about ten past three (it would have been at least ten minutes later if they had kept on issuing and scanning tickets), but a look at the scoreboard, which showed 0-0, at least told me I had not missed anything significant – trouble was, when I looked at it again about five minutes later it was showing City 0 Charlton 1 which only confirmed a growing suspicion the club were using less staff at this game than they did for “normal” Development team matches!

Sorry it’s taken so long to get around to what happened in the game, but City really do make it hard for themselves at times and yesterday was a further reminder that, while the club makes giant strides on the pitch, they are, in many ways, still the same ramshackle outfit they’ve always been off it. Anyway, it turned out that the scoreboard was, eventually, correct – Charlton had scored in the first minute, but City were doing virtually all of the attacking in the time since I’d arrived and their pressure was rewarded when a corner by captain Joe Ralls was headed down and Filip Kiss crashed the ball home from close range.

At 1-1 with just under twenty minutes played, it looked like we were on course for an excellent game between two evenly matched sides who had proved themselves the best in the country at this level, but, sadly from a City perspective, this did not turn out to be the case and the brutal truth is that I cannot remember them creating a worthwhile scoring opportunity after that. I don’t want to be too critical here, but it seemed to me that the team were set up wrongly to get the best out of what they had. Now, I say that in the fairly certain knowledge that the system we used was the same one which enabled us to finish the league season so strongly that we were only pipped on goal difference for the title by Charlton and it was the one which enabled us to gain that noteworthy win at Leicester in the Semi Final, but it just didn’t look right to me yesterday.

I spent a fair amount of time last year, and some of this season, saying that we didn’t have the players capable of turning 4-5-1 into an effective 4-3-3 when attacking, but yesterday it seemed to me we had that situation in reverse – we had a 4-3-3 which hardly ever became a 4-5-1 when we were defending or when the opposition had possession. Furthermore, by employing Etien Velikonja quite wide on the right we were giving him less opportunity to show what I reckon is the strongest part of his game, his finishing ability, and he did little to stop the Charlton left back getting forward as often as he could to give his keeper an unmarked target to aim for well up the pitch when clearing. The situation on our right when it came to attacking was not helped by what looked an odd decision to use Josh Yorwerth, not Deji Oshilaja, at right back – Yorwerth didn’t do badly in defensive situations in a position I’ve never seen him play in before, but, with one exception, his crossing when attacking did not trouble the Charlton defence.

It was a bit better on the left where Declan John and Kadeem Harris combined well at times in attack in the first half in particular and, although the latter lost possession plenty of times, he also had his occasional successes when running at opponents – John, like Yorwerth on the right, was left isolated and given little protection by the player in front of him when Charlton attacked though. All of this combined to leave our midfield three of Ralls, Kiss and Theo Wharton to try and cope with Charlton’s four (which often became five when their full backs pushed forward without being, effectively, tracked by a member of our front three). The strange thing was though, that although our trio were being outgunned as a unit during the second half especially, I thought that individually they might well have been our most effective outfield players – there aren’t many better passers of the ball at the club than Ralls and he offered proof of that yesterday, Kiss went about his business effectively and, like Ralls, would be a member of many Championship club’s first team, while Wharton was dogged and determined in his defensive work and also showed some delightful, skillful touches in tight areas.

Elliot Parish in action for Wycombe during his loan spell there earlier in the season – some fine saves yesterday, but couldn’t prevent a defeat by an impressive Charlton outfit.

It would appear that City put an awful lot into the game at Leicester and some of their players looked a bit “leggy” as the game went on (e.g. Rhys Healey) – strange therefore that we didn’t see a City substitution until the last ten minutes of extra time, by which time, the game was as good as over. So, it seems to me that City could have been more effective opponents for Charlton, but, to be honest, I’d say that result wouldn’t have been too different however we’d deployed our players, because Charlton were simply better than us on the day and the 3-1 scoreline didn’t flatter them at all.

With their first team not finishing too far away from the Play Off’s, their Under 21′s winning a national competition and their Under 18′s winning their league, Charlton look an impressive and well run club at the moment. With the talent they have coming through, I think we can expect them to make a real challenge for a Premiership place in the not too distant future. In particular, their attacking duo Michael Smith and Joe Piggott, well supported by first team regular Callum Harriott, caused us plenty of problems with all three of them looking fine footballers in the making.

