I must admit to getting annoyed when, as has been happening with some supporters in recent weeks, the 2012/13 promotion is under mined and written off as not quite being the “real thing”.
That annoyance is felt not because an owner who made a major mistake from which the club has still not completely recovered or a manager who it turned out was shown to have feet of clay have never received the credit they were due. No, it is felt because a group of players, who did the supporters and club proud by comfortably winning the title (what else could they have done better than that?), have tended to be under appreciated because of all of the hoohah about the rebrand and the dispute between Messrs Tan and Mackay.
Those players were placed in an awkward position by Vincent Tan’s decision to change the colour of the club shirt, because they were hardly going to start biting the hand that feeds them. The large majority of footballers are, essentially mercenaries – you get the odd ones who end up playing for a club that means an awful lot to them, the club they supported when they were a kid, but, essentially, they are guns for hire.
That’s not to say they cannot become supporters, as well as employees of a club (Kevin McNaughton and Andy Campbell made long journeys from the other end of the country to be at yesterday’s match to prove that), and I think it is one of the great plus points of Cardiff City that so many of our players retain an affiliation and an enthusiasm for the club when they become ex players of ours.
I can think of a few members of the 12/13 squad who have felt able to say what they really felt about the rebrand once they became former Cardiff City players (and there was the occasional hint from one or two of them while they were still here as well), so I’ll never stop giving them the credit for what they did five years ago and will always try to fight their corner when there are any comparisons being made between them and the current day squad.
However, I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that the promotion achieved yesterday with a 0-0 draw with Reading at a packed Cardiff City Stadium has a better “feel” to it than the one half a decade ago. True, there are still those for whom the break they made with the club in 2012 has been a permanent one, but City has felt like a united club in a way it has not been for years this season – the absence of sub plots about the colour shirt we are wearing and off field personality clashes has ensured that, everybody has been pulling in the same direction this time.
I suppose, in an ideal world, promotion would have been achieved with a vintage performance and a win, but there seems to have been a tradition established in the last twenty years whereby if we get promotion confirmed in a home game, it has to be that it ends in a nondescript 0-0 draw.
I can remember a goalless draw with Scunthorpe in 98/99 when we made it out of the old Fourth Division which at least had some goalmouth action to it, but yesterday’s game was like the one against Charlton in 2013 – virtually incident free, except that it was even less of a spectacle in terms of what happened on the pitch.
I was going to say that I’ll waste little time on the ninety minutes of tedious football that had to be endured before we could start really celebrating, but I will go into some analysis of the game and how it was shaped by the crowd’s reaction to it. Now and again, the quality, or lack of quality, involved in what’s happening out on the pitch has little bearing on how it is a game is remembered – when a match makes the transition into an occasion, as this one did, the football almost, but not quite, becomes irrelevant.
The fact of the matter is that, with a draw being enough to suit either sides needs if events went a certain way elsewhere, there was always a chance that yesterday’s encounter might develop into one where neither side was exactly busting a gut in chasing the win.
It would be wrong for me to say that I first became aware of Neil Warnock the manager when he was with Bury in the late nineties. he had already been in the managerial game for almost twenty years then and had carved out a reputation for himself at clubs like Scarborough, Notts County and Plymouth. However, it was definitely at this time that I used to think of him as football’s 0-0 king. If your team needed to achieve a goalless draw in any given game, then you could do no better than have Neil Warnock in charge for it – our manager has moved on since then and our promotion was certainly not achieved on the back of stacks of 0-0s, but the knack of being able to ensure that a game doesn’t produce a goal is something that I don’t believe he has lost completely.
Similarly, Paul Clement really needs to make a success of the Reading job if he is to maintain the status of a good, or possibly great, manager in waiting which he enjoyed when setting out on his managerial, as opposed to coaching, career at Derby. He is still at a stage where he is being hired for his promise rather than his achievements, but he has shown something of a talent, particularly at Swansea, for getting unexpected 0-0 draws away from home.
So, we had a contest between two sides managed by men who would appear to be pretty adept at making sure their side doesn’t lose if that is all that is required – given how things panned out, is it really that much of a surprise that the game turned out to be such an insipid one?
Certainly, Reading, knowing that a point would be enough for them, made it clear that was the limit of their ambitions from the start. The game stats from the BBC make for interesting reading for a few reasons, not least that, almost uniquely this season, we dominated possession against a team that it was almost impossible to get the ball off last season, by 54/46!
Leaving aside for now the possibilities raised by letting us have more of the ball in the belief that our lack of creativity would ensure a pretty easy ride for any opposing team, the stats also show just the one goal attempt by Reading and it wasn’t on target. Of course, there is always the dread that your opponents might conjure up a goal out of nothing, but, honestly, the only time I truly feared we might concede was when it seemed for a split second that one of their players was going to get a free header from a second half corner, but, in true City style this season, someone from our team got in to divert the ball behind.
With their time wasting started from the first whistle, Reading’s sole concern was denying us the win that we went into the game needing. Well, once we got our usual first few minutes of giving our opponents all of the possession of the ball they wanted out of the way, we looked like a team who were looking for nothing less than the three points. It didn’t stay that way, but fifteen goal attempts is a decent figure – even if only three of them were on target.
Truth be told, it was a day for scuffed and scruffy shots from City – I can only remember a first half effort by Junior Hoilett that flew not far wide as an example of a well struck shot all afternoon. For the rest, even the one from Kenneth Zohore that was cleared off the line by Liam Moore late on, it was a case of players not catching the ball right resulting in a series of tricklers which rolled wide or, very occasionally, gently into the arms of Vito Mannone.
Was it the tension of the occasion that made our shooting so poor or, to come at it from a completely different angle, was it that, for much of the game, the players concerned may have known that it didn’t really matter much whether their shots went in or not?
I can’t answer that question with any certainty, but, I can apply how I felt for about two third of the game to this and so I would say it was because of the latter of those two options.
