Weekly review 22/5/2016.

Posted on May 22, 2016 by The other Bob Wilson

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14 Responses to Weekly review 22/5/2016.

  1. Anthony O'Brien says:
    May 22, 2016 at 10:13 am

    Paul,

    I think you have made a very acute observation regarding the almost Harpo Marx silence of Paul Trollope during his time as second to Russell Slade. Perhaps he was just being loyal to the manager, or — surely not the case — he had nothing to say. At any rate, I have heard very few comments from Paul Trollope since his appointment. One was the claim that he would be his own man. But, in the (often misquoted) words of Mandy Rice Davies when told in court that Lord Astor denied having an affair, “he would say that , wouldn’t he!”
    Another recent comment from Paul Trollope is more alarming. In a repetion of what Russell Slade has said many times in the past, the new top man asserts that he aims for Cardiff to be in a play-off place by the end of next season. This statement, which could be taken as a realistic assessment, nevertheless reveals too much caution and an caution and lack of ambition. His stated aim should be to finish TOP of the Championship, even if he doesn’t believe it is possible. What he is actually telling his team, however, is that he doesn’t think they are good enough to get to the very top. It is a truism that players thrive on confidence — but in his own words the new manager has shown what is effectively a lack of ambition and has undermined the confidence he has in the players or the tactics he aims to follow next season. It’s like ambitious soldiers coming forward for SF selection in the Beacons being told to try climbing Pen Y Fan with full bergens, even though they are not up to doing it and if they get somewhere near the top, that would be good enough. In fact, as we all know, that would not be good enough!

    Even the talk of bringing in an “old head” to advise Paul Trollope may well suggest that even the powers-that-be are hesitant about his managerial abilities, or even that he is equally hesitant himself. He really needs to shout it from the rooftops that he is both his own man and the right man to hold the reins at Cardiff, and then prove it by canny signings and a style of play that is both successful and attractive.

    Many years ago the local bank invited a number of schoolboy job applicants to come for interview. The manager (yes, it was that long ago) asked each candidate what they hoped to get out of the job. One pointed to the manager and said “You’re sitting in my chair”. He got the job.

    I hope my thoughts on Paul Trollope’s appointment have not come across as totally negative. I sincerely want my assessment to be wrong. As a final thought, Shakespeare somewhere has the words that “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff”. That is what I hope to see next season. Ambition expressed, and ambition achieved!

  2. Clive Harry says:
    May 22, 2016 at 11:18 am

    It was encouraging to hear Trollope talking of new backroom and playing staff as well as liking full backs who go forward such as Fabio and John. This would suit a 3-5-2 which I think should have been tried months ago with the players we have. He also seemed to be obliquely distancing himself from the Slade tactics. All we can do now is wait and see what the summer brings because if changes are seen as positive PT will buy himself time to get his ideas across – let’s hope he’s got more of them than Rusty. However, I agree with Anthony when he says that much of what he said sounded very unambitious. Slade was often criticised for his lack of passion and PT came across as rather similar. I also think that maintaining his Wales connection is ridiculous – it may be part time but that also means that his Cardiff City job is part time if the situation remains unchanged. The removal of Scott Young from first team duties was a positive move although it appears that he may revert to a youth role – the continued involvement of a failed Welsh League/Premier manager at Championship level was always ridiculous and unnecessary but I suppose it was cheap.
    I’d also like to go off topic and talk briefly about something which has been annoying and worrying me over the past week, namely the habit of morons invading the pitch at the end of games. This happened after nearly every play off game this week and forced players straight off into the changing rooms instead of being able to relax and celebrate before a walk around the pitch to thank the fans. This culminated yesterday in appalling scenes at Hampden ruining one of the best matches I’ve seen in months. Unfortunately, many football fans are like lemmings and once a few have seen it happen regularly on tv without any comeback, their moronic behaviour induces hundreds more to follow. Continued unchecked, there may be a danger of the return of some sort of perimeter fencing being needed or a bigger police presence at games inevitably resulting in extra expenditure in one form or another for clubs.
    Finally, returning to our Club’s player recruitment, I’ve noticed that young Lloyd Isgrove of Southampton has been outstanding on loan at Barnsley and was man of the match in their play off this week. He’s a winger or central midfielder and might be available for loan again or even purchase and is the sort of young Welsh player being talked about for next season (now Russell is no longer in charge). Please note PT, I am available for next season and would be cheaper than Lennie Lawrence.