I mentioned about our midfield three being our best outfield players, but City’s man of the match for me was keeper Elliot Parish – the game wouldn’t have gone into extra time without his contribution and the second half save he made from Piggott was a superb effort.

So, a disappointment on the playing side to finish 2012/13 after all of the celebrations of the last few weeks, but Kevin Cooper and his side deserve plenty of credit for their efforts this season. They’ve playing winning, entertaining football, and I believe the objective behind this new league has been achieved already in a few cases at Cardiff because the games of some of our players in the 19 to 21 age range have developed a lot more than they would have by playing a series of friendly matches like they did last season.

Back in January I asked a question on each of our first thirty matches of the season, so here’s a quiz for the remaining matches, starting with our win at Leeds

- answers on Monday.

1. Fraizer Campbell’s goal at Elland Road was his first for the club, but can you name the two players who got their first City goals in the same game against Leeds a few years ago?

2. Craig Bellamy missed what was probably the best chance of the 0-0 draw at Huddersfield in early February – if he had scored, he would have become the first Welshman to score for us at Huddersfield since who?

3. Ben Nugent’s own goal against Bristol City was the only one scored by City this season, who scored the last one before that?

4. The Brighton side that won 2-0 at Cardiff City Stadium contained players capped by Poland, England, Scotland and which other country?

5. Another question about international footballers, the Wolves starting eleven for our 2-1 win there contained three players who had won full caps for their country, name them.

6. We were 2-0 down inside twenty minutes at Middlesbrough, who were the last side to go a couple of goals up against us so early on before that?

7. In March, Derby were the only side we faced this season who did this to us – what am I referring to?

8. Also in March, Michael Keane came very close to score a winning goal for Leicester in a game in Cardiff. If he had done, he would have joined Andy King in who scored the decisive goal in Leicester’s 3-2 Play Off win back in 2010, but who was the last player to score a winner for them down here before that?

9.  Something happened in the 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday which hadn’t occurred since our 3-0 win at Derby in November 2011, can you name it?

10. During Peterborough’s 2-1 win in March, Grant McCann followed Glenn Murray in taking two penalties in a game against us this season, but, barring penalty shoot outs, who is the last player to do that in a City match?

11. Nine full internationals played for Blackburn in their 3-0 defeat here on Easter Monday, can you name them?

12. Name the five participants in the 0-0 draw at Watford who had faced us previously at Vicarage Road.

13.  The game with Barnsley wasn’t the first time Stephen Foster had scored against us in Cardiff, what was the score on the previous occasion?

14. What happened in the 3-0 win over Forest which City hadn’t managed to do since April 2011?

15. What number shirt was Hudson wearing when City got promoted on April 16?

16. Complete this sequence, Craig Conway, Cohen Griffith, Phil Stant…………..

17. There were three of them on the pitch when we kicked off against Bolton and that’s the highest number for a game featuring Cardiff City this season, what am I talking about?

18. Nicky Maynard’s goal at Hull took the number of players who have scored for Cardiff City’s first team this season to how many?

Answers.

1. 1. Jason Koumas and Darren Purse in the 2-1 win in August 2005.
2. 2. Chris Pike who scored two in the 3-2 win in 89/90.
3. 3. Kevin McNaughton in the 3-0 home defeat by Hull last season.
4. 4. Egypt – Adam El-Abd has won five caps for that country.
5. 5. Kaspars Gorkss (Latvia), Bjorn Sigurdarson (Iceland) and Tongo Doumbia (Mali).
6. 6. Middlesbrough were 2-0 up in thirteen minutes in May 2011 and three up within twenty one minutes.
7. 7. Faced us with less than seven substitutes – they only had five.
8. 8. Darren Purse – his own goal decided the game in March 2008.
9. 9. In the game with Derby, Filip Kiss and Kevin Kilbane, with an own goal, were amongst the scorers for us. When Don Cowie and Matt Connolly scored at Hillsborough, it was the first instance of two players with the same two letters at the start of their surname scoring in the same game for us since then – sorry!
10. 10. Danny Graham for Watford in their 4-1 win over us in December 2010 – David Marshall saved the first one.
11. 11. Grzegorz Sandomierski (substitute keeper),  Grant Hanley, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Danny Murphy, Jordan Rhodes,  David Bentley, David Dunn, Leon Best and Colin Kazim Richards.
12. 12. Lloyd Doyley, Troy Deeney, Jonathan Hogg, Andrew Taylor and Jordon Mutch.
13. 13. Cardiff 6 Crewe 1 in October 2005.
14. 14. A City substitute scored two goals – Rudy Gestede repeated Jason Koumas’ feat at Doncaster in April 2011.
15. 15. Colin Hudson wore the number 10 shirt in City’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa when they clinched promotion to Division 1 in 1960.
16. 16. Stan Richards, they are goalscorers in matches when City clinched a league title – Griffith and Stant did it in 92/93 and Richards in 46/47.
17. 17. Craig Bellamy, Craig Dawson and Marvin Sordell were all members of the Great Britain squad in the 2012 Olympics football tournament – Kimbo made it four Olympians on show that day.
18. 18. Twenty three – seventeen in the league, plus Nat Jarvis in the FA Cup and Earnie, Andrew Taylor, Filip Kiss, Joe Ralls and Etien Velikonja in pre-season friendlies.

