Slade’s Cardiff overcome a different kind of problem.

6 Responses to Slade’s Cardiff overcome a different kind of problem.

1. Big Al says:

   October 22, 2014 at 12:45 pm

   At last we have realised the importance of leadership qualities when it comes selecting a Manager. Well done Vincent Tan.
   The last two games we have played as team. If we continue to do this then I am sure Slade can achieve his realistic aim of a top six position at the end of the season.
   Not sure where Jones was last night I just hope he was injured and not sulking from being dropped. Big game Saturday if we can a result from this one we may get that top six by Xmas!!!
   Well done to all at the club.
   Big Al
2. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 22, 2014 at 4:01 pm

   Thanks, Paul.
   I particularly appreciated your detailed analysis of “first goal” results under each one of our recent managers.
   Kindest,
   Dai.
3. The other Bob Wilson says:

   October 23, 2014 at 10:14 am

   Thank you both for your comments. Al, you’re probably aware by now that Kenwyne Jones was out injured for Tuesday. As for the top six, I’d say that if we were to win our next two games we’d probably be in a Play Off place when we head for Bolton on 4 November, but we need to become a lot more competitive and resilient away from home to maintain it.

   Dai, the thing that surprised me about those first goal figures was how poor Malky mackay’s record was.
4. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 23, 2014 at 11:43 am

   Yes, Paul …you surprised me too with that Malky info.
   BTW, thanks for doing the hard yards researching that info. Casual readers do not appreciate the GRAFT that goes into coming up with such stats.
   As you know, in a totally different context, I almost daily research all sorts of things for my Daigressings (always available for free from me should anyone want to email me at the address below), and so respect sheer INDUSTRY in a fellow writer.
   One final thing about Russell Slade:
   As you know, I spend most of my time here in Grimsby.
   Some fans of the Mariners still call him “Mr Chips” …no not because of his schoolteaching past (methinks that link would be a bit too esoteric for many of them!), but because he arrived at Grimsby from the now-demolished Theatre of Chips…
   …i.e. The McCain Stadium.
   They liked him well enough, but did not miss him when he departed for Yeovil. That said, they will admit that there has not been a manager since who has had his mastery of press conferences and general media-savvy skills. And you would have to go back 40 odd years to Lawrie McMenemy, for his equal in that department.
   One GY fan said to me the other day: what is it with your club taking our cast offs?
   Of course he was referring to Lennie Lawrence who was sacked in Jan 2002 with GY 5 points adrift yet STILL in the second tier. (Indeed, after 5 games that season they had topped the table under Lennie and fans started to dream about the EPL. But Lennie then proceeded to get about 5 points in nearly three months! Hence the decision to sack him, and Cardiff’s bizarre decision to hire him some few days later! The decline for the Mariners had thus set in with Lennie …and look at them now …mid Conference.
   Yet this team has a proud past.
   Here is the Trivial Pursuit question that beats them all.
   Q. Tell me one of the two teams that hold the attendance record at Old Trafford?
   A. Grimsby Town.
   Yes! I do not kid you.
   Google it, if you do not believe me, folks.
   They lost 5-0 that day in March 1939! (Mind you their fine goalkeeper was stretchered off early in the game, and no subs of course were allowed back then.)
   Anyway Paul, back to Mariners fans. The ones I have spoken to genuinely think that Mr Chips has taken on too big a club. A backhanded compliment to CCFC is that.
   But they wish him well. He was well liked here.
   Certainly I think he has been a breath of fresh air to City. Playing with wingers and two up front. And none of this “playing out from the back” stuff: he is far more of a disciple of my hero (“Sir”) Charles Hughes, than he might care to admit!
   Kindest,
   Dai Woosnam
   daigress@hotmail.com
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   October 24, 2014 at 11:33 am

   With Lincoln having been out of the Football League for some time now and Grimsby finding it harder to get back than I thought they would, it’s not a great time for football in your part of the world Dai – from a distance, I’ve always thought of Scunthorpe as a smaller club than Grimsby and maybe Lincoln as well. I watched Grimsby play out a dismal 0-0 draw at Newport three seasons ago – they didn’t look anything special that day, but they finished up in the Play Off’s like they always do lately (in fact they remind me of the City side of a few years ago with their multiple Play Off failures). Grimsby bad quite a bit of support that day as well (in fact, it was pretty impressive given the distance they had to travel) and I’ve always thought it was the sort of place which could get good attendances by the standards of Leagues One and Two if they could get a decent team up there again.
   I must admit I find it hard to categorise what sort of football Russell Slade wants his side to play. Last season at Leyton Orient I heard plenty of talk about their passing game when they were on the telly, but they played a similar type of formation to the one he’s using so far at Cardiff. Ole had a reputation for playing good football, but we became increasingly route one under him with the long ball to the pretty effective, but immobile, Kenwyne Jones becoming just about our only attacking ploy in open play.
   What City are doing is moving the ball quicker and I think maybe someone like Whittingham is being encouraged to try that ambitious pass or shot which may lose us possession more than he was under Ole. Under Ole we played a very ponderous game that I would have thought would have driven someone like you crazy. We were always coming second in the battle for possession and when we did have the ball we didn’t seem to have a clue what we wanted to do with it – cue much pointless and pedestrian backwards and sideways passing which eventually ended with the ball being lumped up to Kenwyne.
   So far, we are still losing the battle for possession under Russell Slade, but we seem much more purposeful and positive with the possession we do get – we still can’t keep clean sheets mind.
6. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 24, 2014 at 10:05 pm

   Thanks Paul…especially for that last para of your Oct 24th reply.
   You perfectly put your finger on the difference in playing styles.
   And helped me grasp the essential nuances.
   Re the Grimsby Town fanbase: there is no doubt that their possible support (were the team winning three promotions again like under Alan Buckley)is greater than both Scunthorpe and Lincoln.
   In 1998, some 31,000 fans saw the play off final at the old Wembley and in 2008 I joined 22,000 Mariners fans for the longish trip to the new Wembley for the final of …
   …wait for it
   …the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy !!!
   That says it all about possible support levels.
   And now two other things before I close.
   LOVED your comment on my being driven crazy by a ponderous game. I laughed out loud, Paul.
   You are sooo right there.
   Mind you, I am not in favour of mindless hoofing the ball for the sake of it. Just that I cannot abide this modish “playing the ball out from the back” obsession.
   It is wonderful if your defenders have the ball control of a Beckenbauer or a Maldini: but in the Championship, they do not. And their lack of control immediately puts the defensive team under big pressure, and often goals result – not from the first phase maybe, but – from the second or third phase of possession going wrong!
   Just like a stopped clock is right twice every 24 hours, so even the most passionate Charles Hughes deniers MUST admit that goal kicks that land 75% of the way up the field can immediately bring with them the possibility of an error from the opposing team and an immediate goal chance at best.
   And the final point I want to make is that when I wrote about The McCain Stadium, I put “i.e.” when I meant to write “a.k.a.”.
   It genuinely WAS called “The Theatre of Chips” you know.
   It amused me then, and it amuses me now, even though the stadium was demolished a few years bacxk and a rugby league team took the stands.
   Oh and on that subject… why is Grimsby’s pier at Cleethorpes, the second shortest in England???
   Answer …and you will find it hard to believe…
   well, what had been a very long pier was partly demolished in WW2, because they GENUINELY thought the Germans would tie up at the end and walk ashore.
   (!!!)
   Yes, I kid you not.
   But here is the best bit …all the steel was than taken to Filbert Street to rebuild a stand !!
   Kindest,
   Dai.

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