  3. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 22, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    Dear Paul…
    Good morning.
    Long may the close season continue.
    Just as on Test Match Special, John Arlott, Trevor Bailey, et al would really come into their element when rain stopped play, so this blog shines brighter than ever when the football is momentarily out of play.
    Wonderful philosophical stuff here…with AMO’s gifted contribution as ever, a thing to admire.
    So, as I understand it, the question is …
    do we want a manager blessed with communicative gifts to rival rugby’s verbal star-of -stars, the late Carwyn James (a man judged too dangerously articulate for the Welsh job!) , or do we want one who is as articulate as a rigid lorry, but has the winning knack… a sort of Alan Cork after a Damascene experience that had turned him into a winner?
    Before I address myself to that question…I note Paul, that you mention Mr Malky Mackay.
    Now I, like virtually everyone else, loved the cut of his jib, after years of watching a paranoid manager scowling at the national Press and at war with the local Press and many of the fans. And I loved the way Malky carried himself.
    But then, I saw his successful negative tactics, and much more importantly the contents of his soul…in his attitude to our great owner …who is every bit as worthy of success as the Thais who now own Leicester…
    and is deserving of his own Claudio.
    Somehow, Mr Claudio …Trollope …
    …well, it does not seem too promising a prospect, does it?

    I will just say this on the bigger issue…
    Some of the most brilliant speakers in history have been evil murdering despots. Adolf Hitler had an audience in the palm of his hand. Benito Mussolini was so gifted in this department that well over half a century later, the then current Italian Prime Minister (Silvio Berlusconi) lifted his verbal tricks and even his facial and hand gestures.
    My wife tells me that the thug Joseph Stalin could be brilliantly witty and skilled in his sentences…
    And so what I am saying is it was not a case of speechwriters writing the words for these three blighters (though that of course happened, Josef Goebbels on occasions for Hitler, etc.) but these guys GENUINELY knew their way around the telling interjection (and soundbite of its day).
    And so to sum up my views on Bluebird managers down the years…
    Let me just settle for this one sentence…
    The greatest speaker by a distance in my 60 year plus history of listening to Cardiff City managers, just has to be …
    …brace yourself for this, Paul
    ….the worst manager we ever had…
    …viz. Alan Durban.
    BTW…if all our ex-managers had undergone a MENSA test, I will put money on Mr Durban coming top.
    So where does that leave us…?

    Two unrelated comments before I tackle my lunch…
    1. Was not the cup final great yesterday?
    No, not the Wembley final…but the Hampden one, which I watched free to air on BBC 1 Scotland. I was delighted with it, as Stubbs is a proper manager who plays DIRECT football, whereas the ex Stock Market wallah who was Brentford boss (Mark something-or-other) is a roll-the-ball out and pass the ball backwards merchant, who deserves all he gets.
    2. The best movie I saw for years was Sunshine On Leith, which I saw immediately upon its release. I note the twins were not at the game yesterday!
    Incredible eh?
    They would walk 500 miles…yet Salisbury where they were appearing last night, is 62 miles closer than that !!
    Yet they did not hire a helicopter !!
    What is the world coming to?
    The Hibbies win their first Scottish Cup for over a century…and these self-PROCLAIMED “passionate Hibernian fans” are not there!
    Tell me I have got this wrong, Paul. I must be dreaming it.
    DW.

  4. rhondda blue says:
    May 22, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    I feel so let down right now by our club in making Paul Trollope our new manager, the club had a great chance to get the fans on side with a top appointment and bums on seats for the new season, (after 2 poor seasons of football and dwindling crowds) and we get this. I feel cheated for my season ticket, and no doubt there may be a lot of fans out there feel the same. Dalman says he was the best man for the job, then would he please tell the fans what type of candidates were up for the post or was this all done and dusted anyway for the club to cut more players and costs. Cant believe the club is letting our manager go with Wales when he has so much preparation to do in shedding players that the club no longer wants, signing new players(what type of player will sign for an unknown manager) and working on the style of football that he has in mind for the new season, all baffling. I fear if we don’t start well Cardiff City Stadium will be empty as fans will have had enough of poor quality signings(players ,management, and board members all making very poor choices.(we may as well have stayed with Rusty) I hope I am wrong, but at this moment it does not look good.

  5. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 22, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    Apols to Clive…
    When I srarted my contribution, his posting had not appeared…otherwise I would have acknowledged his reference to the wonderful game at Hampden.
    Talking of which, my closest friends in Edinburgh are all Easter Road season ticket holders. It was them that tipped me off when we signed that goal-scoring sensation from Chesterfield, that we were actually buying the biggest non-striking striker since a damp England’s Glory…(my words, not theirs).

    And, I mention them, because I have just read what I wrote…
    …and they will not be happy at my genuine typo on “Hibies”…
    Apols.
    2B or not 2B…?
    That is not the question.
    (As “Hibernian” is spelt with …one !!)
    DW

  6. Russell says:
    May 22, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    Thanks for the latest weekly summary, it could be a long haul through this off season to provide much extra news, as I get the feeling like you, gone are the days of chuckling cash around to appease fans, and let’s be fair have we had value for money in the past with that strategy?