Leicester’s Championship Play Off commitments meant that the opposition our Under 21′s faced may not have been as strong as it could have been, but, by the same token, our team was younger than normal with players such as Joe Mason, Simon Lappin and Steve McPhail (who it’s being reported will be leaving the club in the summer), who have all been included lately, not featuring this time and regular right back Luke Coulson was also missing through injury. There was still a decent proportion of players with Championship experience in the side mind – Ben Nugent and Etien Velikonja, who both started at Hull on Saturday, were included, while Filp Kiss was alongside captain Joe Ralls in midfield.

The sides were level at half time, with Leicester having gone into an early lead through their England Under 19 international George Taft whicxh was cancelled out by an own goal by McGinty who nodded a Declan John cross past his own keeper while being put under pressure by Velikonja. Another England youth international, the interestingly named Joe Dodoo, restored the home side’s lead in the sixty third minute, but City, finishing the stronger, seized the initiative and in the last twelve minutes, a couple of goals from an unlikely source secured them a victory which Leicester coach Steve Beaglehole admitted was a deserved one.

No doubt inspired by being nominated Under 21 Player of the Year by this blog a couple of weeks ago (I’d put a laughing smiley in here if I had one!), Deji Oshilaja became the match winning hero by, first, touching in Ralls’ corner in the seventy eighth minute and then firing in a right foot shot from about fifteen yards after working himself some space following a Rhys Healey long throw.

Match winner Deji Oshilaja in action in the pre season game at Forest Green.*

Deji, being used at right back in Coulson’s absence rather than in his normal centre back position, came up with his first goals of the campaign to make it ten wins in the last eleven matches for the Development team and they have finished the season like a train having made an ordinary start which saw them lose their first four away games. Momentum is certainly behind us going into the Final then, but a word of warning, Charlton hammered Huddersfield 6-1 in their Semi Final and that one defeat in our last eleven matches came at their hands as they scored four times without reply in London in February.

Charlton also looked a useful team in hitting the post three times when the sides met in Cardiff back in September, but City got the goals that night with fine second half efforts by Craig Conway and John securing a 2-0 win and with nine, high scoring, victories in ten appearances at Cardiff City Stadium up to now, our home ground is even more of a fortress for our Under 21′s than it was for our first team.

Hopefully. there’ll be a good crowd at the ground on Saturday to see if City can pick up a second trophy of the season in their last match – the team deserve a good turn out because they’ve played some entertaining stuff  (I make it forty four goals scored in twenty one games) this year.

Just a quick update, the Final with Charlton will be a 3 o clock kick off on Saturday and, in a great gesture, the club have announced that there will be no entry fee for the match.

*Photo courtesy of http://www.walesonline.co.uk/

I’ve got to admit that the last twenty days have been something of a blur for this blogger who, in the nineties, had given up hope of ever seeing us play in the second tier again in his lifetime, let alone watching us perform at the top level for the first time – I’m still half expecting to wake up and have to start “looking forward to” our Play Off matches this week, but, being serious, I’d say that it will really sink in when the fixtures for the new season are announced in about six weeks time.

Crowds of supporters throng the streets at City’s open top bus parade yesterday.