I’m not technically minded at all when it comes to these things, but it is a constant source of frustration to me that, while people in other parts of the ground appear to be able to get a decent signal for their phones when there is a good crowd at a match, I never can. With the same applying to those sat around by me at the corner of the Canton and Ninian Stands as well, I was forced to rely on crowd reaction to find out what was happening at St Andrews where Birmingham, level on points with Reading, but with a much worse goal difference, were entertaining a Fulham side who knew they were up if they got a better result than us.
It became quite enjoyable trying to glean what was happening in Birmingham – not being big headed or anything, but I was pretty good at it. Sometimes it was easy – for example, when the Canton Stand erupted around the fifteen minute mark when there was nothing happening on the pitch to justify such a reaction (take it out of it’s context, and barely any of the football played by City and Reading merited an enthusiastic response!) and when something similar happened around the eighty seven minute mark, it was clear that either Birmingham had scored or the final whistle had gone at St Andrews.
On the other hand, when a chant broke out from a section of the Ninian Stand of “three nil to the Birmingham” just after half time, it didn’t have the ring of truth to it for me and so I disregarded it. Similarly, I guessed correctly when what had been a continuous chant about us going up gradually changed into “all we are saying is give us a goal” – Fulham had scored at least once.
In the eight days since we won at Hull, I’d read and heard so much about had tense it was going to be during the Reading game, but, apart from about ten minutes when it turned out that the score at Birmingham was 2-1, it never got anywhere like that for me, because it seemed fairly clear that Fulham were not going to get the win they needed and, with Reading showing little or no attacking inclination, a draw always looked well within our capabilities.
Indeed, such is the faith that I have gained in this manager and squad of players that, even if Fulham had got it back to the situation whereby nothing but a win would do for us, I think, by hook or by crook, we could have come up with that goal because that’s what we’ve tended to do in home games against sides from the bottom half of the table all season long.
A win would have been nice and I certainly could have done without the moronic pitch invasions and flares. I also would have preferred it if the closing minute or two didn’t include Gary Madine pretty obviously telling Mannone to take his time when he had the ball and the sight of City players standing about on the half way line, while Reading knocked it about thirty yards away. That was all a bit West Germany v Austria 1982ish to me, but, so what? Events elsewhere deemed that nothing that was happening was worthy of further investigation, it was simply what was bound to happen in the situation that City and Reading found themselves in at that time.
A perfect day ended with the Supporters Club Player of the Year do (apparently it was £72 a head, so you’ll be getting no eye witness account from me!) and perhaps the best tribute this group of players could receive is to think of the number of genuine contenders for the main award this season.
Sean Morrison was a deserved winner (the Hull game clinched it for me), but he only finished one per cent ahead of Sol Bamba. Joe Ralls’ cause was not helped by his late season injury and Junior Hoilett’s slight slipping of standards in recent weeks (completely excusable given his workload over the past ten months or so) probably scuppered his chances. Besides that, you have the underrated contribution of Neil Etheridge (a remarkably good Bosman signing from a League One club), Joe Bennett’s development into a top quality Championship left back and Callum Paterson’s goals and infectious attitude.
However, it’s when you consider all of those who have had what I would call good seasons, yet were no more than also rans in Player of the Year terms, that it sinks in just what an amazing season we’ve had – Lee Peltier, Bruno Manga, Aron Gunnarsson, Danny Ward, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Kenneth Zohore and Jazz Richards all fall into that category for me and I’m sure there are one or two others I’ve forgotten there as well.
I could go on at great length in a tribute to all involved, but I think it’s better I leave it to the man himself – Neil Warnock, the man who, more than anyone else, made our promotion possible – to do that. Here’s what he had to say at the Player of the Year do
“Vincent has told me how to manage my team this year… I’m going to tell him how to run his businesses next year!
But the biggest thing is that he cares, and not many people are daft enough to put the money in that Vincent has put in.
I have to mention Callum Paterson, the young player of the year, and he must be the youngest 45 year old I’ve ever seen!”
and
“It’s been great to be in charge of such a great group of lads, when I look around the characters – all of them.
People take a lot for granted in football and some people don’t get a lot of credit. I want to thank people like Neil Etheridge, who’s come from Walsall, Brian Murphy has been unbelievable.
All of the defender s, Jazz who has come back from injury, Pelts never stops moaning, Benno one of the best full backs I’ve ever managed, Bruno who would probably be the best player in our team next year. I’ve got big Sol, who we had to rescue today, along with Junior Hoilett – who both show what you can do with application. Bamba has done it all season.
The unsung heroes… I would play Matthew Connolly tomorrow if I had to. I’ve got my skipper, who could have gone to Sheffield Wednesday if he wanted to. That was great to have kept Morrison, who has ended up as good a skipper as I have had in 38 years.
I’ll probably forget somebody but my wife absolutely loves this bald headed, bearded viking – who has got a chance for the World Cup – and we all wish him every success. Incidentally, he couldn’t get in the team before I came.
You’ve got a young lad, Joe Ralls, who has been unbelievable since I’ve come and will only get better. If we hadn’t got promoted, we wouldn’t have seen Joe Ralls because he’d be in the Premier League.
I’d like to thank two loan lads who have done brilliant, Marko from Liverpool and Bryson who has got unbelievable energy.
Two unsung heroes for me are Loic Damour and Greg Halford, thank you to both of you.
Onto the forwards, Ken Zohore has been our mainstay.
The pleasing thing for me is people training hard when you can’t play them. People like Pilkington have been different class.
I’d also like to thank a player who has made me enjoy my trip to Nottingham Forest this year. Danny Ward.