    In my view this is a better “low key” appointment than Slade’s it allows continuity rather than major upheaval and cost.

    Lenny will bring some badly needed experience to the set up,something that was badly missing from Malkys promotion squad.

    What we need now is a character on the coaching staff/touchline, to motivate in tougher/critical games.

    Loans can work , and as you rightly point out Gary was a class act. Didnt Stoke get promoted with a high percentage of loans?

    I smiled at the mention of the mighty Dave Bowen’s name, I forgot about his role,how times have changed.

    Keep em coming Paul, the blog updates brightens up my Sundays and my input and involvement greatly irritates her indoors , so win ,win.

  7. The other Bob Wilson says:
    May 23, 2016 at 9:42 am

    The usual thanks to you all for your replies.
    AMO, just like Russell Slade before him, I believe Paul Trollope is towing the party line when he talks of the Play Offs being the target. I have an inkling that Vincent Tan et al believe that a top six finish is a realistic target again and so that becomes the one we are aiming for.
    Clive, Paul Trollope specifically talked about a more flexible tactical approach in his press conference and I’ve always believed that, as we were strongest in central defence, we should have made more use of a 3-5-2 system – Declan John and Fabio are, arguably, more suited to a wing back role than playing full back as well.
    Agree with you about Lloyd Isgrove – I was only saying much the same on a City messageboard this weekend. With a year left on his contract, I’d say there’s a chance Southampton would be willing to sell him – I’m sure Barnsley would be interested if they win their Play Off Final, but a possible bonus from Trollope continuing with his Wales commitments could be that young Welsh players might jump at the chance of playing for and working with someone so actively involved in the international scene.
    Dai, I’ll be returning to Malky Mackay later, but, leaving what his stint at Cardiff did or didn’t develop into to one side for now, he was very good with the media and I can remember thinking that I couldn’t wait for the season to start after seeing his first press conference as City manager back in June 2011.
    As for the Reid brothers, I would say in their defence that any Hibs fan around their age who had seen their club reach five Scottish Cup Finals since 1972 and been beaten each time, might have begun to think it all had something to do with them and so not going on Saturday could have been a way of showing their true support for the club. After Saturday’s thriller, which put the later game at Wembley to shame, it will be interesting to see what they do if/when Hibs reach the Final again!
    Rhondda Blue, your contribution brings me back to Malky Mackay and a theory I have about Vincent Tan. In the end, it may turn out that Malky’s greatest influence at the club will come from the way he turned our owner away from a very large portion of those who earn their living on the playing side of the game. I’ve mentioned before on here that I believe that the field for genuine candidates when a managerial or coaching post becomes available at Cardiff is restricted to individuals that our owner trusts because he knows them or because they’ve have been recommended by one of the small group of football advisors he respects.
    Whatever you may think of Vincent Tan, I’m sure he was left badly bruised in a football and personal sense by his experiences with Malky Mackay and I can see why he may have come to a view that most “football people” are liars and cheats. Indeed, I’m pretty sure that many in the game merit such a description, but I believe there are more who don’t than our owner probably thinks. Therefore, I look at Paul Trollope and think that he is probably one of the better candidates on any list Vincent Tan would have worked with when selecting the next man to take charge of the team – my suspicion is that such a list would be a much shorter one than it needed to be and could have been though.
    Russell, I think Stoke used thirteen loan players during their promotion season and it wouldn’t surprise if we made more use of the loan system this summer compared to other recent ones. I do believe that we need to be a bit more ambitious in the transfer market than we have been lately if we are to be serious top six candidates, I don’t believe more of the same as we’ve seen in the past eighteen months will be enough to result in the quality of new recruits needed to get us those two places up the table.

  8. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 24, 2016 at 11:24 am

    Paul,
    I see that LvG has left Man U with a mad payoff.
    And left with this startling stastic…
    In their 38 EPL games this season, Man U topped the backpass table.
    They were guilty of performing an amazing 3,222 backpasses.
    No other EPL,team got even close.

    It would be interesting to see where Mr Russell Slade’s team ended up in a Championship table of backpasses, after 46 games.
    I will wager, if not the winner, then there or thereabouts.
    DW.

  9. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 24, 2016 at 11:27 am

    Oh dear…Dai Typo strikes again.
    (Statistic and a rogue comma…apols.)
    DW.