Anyway, although the Championship season is over for City, there is still some football to be played. The Under 21 Development side have a Play Off procedure of their own to go through yet – tomorrow evening they face Northern Section winners Leicester in a one off game at the King Power Stadium. Leicester won their league at something of a canter and have made a habit of including first team squad members like Vardy, Waghorn and Marshall in recent Development side matches, so City will travel as underdogs I reckon, but they may benefit from Leicester’s involvement in the Championship Play Off’s as Nigel Pearson could need players who would have otherwise played for the Under 21′s. It also has to be said that City’s Development side have been beating all comers in recent months and so there’s no need for them to travel with any sort of inferiority complex – if Kevin Cooper’s side can come out on top, then there will be one last match at Cardiff City Stadium for supporters to enjoy in this great season because the winners of our game will be at home to whoever comes out on top out of Charlton and Huddersfield tomorrow lunchtime in the Final.

Christian Jolley scores the first goal in Newport’s 2-0 win over Wrexham at Wembley yesterday – despite being the better side for much of the time, the North Walian outfit were unable to match the attacking pace of Jolley and fellow goalscorer Aaron O’Connor and so it’s South Wales that will have a Football League team in 2013/14.

Finally, ours will not be the only open top bus parade this week because Newport County will also be holding one after regaining their Football League status yesterday by beating Wrexham 2-0 at Wembley in the Conference Play Off Final. Although it’s great to see County back in the League after an absence of twenty five years, I must admit to feeling very sorry for Wrexham who were the better side for long periods of yesterday’s match – they do have the consolation of the FA Trophy in this great season for Welsh club football I suppose, but I doubt it if that counts for anything for them this morning, I just hope that they can join Newport in the Football League this time next year.

Congratulations to County though and I’m already looking forward to be able to see some League Two football next season at Rodney Parade – I’m sure there will be plenty of changes to their squad overt the summer months, but I get the feeling that players such as Christian Jolley, Aaron O’Connor, Andy Sandell, Lee Minshull, David Pipe and Byron Anthony will be able to cope with the step up, let’s just hope now that the people of Newport will support them in greater numbers than they used to do when they were last in the Football League.

Can we really say that about the league we’ll be in next season? The easy, and almost certainly correct, answer to that question is no, but I would argue that there isn’t a single Cardiff City fan out there who can say with any certainty what being in the Premiership will feel like. Of course there are those who are able to remember our spells in the First Division in the fifties and early sixties, but I believe that the league we’ll be part of in 2013/14 is a very different animal from the one we played in back in 1961/62.

For a start, our last season in the top flight saw Ipswich Town, a club who had never played at that level until that year, crowned Champions. Sixteen years on from 1962, Nottingham Forest were Champions after getting promoted the previous season and five years after that Watford were runners up in their maiden season as a First Division club – the notion of Cardiff City finishing first or second in the Premiership next season may invite the response “stranger things have happened”, but I’m not sure they have.

How it should have been – last day of the season, celebrating promotion, fans decked out out mainly in blue and the side wearing that colour as their first choice, not as an under used change strip. *

Certainly on the pitch, and probably off it as well, the old First Division was a democracy in ways that the Premiership isn’t – supporters of promoted sides could genuinely believe that their team might secure a place in Europe with a high league finish, or, if they were really lucky, they end up playing in the old European Cup and winning it like Forest did in 1979. Even if we had Manchester City like riches to spend on new players during the summer, we couldn’t put together a side capable of challenging at the top of the Premiership next season because nearly all of the players good enough to turn a club like ours into title contenders will not sign for a team which cannot offer Champions League football next season.

It looks like Malky Mackay will be given a budget which should be big enough to enable us to attract players who would make us competitive next season, but our “newness” as a Premiership club will put us at a disadvantage against many sides who, like us, will just be looking to stay in the division. For example, we can claim we are a bigger club than the jacks as much as we like, but if we are in with them for the same player, the fact that they are seen as an “established” Premiership club (not to mention the lure of Europa League football) will surely make them favourites to get him.

At a guess, I would say that the closest era from my City supporting past to what it will feel like in the Premiership is the time we spent in the old Second Division in the period 1972 to 1984. At the start of each season during that time, you’d kid yourself that City could be up the top challenging for promotion, but, in reality, you knew that yet another relegation scrap was much more likely and that some time in our last two or three matches of the season we could, hopefully, celebrate staying up as if we had won something! Back then, seasons like 78/79 where we spent six or seven months trying to stave off the drop, only to storm up the table in the last six weeks of the campaign and finish ninth and 79/80 where we spent the whole season in safe mid table and ended up fifteenth were regarded almost as triumphs – I daresay that’s exactly how a finish of fifteenth next season would be viewed.