Then we’ve got another one. Vincent mention Mahrez for £450k. But I get them from Rochdale for nothing! A massive thankyou and well done to Mendez-Laing. Also a big thankyou to people who came to help us out on loan, like Liam Feeney and Jamie Ward, alongside Armand Traore. Kadeem has trained relentless but not had a look in, but well done. And obviously Junior… I took him off the scrapheap and told him I’d get a club. When I went to QPR, he’d been thrown into the under-18s and I told him he could play straight away. I know what I’m getting from Junior and it’s a tremendous accolade to get the players’ player.”
Thanks to all of those mentioned and to the likes of Mehmet Dalman and Ken Choo, but, most of all, thank you Neil Warnock – I might knock the way your team plays the game at times, but you’ve been amazing for this club and I’ve not seen a better manager in my time supporting City.
Hi Paul, greetings from Jordan!
Like you I have had my fair share of IT problems since my move and comments I have tried to post have not appeared from my so called smart phone. I have a laptop now though, hurray.
An amazing achievement and no mistake. I wish I had your faith through the second half yesterday though! Going into the game, I was very confident, but as the game moved into the final ten I could see some typical last day drama unfolding where everything turns topsy turvy in the final 2 or three minutes. Thank goodness for Gary Monk (and I never thought I’d say that in my life – he has just nudged Lee Trundle back to the top of the pile!).
As for the game, it was quite forgettable – perhaps you are right that reactions off the field were affecting actions on it, but I thought Zohore had a really poor game by his standards. But the game can be forgettable! We are in the Premier League!
The naysayers have come out in force of course – my brother for one, who on occasion makes Eeyore look a ray of sunshine, texted me immediately on final whistle with 3 words – straight back down. Charming. Also I see the rumour mill has already started, and I imagine it is his agent behind the stories of Salomon Rondon joining us from the Baggies.
Over the sourse of the season it was a fantastic squad effort. Every player whether their role big or small can be proud, even those sent out on loan at the midway point and those who came in seemed to buy into the scheme.
Supporting the club is sometimes difficult, and often frustrating, but this past season has been a big repayment of faith, and I hope that over the summer and throughout next season we can really enjoy being a Bluebird. As we have seen with Brighton this season and many others over the course of the years, there are ways and means of staying up. Warnock is a fine manager with something to prove at the top level, so why not?
Have a great summer all.
Many many thanks for your season of comments Paul and from the moment Warnock arrived I felt we had turned the corner.
With apprehension we look at the premier league once more but can it really compare to the excitement and week by week football nightmares that provide such a great feel to this league.
How many leagues are there where bottom can beat top teams and completely turn the form cards upside down. Yes I am sure that the enjoyment this time will be felt a lot more as we will be a family rather than a fragmented being but am I going to miss the championship, you bet I am
Congratulations to the team, to the manager and to mr tan for his faith in the club even though some decisions were based on personal and not football reasons. But more so on learning from them and reaping the rewards of the bringing the club back together.
I cannot remember a manager being liked so much in the 60 odd years supporting the bluebirds so let’s enjoy the next few months as we await the premiership to start
Thanks, once again, Paul.
Consistently excellent reporting and thought-provoking analysis throughout the season.
I was disappointed with the game yesterday and felt strangely flat after the game.
What a season to look back upon, the highs of the three opening home games, the lows of that period over Christmas. But the one thing you can say about this squad and the management team is that they are so resilient.
The turning point for me with this side was Warnock’s first game in charge against Brizzle. What a night and what a performance in that game by Sol Bamba, a colossus of a man. That performance was so different from what we had seen during the Slade/Trollope era. Can’t really say we haven’t look back since, there have been some rather dire performances, Millwall over Christmas springs to mind, but just when pundits and other teams supporters were beginning to write us off back we would come with an excellent win.
I see Sky Sports are reminding us this morning that the new season’s fixtures will be out in mid-June, not that far away. What will that season hold for us?
Just a word about Fulham, I do hope they get the better of Derby, a side who are way behind them for points in the league table, and then go on to win the play-off final. In my opinion they really do deserve promotion.
Thank you Paul for this summary and all the previous ones,it’s always something to look forward too the day after our game .
Have to agree the game was very uneventfull ,but enjoyed by all ,with joyous singing ,and the significant blue colour awash, in the and around the staduim made it a very special day , as I left I sought to shake the hands of those who were significantly older as I think it means so much too them in later life, and considering they have lived through some barren times.
The game was played as if in a first or second gear ,with some bodies on the line tackles , you felt they had enough in the tank to go again if needed, Like me I think a loss at Birmingham was a huge possibility considering there last few games,where it has been suggested they were beginning to wain.
The away wins at Hull and Norwich were huge in my view ,and should not be underestimated ,in fact that Hull game did it for me and saw us up.
As one reflects this sunny morining on our next steps , and whether we should bring Ramsey and Bale back home , I always feel for the players who got us over the line, especially those who know they may not play a part next year.
For me I hope we keep the nucleus of the side and spirit as we lacked that five years ago and some good players were overlooked in my view such as Rudi,Ralls and Hudson.
Leicester for me got it right , and yes Swansea, when going up, this year Brighton have shown it can be done.
For us the target going forward as a minimum stay is stay of at least 3 years.
Paul I guess you will now rest your quill pen , however, I’m sure we have plenty of close season gossip, comimg and goings to perhaps talk about ?
One a final note , like you Warnock is the best we have had , and that takes some doing for me , when considering I started my journey with the mighty Scoular so many years ago,when Warnock was appointed I said to my City chums were not that keen ” we finally got a real footy manager,who lives and breaths the game” .What a Swansong this could be of one of the games greats ,and he’s ours.
“
Oh and I think Villa with Bruce will win play off final , and Morrison will make the Ingerland squad , he’s only 27.
Yesterday we saw that a Warnock side can be a limited one, but the strengths of a Warnock side can be seen in Hull and Norwich away and Forest at home – DJ and Malky would have lost at least one of those under the pressure.
We’re back in blue and going up.
Good morning Paul and your devotees.
