There’s not too much to report still at Cardiff City this summer. The good news is that the tax bill (which reportedly had grown to £2.7 million) has been paid and we are told that next Wednesday’s Court hearing will result in the case against us being dismissed. Apart from that, it’s just more newspaper gossip with Dave Jones, apparently, being on a short list of three for the manager’s job at Hull (even if that was true, I’d be amazed if he’d take the job). The News of the World is reporting that Joe Ledley is going to sign for Stoke once he returns from his holidays and that we are, probably optimistically, looking for £4.5 million in compensation for him, while the Chopra to Ipswich rumours don’t go away as stories circulate about the Suffolk club having submitted a renewed bid which doesn’t match City’s asking price (which we are now told is £4.5 million).
As for players coming in, the names I mentioned last week are still being linked with us, but others I’ve seen mentioned are ex Celtic and Wolves left back Lee Naylor (a possibility I would say because he has played for Dave Jones before), Hamilton Accies midfielder James McArthur (would be a great signing, but I can’t see it happening for all sorts of reasons) and Swindon striker Charlie Austin (if Chopra is sold). One rumoured new arrival who I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see at Cardiff City Stadium come August is our former loanee Tom Heaton who has been released by Manchester United – if there isn’t going to be much money to spend on new players this summer then it seems sensible to get someone cheap in who will, obviously, be a back up to David Marshall rather than spend a fair bit on someone who could be considered to be a challenger for our current keeper’s place – Heaton did a solid job for us in his loan spell in 2008/09 and I reckon there would be plenty of worse back up keepers than him around in next seasons Championship.