However badly it might turn out, I’m sure I’m going to enjoy the Premiership next season and, if we do survive, I’d like to think that my enthusiasm will still be there the following year, but I’m fairly sure that if we go into a third campaign  where finishing seventeenth will be regarded as a success, I’ll be casting an envious eye at the less refined, but far more interesting, poorer relation living below us.

The Championship and unpredictability have gone hand in hand during our latest spell in the second tier, but 2012/13 was just mad. For a time yesterday, it looked like a side would be relegated with fifty seven points – you get that much by winning nineteen games! Going into the last minute of the season Bolton, Peterborough and Hull supporters were getting ready to party and, although things eventually worked out after an agonising wait for the latter, it was abject disappointment for the other two as a late goal by Knockeart enabled a very lucky Leicester (you watch them win the Play Off’s now!) to pip Bolton for sixth spot, while a Palace goal following a controversial free kick decision consigned Peterborough to relegation.

On the subject of Darren Ferguson’s side, I’d like to offer them my commiserations – they were right up there with the best sides to visit Cardiff City Stadium in my opinion and unlike the wurzels and wretched Wolves did not deserve to go down. Now, think what you like of Kevin Ratrcliffe as a radio pundit, but when he was asked which side had played the best football he had seen in the Championship this season, he answered Peterborough – based on what I saw against us last December, I can see where he was coming from, it’s incredible that a side which can play as well as that got relegated.

Fraizer Campbell’s goal record at Premiership level isn’t great, but if he, or Nicky Maynard, would have been available for us for the whole of the season, I reckon we’d be going up with someone who had scored twenty times in the Championship.*

As for the incredible events at the KC Stadium, congratulations to Hull, but it has to be said that if Dave Jones thinks we limped over the line, how on earth would he describe what they did! Before the game I didn’t really want Hull to go up because I found myself thinking that it would devalue our achievement somewhat if a side as awful as they had looked against the wurzels, Wolves and Barnsley were to be promoted automatically. Fair play to them though, they upped their game a couple of levels when it counted and although Steve Bruce showed typical football manager’s hypocrisy in criticising the penalty decision for our late equaliser (I wonder what he would have said if Hull had missed out on promotion by not being given a penalty for an identical incident?), I was pleased for them by the end – especially their supporters who reacted superbly when their side went 1-0 down.

As for us, I thought it centred on four players. Firstly, there were the three strikers – I felt sorry for Etien Velikonja who, after finally being given a first team chance spent forty five minutes chasing lost causes and generally getting nowhere before being replaced by Fraizer Campbell who showed the sort of predatory instincts which probably would have been enough to have got a City player into double figures in the goalscoring stakes if he had not had to miss those games after the injury he got against Blackburn. Finally on the striking front, it was great to see Nicky Maynard not only return to the side, but also score his first goal for the club by nervelessly converting the penalty which, under different circumstances, could have cost Hull £100 million. The other player to mention is David Marshall who kept up the excellent standards he had set since August right up to the very end of the campaign with his penalty save – off the top of my head, I cannot think of a single City player who has been as unlucky as Marshall has been to miss out on selection for a PFA divisional select team.

If Marshall was able to maintain his consistency right until the end, the same could not be said of most of his team mates as, having competed well against Burnley and Bolton, they helped Hull’s cause by letting their standards drop. It might be a bit harsh to say a majority of the side were already on the beach mentally, but there was an unusual carelessness about much of what we did – for example, the goals we conceded were very soft by the standards of the past nine months. However, unlike some of the messageboard critics who want to bomb certain players out of the club based on what they did or didn’t do in a game which was meaningless to them when all’s said and done, I’m not going to be too critical . Truth is, I was pleasantly surprised by how competitive the team remained against Burnley and Bolton, it would have been so easy for them to have rested on their laurels and ended the season with three defeats – once again, I’d like to thank Malky Mackay, the coaching staff and the players for a fantastic and unforgettable season.

Photos courtesy of http://www.walesonline.co.uk/