I suspect that once again you have been up half the night composing your final edition of this season’s first team’s efforts, and thank you so much for yet another splendid piece of writing, and all of your other articles throughout the last nine months. A momentous effort considering all of your recent trials and tribulations. There can surely be no more committed Bluebird.
As Colin has commented, I too felt someone disappointed at the end of the match as I genuinely believed that this was a game that we could and should have won, The news of Fulham’s plight as the game progressed probably produced a more circumspect City performance, and that was understandable, but that does not excuse the fairly tame efforts on goal from those whose early season efforts were much more productive. But the objective of matching or bettering Fulham’s results was achieved and once more we are a Premiership club.
Yesterday was the fourth time that I have witnessed our promotion to the top division of English football, and the scenes reminded me of how I dashed onto the pitch in 1952 as a thirteen year old after our victory against Leeds. No such exploits for me yesterday, impossible anyway from Level 4 of the stadium, but the sheer joy of spectators’ celebrations was shared by me from my lofty position. And when ultimately NW got the chance to say a few words, he got them right.
I was so pleased that the crowd voiced in song their desire that our Icelandic warrior continues his association with us. I share that hope. I travelled up in the lift with him to Level 4 and asked him about his World Cup prospects. He was hopeful. My goodness I hope so too for he has not only been been a great servant for us these past six years, but inspirational to his national team. I enjoyed our skipper’s jig at the Canton end in the players’ and family walkabout, and his delight at our achievement was clear to see.
Thank you again Paul for all of your words. Reporter of the year – undoubtedly
Paul,
BJA is wrong (though only in degree) when he calls you Reporter of the Year…you are Reporter of the past DECADE… that’s what I reckon.
Only 4 years since we left the EPL…and we are back. Incredible.
In 2014, I genuinely thought that City would never be in the EPL again in my lifetime. After all, I only had to look at precedent.
Back in April 1962, I recall saying to my football going friend Howard Jones (a Porth County School boy), “it might be a good thing we are going down…we can reinforce and return to the top flight better equipped”.
I little realised that we would have to wait more than half a CENTURY…!!
So do do it now in four years …well, it is nothing short of a miracle.
And the name of that miracle? Simple.
Neil Warnock.
One final point. I noticed the two chaps who lifted Vincent on to their sturdy shoulders were already standing by him and well rehearsed. Who ever came up with this ruse was a genius, because pictures of Vincent being borne aloft will assuredly have featured on all TV news headlines all over Malaysia yesterday/today.
They probably cursed under their breath that a taller City youth being similarly borne aloft, was in the forefront of those pictures, but hey you cannot budget for Real Life intruding occasionally.
But musing aside, how wonderful to see Vincent get the proper reception he has deserved from Day One, and deserves more than ever now, given his magnanimity in accepting he was in error over the shirt colour diversion.
He interviewed very well on SKY too. I salute the man. He deserves his day in the sun.
Who will win the PlayOffs?
Who can say?
All I know is that I will be happy if any team wins …other than Derby.
But Derby have hit ominous form at the right time, and I fear that their cad of a manager will prove that “cheats prosper”, and thus Derby will get away with their cynical “snow” postponement (which saw them getting three points from a rearranged fixture, that had it been played on the original day, would have probably yielded none, as The Bluebirds were on a eight game winning run at the time), and come through triumphant at Wembley.
Dear Preston North End…you lost out on a PlayOff place to Derby by just two points. Make my day and sue Gary Rowatt.
Many thanks Paul for this and all the other brilliant match reports this season that for me, so enrich the whole business of being a Cardiff City supporter. Only today has the enormity of what our team has achieved really sunk in whereas yesterday a sense of relief was probably my overwhelming feeling. This whole wonderful season hadn’t been a giant tease after all.
Last week I spent some time with my daughter and her family in Surrey. My son-in-law is a big Spurs fan and I suppose it’s inevitable that my 3 year old grandson who already has a dressing gown with a Spurs emblem on will like his 1 year old brother, grow up to be a Spurs fan. Spurs were once a great proper football club. Now they aren’t. They are now a multi-national corporation who operate in a league within a league of themselves and 5 other similar such institutions. How sad for my lovely grandkids that their experiences of being a football supporter is going to be so so narrow and unfulfilling.
During my nearly 60 years of supporting Cardiff City I’ve now seen 3 promotions to the top flight (ok my memories of 1959-60 are pretty vague), 3 promotions to the second tier and 4 to the third tier. There’s also been an FA Cup final, a League Cup final (and semi-final) and a semi-final appearance in a major European Competition. Of course on the debit side there have been nine relegations, five failed play-off campaigns, two bottom four of the fourth tier finishes and countless disappointments and crises of one sort or another. And today as my son-in law (a lovely chap by the way) frets that his Tottenham team may just possibly suffer the ultimate disaster of a 5th place premier league finish I can bask in the glow of such a mighty achievement by my team knowing that the range of my experience as a Cardiff City fan makes the pleasure so much more vivid and enjoyable. I mentioned to my son-in-law last week that whatever I would be feeling at 2.30 yesterday would be a feeling that as a Spurs fan he’d never get near to. Not sure he understood but there you go.
Thank you Paul for your swift posting and analysis yesterday and throughout the season. Your comments are always most welcome as are those of fellow correspondents.
Hopefully , after a well-deserved rest, you will be posting some thoughts as we approach
the new season and warming us up nicely.
Yesterday was both fantastic and surreal. The regular updates on Fulham score quickly filtering through the crowd and changing the mood when the evidence before our eyes suggested a struggle to score as everybody was scuffingvshots and mid-timing headers . I remember looking at the clock on 70 odd minutes still feeling extremely nervous. Within 10 minutes everything seemed to be ok and hecrealisation kicked in.
Over the course of the season there have been so many fine performances and a real sense of unity in the team. More importantly we now are a united club and full credit to the manager for his part in achieving this.