  10. The other Bob Wilson says:
    May 25, 2016 at 9:09 am

    We’ve talked about “anyone but Manchester United” on here before Dai and I’ve made it clear that I’m no fan of that club, but one thing I’ll always say about the Ferguson teams which won so much over a twenty year period was that they seldom played boring football – Van Gall’s team seldom played exciting football and, for me, represented the extreme end of a possession based approach.
    Manchester United are one of a few teams in the world where just winning is not seen to be enough by their supporters – you also have to win with a bit of style and, while not being what I would call a defensive outfit, Van Gall’s team singularly failed to do that.
    So, with that in mind, what do you think Man United fans would feel about a manager whose approach could be summarised as follows;-
    1. The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors.
    2. Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition.
    3. Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it’s better to encourage their mistakes.
    4. Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake.
    5. Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility pf making a mistake.
    6. Whoever has the ball has fear.
    7. Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger.
    If Van Gall represented one end of the possession based football spectrum, then that seven point plan, surely, represents the other. According to someone who worked on the coaching side at the club at the time, that was Jose Mourinho’s philosophy at Real Madrid (particularly in matches against Barcelona). If Man United are a club where you have to win in style, then I’d say the same applies to Real Madrid and yet “style” has to take a back seat when you adhere to those seven points.
    So, for me, if “style” is to mean anything under Mourinho at Man United, I think it will have to be through his own personal style which helps get so much of the media onside with him. Therefore, if his team are winning while playing in that way, the hype which, invariably, follows him around could help to keep the crowd behind him even if the tactical approach is about as far removed from what United fans want as you can get. However, if he’s not getting results and his team go out to prey on opposition mistakes every week, he won’t last a season.
    I’m not too sure where City would have been in any backpass league table, but, if I had to guess, I’d say we would have made the Play Offs!

  11. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 26, 2016 at 11:58 am

    Paul,
    Good morning.
    That last sentence of yours made me LOL. Brilliant.
    As for that Mourinho plan, I must say that nos 6 & 7 really made my eyes open wide !!
    Great stuff.
    I mean to say, individually they are not that compelling, but in conjunction with each other, they carry one heck of a psychological punch !!
    So thanks for putting them my way, Paul…as I had never seen this 7 point plan before..
    And of course, intellectually speaking, one knows that it is all so mch balderdash*, but delivered by Mourinho in his pomp, I can imagine that his team would buy it 100%.
    Note that I say “in his pomp”: truth is that I see him as “damaged goods” now.
    No, not because of this last disastrous season results-wise with Chelsea: but because of the doctor incident being just the latest of a series of examples of his disgracefully bad behaviour…and a “bridge too far” with me
    I like managers who carry themselves well and honourably. Leicester, Spurs and Southampton have gentlemen in their hot seats: Arsenal, Palace and West Ham do not…though it seems re the last-named, that it is only me who remembers Bilic and his disgusting con-trick on Laurent Blanc…and the even more appalling refusal to ‘fess up, when asked some 11 years later.
    As for the new boys in the EPL next season…
    We have one gent in Burnley, and one bounder at the Boro (Karanka, Mourinho’s friend, who Gibson should sack now, if he has any sense).
    And whoever wins the play-off, will not grace the EPL with their class as gentlemen.
    We saw the real Steve Bruce in the tunnel incident after the 2-2 draw with us, at the endof our promotion season, when he harangued the referee, (wrongly) fearing he’d been pipped for promotion by Watford.
    And did you see that Portuguese wallah hurl continuous abuse at the officials throughout the first half of the Brighton 1st leg?
    Shameful.
    Especially, since what he thought was a good Wednesday goal, had indeed been CORRECTLY ruled out for offside.

    Let us hope that Mr Trollope is a gent and not a bounder.
    Right. Off to lunch.
    DW.

  12. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 26, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    Oh golly…I stick an asterisk…and then forget the footnote.
    Slipshod, as usual.
    Apols.
    The asterisk early on in my last posting…
    I MEANT TO ADD
    …why we intuitinely know that this claim of Mourinho’s is balderdash, is just to think of the Brazil team of 1970, or the Real Madrid team of 1960. Does anybody seriously figure that either of these teams felt fear when they had the ball…?!
    Hardly.
    It was their OPPONENTS who felt the fear!
    DW

  13. The other Bob Wilson says:
    May 26, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    Blimey, I agree with you completely from the bit about Mourinho being “damaged goods” down Dai – though I do have a grudging admiration for Bilic.
    Glad it’s not just me about Karanka, never liked the cut of his jib!
    Can’t help thinking it will be Carvalhal who is celebrating on Saturday – Hull were hopeless in the Second Leg of their Semi Final.

  14. Dai Woosnam says:
    May 26, 2016 at 9:34 pm

    Thanks for agreeing Paul.
    And thanks for glossing over another typo from me…
    “intuitinely”.
    I meant to type “intuitively”.
    Good thing I am not a musician eh?
    I would be fired for all my wrong notes.

    As for Wednesday v Hull …I want them BOTH to lose !!
    Hull, for the way the fans treat their owner.
    Wednesday, because it is a travesty that a team that limped into the Play Offs go up, plus I detest Ross Wallace…not least for his two separate karate chops on Kimbo during the Burnley game at Turf Moor when we clinched promotion…both of which warranted a straight red.
    DW

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