Let’s hope we can recreate yesterday’s atmosphere on a regular basis next season as it was outstandingly noisy yesterday. Shame about the idiots who decided on a pitch invasion though – could have been costly, but fortunately not so.
Have to also agree with many views above re supporting a real team, the manager, the whole squad, Mr Tan, the captain and key points in the season.
Will miss the rhythm of the Championship, but let’s hope we can emulate other recently promoted teams and find a way to perform well and stay there.
Cheers to all. Now relax and breathe!
Paul, I agree with so much of what you say.
The 2012/2013 Championship was, indeed, a joy, red shirts and all. It was peculiarly important to me because I had been widowed in February 2012, and, after decades of exile from Cardiff, I decided to take up a Season Ticket for the following season, as some form of consoling balm.
Consoling it was, as we didn’t lose at home for ten matches (if memory serves), and the Saturday evening rail trips back to Paddington, on an Old Geezer’s Rail Card, were passed in a haze of chilled white wine and football dreamland.
And, I happen to think that Sunday’s wasn’t such a banal performance as many believe – Junior, Zohore, and M-Laing were terrific; Bryson, too…except for the almost universal scuffing of shots. Blimey, a professional footballer doesn’t have to be Messi to hit the ball soundly, on-target or not.
If we hadn’t already been nicknamed The Bluebirds, I reckon The Scuffers would have been spot-on.
But, it’s been a wonderful, exciting, and rather moving season.
Paul – with all your other devotees, I can only thank you for the time, the emotion, the judgement, the sheer detail that you put into your reports.
The MAYAn brotherhood is in your debt – for your insights, for the platform you provide for our responses, and – most importantly – for the air of civility you ensure that we reflect.
Happy off-season, one and all….while thinking sombre thoughts of Felix the cat.
Good to see Lindsay Davies prove he has re-emerged from his relative silence of the second half of this season, with that polished contribution above. One always applauds his intellect and the fact that his contributions – like our Blogmeister’s – are always wondrously free from any typos. No case of a “do do” for “to do” for him…(see my customary error-strewn effort above).
What do I most love about his work…? Well little touches like…”MAYAn”.
That lower case letter “n”, tells us all that Lindsay has no intention whatsoever of transporting us back to the pre-Columbian Americas.
And one just loves the dry wit of his “The Scuffers”.
I would respectfully part company with him though on his assessment that Zohore, Hoillet, Bryson and NM-L were “terrific”.
Eh? The word terrific must have taken on a whole new meaning.
The last named certainly might have passed for the “real deal”, with his jinky runs, but his end result was generally lacking. Bryson ran miles, and was probably the best of the four on the day. But like I always say, we could sign up Mo Farrah if it is just a runner we want.
Junior’s display was marred by his losing his opponent due to his failure to always track back, and Zohore’s by his usual (AMO would say “permanent”) inability to win aerial duels.
So “terrific” dear Lindsay, I think not. And whilst being hypercritical here, my favourite player SuperCal had his poorest game in a long time.
But I will cut them all a lot of slack, and put a lot of it down to nerves due to the Big Occasion. Every City player seemed to suffer.
The one Bluebird who did not, was playing for Reading. Chris Gunter. What a player. The clear Man of the Match…even though playing on the wrong flank.
I see Neil says he will make half a dozen signings. Well, I reckon that Chris has got another three seasons in him, and we will badly need a quality full back…so we could do a lot worse.
And talking of doing worse…I write twelve hours before the events at The Liberty. Where do most of our MAYA brotherhood stand on the Swans going down? Surely they will want a couple of keen derby games next season? Or will the desire to see The Bluebirds in a higher division rule the day?
I confess to having a bit of both feelings running in tandem within me here. But there is no doubt who the BBC’s MotD want to triumph. And it is not Mark Hughes, even though he is largely loved by the media.
It is Carlos. As an interviewee, at his best, he is pure gold. Who can forget that sensationally good Formula One analogy…? But I think the Beeb may be wrong in thinking that Carlos is a bottomless pit of insights. They think he is another Holloway. I am not sure that the barrel is that full…even though at his loquacious best, he is the better man for the off-the-wall images.
But, Carlos is, I reckon, a normal mortal…i.e. a representative of the human race, and not someone with the interviewee gifts from Outer Space of a Bill Shankly or a (before the bottle of Sherry-a-day caught up with him) Brian Clough.
I rather fancy that he might actually turn out to be a…guess who?
Why…another Sparky, of course…!!
Thank you Paul along with everyone else your reports throughout the season,and every season to be honest are something which i look for first in any report that is printed about the City games,intelligent,thoughtful,amusing most of all getting to the heart of what’s gone on the pitch and pulling no punches when needed,thank you.
Regarding yesterday’s game it was the occasion that carried us through although the atmosphere might have been different if Fulham had got the result they wanted,but hey ho if granny had …..we now look forward to another season in the top flight where if I’m honest it going to be possibly 38 cup finals,but that’s to come until then let’s just enjoy the moment,have a good summer Paul and I will look forward to next season reports and musings from yourself.
Paul and others – Just realised that in my final paragraph, first sentence I used the word “awards” instead of “words”. My proof reading gone to pot. But anyway, if awards were due for a season’s writing, you would have them in spades!
Apologies for my belated response — blame the Singleton Park classic car show (though please do not mention to our “you Jack bastards, we’re coming for you” fans that I lived in Swansea for six years as a student, and that I’d like to see Swansea still in the Premiership next season).
Any comment on the game would be superfluous from me — everything worth saying has already been said by our indefatigable Blogmeister and contributors. I won’t even add to Dai’s very accurate appreciation of what I think of Zohore. But what an occasion we lived through on Sunday! If Cardiff could actually have scored a goal my cup of good cheer would have runneth over. And yet, as with some of the commentators whose words are enshrined above, I left the game feeling rather flat as if having reached the emotional heights of knowing we’ll be in the Premiership next year was replaced by a feeling of anti-climax. Be that as it may, we reached the Promised land, and I can hardly wait for next season to start.
I hope that Paul continues with the MAYA blog during the summer and that his perceptive and knowledgeable columns evoke as always the superb range of comments and insights from his host of eager readers.
What a season we’ve enjoyed!
Thank you all for some great replies which I enjoyed so much because they come at our promotion from quite a few different angles.
Matt, and this applies to the comments made by a few others as well, I think it’s completely wrong to make judgments on our chances for next season based on what we saw against Reading – we weren’t exactly peppering the Reading goal while the score was 0-0 at St. Andrews, but we were winning nearly all of the 50/50s and all of the momentum was with us. Once the news that Birmingham were winning came through though (especially when they went 2-0 up), the priority became a different one for us whereby not losing was, arguably, more important that winning and, against opponents who were never thinking in terms of three points rather than one, it was hardly surprising the game panned out as it did – based on what I saw in the first ten minutes or so, I think we would have been able to win if we had to.
I’m with you about the Championship Barry – if we were to survive a season or two in the Premier League, I believe I would start to get bored being in a league where, realistically the object of the exercise every August would be to avoid relegation. It’s not like that in the Championship where every pre season you’re able to convince yourself that this could be our year!
I don’t know about flat Colin, but, having spent the eight days leading up to the game having all sorts of people telling me how nervous I was going to be, I found Sunday a pretty stress free occasion and so I didn’t get any overwhelming feeling of elation or amazement at the final whistle – for me, there was an inevitability that we were going up from the time that we first heard “2-0 to the Birmingham”.
Russell, I agree entirely about the Norwich and Hull games – particularly Hull where I’m sure Fulham might have been thinking after they’d won without playing well against Sunderland and we’d fallen apart at Derby that their “rash” was finally fading away!
Oh, and Morrison for England in a Jay Bothroyd one cap in a friendly way isn’t as daft as it might first seem!
David, no doubt there’ll be those who’ll say that it’s daft because they are only colours, but promotion in blue definitely feels better than promotion in red doesn’t it!
BJA, great to read about things like the 1952 promotion – I was just speaking to someone a few years older than me who could remember the 1960 promotion and I said I reckon that, even for those who can recall a promotion to the old First Division, promotion to the Premier League must have a completely different feel to it. As far as Gunnar goes, if his injury causes him to miss the World Cup, then I would expect him to sign a new deal, but, if he goes to Russia and does well, it may be that bigger clubs than us will be interested, especially with him being available on a free so to speak.
Dai (by the way, I didn’t have to approve your posts as Dai Woosnam, but I did with the one you did as Harry Kirtley’s Ghost), Vincent Tan’s staged shoulder carry was mentioned on a podcast I was listening to and I think one of the consequences of our promotion is that we can expect to see more of our owner being portrayed as some sort of clown in the national media. However, speaking as someone who you know is not one of his greatest fans, I think that will be even more unfair than it was last time, because his appointment of Neil Warnock and the way he has conducted himself in the past eighteen months should be enough to establish himself as someone who is worthy of more respect when it comes to his ownership of Cardiff City.
I’m also hopeful that cheats won’t prosper and Derby will be playing Championship football again next season.
Richard, you captured what it’s like to be a follower of a club like City perfectly – I read about your Spurs supporting son in law thinking that he’s going to be believing they’re going to be in some sort of crisis if they don’t qualify for the Champions League and then you mention that very thing at the end. You are so right, people like your son in law do not get to live through the truly bad times which are so much a part of being able to properly appreciate the good ones when they come along.
Huw, those few saddos running on the pitch were so out of keeping with the general atmosphere which, when you think about it, was an integral part of making the whole thing so memorable – I just hope the one who injured one of the stewards is given the punishment he deserves (if there’s any justice, he will not get to see any of our Premier League campaign in the flesh). Other than that, the crowd, as you remark, were brilliant and backing like that could make such a difference next season.
Lindsay, thanks for what you say about my air of civility, but it’s a two way thing and I’m only able to keep a very light hand on the tiller so to speak because there is hardly ever any need for me to impose any authority. I’m glad that the 12/13 side were able to provide a relief for you in what was such a sad time – I mentioned earlier that promotion in blue feels so much better than promotion in red, but I really do think it’s important that what Hudson, Bellamy, Marshall, Whittingham etc achieved five years ago is not under valued in any way.
Dai, I’m not anywhere near as much a jack hater as many I know, but there’s a bit of me that hopes they go down simply because they deserve to. I’m not saying that because of what they did in the first half of their Premier League existence when I used to look at them with a certain degree of envy because they were a sort of template for us smaller clubs to follow, but for about four years, they have been a shadow of what they were and I look at them now as a characterless outfit that only survive by packing their defence and relying on the failings of others – I happen to think they’ll survive once again by taking four points from their last two games, but, whatever the Swansea way was, it no longer exists any more and relegation is, at most, only a season or two away for them now unless a new attitude and club philosophy is implanted soon.
Clive, as I mentioned earlier, I reckon we would have got the job done if we had needed the win, but it’s easy to say that when you know nothing can be done to disprove it.
Just to mention in finishing that I will be doing the usual weekly reviews through the summer where I’ll be talking about news items, transfer gossip etc. I also always do a few columns on what’s happening in major tournaments like World Cups and Euros, there’s a couple of Wales games coming up soon I believe and, given that it’s been such a great season, I’m planning one or two more analytical pieces on City – the first of these should be out later this week and, as usual, any comments will be appreciated and welcomed.
Hello everyone,
it has been a long time since my last comment as I really cannot add to the words of the blogmeister and the wise comments the regular devotees here. However, rest assured I avidly study this blog after every game and it is my lifeline to Cardiff City as, living abroad, I cannot get to games.
I would really like to mention however, that after eventually calming down yesterday I chatted to my mother on the telephone and asked her how she lived through the 90 minutes on Sunday.
She was alone in her flat in Neath and after eventually finding Radio Wales on the radio she started following the game whilst ironing, she eventually started jumping up and down shouting “Come on Cardiff” until the elderly man downstairs knocked on the door and asked her if everything was allright!
As it all got too much for her she found it impossible to carry on with the ironing and decided to walk to Wilcos to buy a light bulb and to calm down. She returned for the second half but the excitement got to her again and she decided to walk again to Wilcos for another light bulb with my Dads 1962 City shirt wrapped around her neck. On her way home (the game had ended) an elderly man and his son, both in City shirts with tears in their eyes embraced her and with a cry of “We did it love!” they disappeared off to the Angel pub. My mother is certainly not an emotional person… but there was something about that moment, on that Sunday which was very special. And thanks to Cardiff City mum now has enough light bulbs.
What a great story Adrian – thanks for sharing it with us.
Hi Paul and Everybody,
Apologies for the late posting but after thinking about what I wanted to say yesterday, I read the blog and discovered that you had covered virtually everything I had in mind. Consequently, typing was shelved in favour of beer for a while. Fortunately, there was one thing that doesn’t seem to have been covered – the refereeing! I thought his inability to deal with some of the most blatant time wasting from the first minute that I’ve ever seen was poor. Worse than that, however, was his failure to award us two penalties in the first half. I’ve now watched both incidents several times and I’m convinced that Junior was pulled down from behind and that Morrison was blatantly rugby tackled off the ball at a set piece. My particular concern over the second incident is that one of our main attacking weapons may be negated next season because of the inability of Premier League referees to officiate fairly at corners and free kicks. They look like a scrum most weeks.
Enough of this for now – it’s time to indulge in a few months of speculation and transfer rumours before the painful business of the Greedy League starts in August.
Most importantly of all, thanks for your reports this season (and unfathomable quizzes) on not only the first team but the Academy and the Non Development Team.
Have a great summer everybody.
We are the Joburg Bluebirds a family unit living in Johannesburg,South Africa. My brother-in-law, Graham who lives in Sutton is a Cardiff City season ticket holder and sometimes comments on your blog. His nephew,Jason,living in Hatfield follows all the Bluebirds games on Sky,BBC Wales etc. and sends us updates via email during the games and Graham will then reply when he gets back to Sutton. Graham is a regular at the Sandringham and Cafe Jazz when he has to stay over to watch his beloved Bluebirds.
The ages of the Joburg Bluebirds range from 74 to 12 years,with myself being the oldest and Shane my grandson the youngest.I remember supporting the City during the 50’s and 60’s catching the train from Birchgrove Halt, to Ninian Park station and then walking up to the old ground and watching from the Bob bank.
On Sunday,five of the Joburg Bluebirds were following the text commentary on the Bluebirds website with baited breath waiting to hear that we had scored,but no such luck. Listening to the text commentary is frustrating as one minute we are attacking and then in the next breath the opposition have almost scored. On Sunday there were five nervous people waiting for the final whistle especially as there were almost ten minutes of injury time with no comment on the pitch invasion. It was only when my grandson said that Birmingham had scored to make it 3-1 that we knew we were going up. What relief as the cheers rang out.
In the Premiership we will be able to watch all the Bluebirds games on one of the DSTV Supersport channels and I am hoping that the first game of the new season, on
August 11, will be at home as I will be in Cardiff and hope to watch it live for the first time in over 40 years, although I have visited the new stadium in the off season.
Paul , I look forward to reading your blog after the game as it puts it into perspective for me after following the text commentary and hope to do so for many more years to come.
Paul, I have nothing of value to add as far as analysis is concerned as it has all been said by your good self and the additions by the others but I would like to add to the thanks you have received for the continuous high standard of your blog. Always thought provoking and enjoyable to read. Many thanks indeed.
PS: because of the tardiness of this contribution (I have been away playing at golf!) I am writing after seeing Swansea playing League 1 standard football against Southampton and I am really worried for them but, for the sake of Welsh football, I do not want them to go down: they are still producing good young Welsh players who get a chance to play at the top level and I think the local derbies are, on balance, good.
I had wondered whether I would be fully wanting the Swans to win, but as soon as the game kicked off, I found myself 100% wanting them to be victorious.
And I realised that I was helped by my longtime antipathy to Mark Hughes…a manager who I have never rated, though I concede that he was a formidable player.
It was summed up for me by him “doing a Nuno” and running straight on to the playing area to embrace his players at the final whistle…and ignoring the outstretched hand of Carlos. PA simple lack of class.
But we have seen countless examples before of such lack of grace from him. One that comes to mind was when Swansea were cheated by a Moses dive against Stoke. Gary Monk, the then manager, protested most strongly.
The fact that owner Peter Coates reported Monk to the EPL for bringing the game into disrepute, is par for the course. One realises that club owners are inevitably seeing all games through the prism of a one-eyed fanatical supporter, and one makes allowances.
What is harder to swallow however is when an experienced manager like Hughes arrogantly attributed Monk’s protests to naïveté…suggesting the comments were down to him being new at the management game, and that he would learn in time to accept disappointment in a better way.
Shamefully patronising.
But we all knew that Moses had dived, and this was made clear when he was sent off at Wembley in the FA Cup Final, no less, for a similar dive a year ago.
So I was disappointed that Swansea lost…particularly as it looks like we are not going to hear the chorus of Hymns And Arias ringing out around EPL stadia in the foreseeable future. It is so much better an anthem than we at Cardiff City can summon up.
But last night the Swans were massively out-sung by the 3,000 Saints fans, who sang their anthem with such determined conviction that it genuinely moved one. And let’s face it, despite the attempts of Spurs (and several other clubs) to appropriate it, it always was Southampton’s anthem.
And having a good anthem is almost everything, it seems to me. How grateful Liverpool FC should be to Gerry Marsden for choosing to record that song from Carousel. I am absolutely certain that the massive worldwide following of the club is attributable less to the splendidly adventurous playing style down the years, and far more to prospective fans being stunned seeing pictures on their TV of a packed Kop enveloped in swaying scarves and with fans belting out the song to a man.
Oh for The Bluebirds to have such a song.
Btw…I have done a lot of research into You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Did you know that Hammerstein’s original lyric was “keep your chin up high”? And this was what was sung in all early productions of Carousel, and on all early recordings.
The first time I can detect the change to “hold your HEAD up high” was in the mid 50s when Perry Como recorded it and had a big hit with the song. Now whether he was responsible for asking Oscar Hammerstein ll for permission to change the words, I know not…but I kid myself he was.
My reasoning? Well, Como, like all Italian Americans, was doubtless boxing mad. And he knew that you keep your chin DOWN…not up.
Anyway, I am dai-gressing.
Back to The City. Instead of singing Evan and James James’s greatest hit, I would sooner the City fans expropriate the Max Boyce chorus for themselves. Yes, I realise that Glynneath is Swansea City territory, but when Adrian* tells us (above) that down the valley in Neath there are Bluebirds followers who haven’t jumped ship these past 7 years when heady EPL things were going on at The Liberty, and the Bluebirds only joined the Swans in the EPL for one of those years… well, it is not too much of a stretch to take a song by a Glynneath boy for our own, is it?
Where do the catchment areas now collide, incidentally? I have always believed that the Fault Line was Port Talbot on the coast…and the Afan Valley that runs up from it was “Swans” territory, but all Valleys east of that…i.e. Rhondda Fawr onwards, were “Blue”. Until you got to the Afon Lwyd Valley, where Newport County traditionally drew the majority support.
*loved that last line of his, btw. Magic.
Just spotted a daft typo of sorts in what I just sent.
Hammerstein’s original lyrics were of course (as befits the idiom) “KEEP your chin up high”. Not “hold”, obviously.
Apols. I must have had “hold” on the brain at the moment of writing…!!
Clive, I’ve not bothered watching any of the game since Sunday, so I’ve not seen either penalty incident again – both of them were at the opposite end of the ground to me, so I was hardly in a good position to see, but, for what it’s worth, I wasn’t surprised by the Morrison decision, but the Hoilett one looked like a foul to me. One prediction I’ll make about next season is that we will be discussing referees more than we have done this season – I say that despite the fact that I’ve spent more time than I would have wanted on here talking about match officials in recent months. My recollection from last time we were in the Premier League was that we got very little from referees when we were playing “big” teams and not much when we were up against middling to lower sides – in particular, I remember a shocker of a tackle by Wayne Rooney on Jordon Mutch in the opening minutes of the Man United match down here when only a yellow card was shown – I’m sure the card would have been a different colour if the tackle had been by Mutch on Rooney.
Hello Geoff, great to hear about the joburg bluebirds and welcome to the MAYA community. I said that I didn’t get too nervous on Sunday, but I would have done if I was relying on a text commentary to know how things were going. The fixtures will be announced in about a month’s time, so you won’t have to wait too long to learn if you will be watching us play in August – we were away on the first day in 13/14, so, hopefully, we’ll get a home game this time. Thanks for your kind words, but, with you actually being able to see pictures of our matches next season, you may find that I’ve been talking complete and utter rubbish for the last few years!
Mike, for whatever reason, I’ve not seen a Swansea game live for a few months and, although I’ve become used to them not being a patch on the sides they had in their early Premier League days, I was shocked both by how poor they were and the tactics they used. So direct were they, that I might have thought I was watching us were it not for the different colours they were wearing, but it’s one thing Cardiff City playing like that with the players they have and another completely with the jacks doing it – Swansea seemed ill equipped physically to play in that way.
If Villa do not go up and Swansea go down, we are going to be seriously short of matches against sides close to us next season (Wolves will be our “local derby”), so, on balance, I’m like you in that I would prefer the jacks to stay up. However, as I said in my message yesterday, they don’t deserve to escape the drop again. They had something special at the Liberty in terms of the way they played, the way they were run, their scouting system (I mentioned on a messageboard this morning about what a tremendous compliment it was to for them to hear that Alex Ferguson had read the riot act to his scouting staff for not being aware of Michu!) and the fan involvement in the running of the club. The “Swansea Way” was a blueprint for other clubs that were bigger than them and yet could not get close to matching their success. It was no wonder they were so many people’s second favourite Premier League team, but they blew it and, honestly, I don’t think too many neutrals will be sad to see them go down now – to be frank, they’ve been lucky to be able to hang around in the top flight this long.
Sorry Dai, speaking as someone who was a really big Welsh rugby fan once and someone who still quite enjoys the game now, “Hymns and Arias” and the whole Max Boyce thing speaks of a Wales that I don’t really recognise or particularly like. His stuff did have an appeal of sorts at first and I can remember “Live at Treorchy” being played regularly in our house in the mid 70s, but barely ever by me and I soon tired of it – I’m a patriot who always answers “Welsh” rather than “British” when asked my nationality, but it’s not the Max Boyce version of patriotism with me. Swansea can gladly have Hymns and Arias as far as I’m concerned, but I agree that it would be nice to have a song that had a Cardiff feel which could be sung at games – don’t suppose the Grangetown Whale by Frank Hennessey is quite what we’d be looking for really!
I see you are another one who felt flat after the game Anthony – I wonder how widespread that was? I can only say that I’ve not seen anything from anyone on either of the City messageboards I use saying that. As I mentioned in my piece, I felt quite a bit different to how I expected I would as the whistle blew and our promotion was confirmed, but it wasn’t flat, more pretty calm and somewhat puzzled!