Only a shortish piece this week because work on the book commemorating the win over Real Madrid fifty years ago in March and the 1970/71 season in general is taking up a lot of my time at the moment as I try to get things in order for the self publication through Amazon’s Kindle Create software – more to follow on this in the coming weeks.
In saying that, it’s been a quiet week all round really on the City front, so it would not have been a lengthy review anyway, but one definite piece of transfer news is that Danny Ward has completed his return to Huddersfield Town following the running down of his contract with us.
Danny was always a popular member of the squad with supporters and I think his goalscoring stats in terms of minutes per goal, shots per goal etc. were probably as impressive as anyone else’s at the club while he was with us, but he was one of those players who seemed to be most effective coming off the bench as exemplified by his contributions against Bristol City and Derby in recent weeks.
As far as arrivals go, it seems increasingly likely that Dion Sanderson will be returning here for another loan spell from Wolves as Neil Harris looks to address what is the obvious problem area within the squad currently – right back.
There was a story in the local media this week that said the arrival of a right sided defender was “imminent” and it also talked of us wanting to add one other player, but no information was given as to who this was or what position they play in.
The first team squad returned to pre season training last Monday after a very short break and we now know who they will be facing on September 12 in their opening game because the Football League fixtures for 20/21 were released on Friday – here is our full Championship programme for the new campaign which also has confirmation that we have been paired with Northampton in the First Round of the League Cup which will be played in a fortnight’s time.
It’s hard to know exactly what effect Sheffield Wednesday’s twelve point penalty for FFP breaches will have on the outcome of our first Championship match. It’s a hefty punishment, but logic dictates that it’ll be less of an encumbrance for any team when they still have plenty of games left to recover their situation than it would be when they’re, say, half way through their season – I’m sure it’ll be something that will play little part in City’s preparations for the game.
Presumably, the upcoming week will see the first team squad playing a practice game or two, but they’ve already started for the under 23 Development team who have been in action against Connahs Quay Nomads and Cardiff Met in the past ten days or so and there has, apparently, also been a match with Barry as well. As to what happened in these behind closed doors fixtures, well there seems to be a bit of a behind closed doors mentality when it comes to giving out any details at all about them. Nothing at all is known about the Connahs Quay game, it was said by a messageboard contributor that we were beaten 4-1 by Barry, but there’s been nothing in the way of confirmation of this. However, the club’s website is at least carrying video footage of highlights from the Cardiff Met match which shows that City turned a 1-0 half time deficit around as they completed a 3-1 win.
There was a somewhat disturbing story this week regarding Emiliano Sala as the fall out following his death in January 2019 continues – albeit at a very slow pace. It’s impossible to know exactly what is going on here and allowances have to be made for the current circumstances which make this a very testing time for all football clubs, but stories like this look dreadful for Cardiff City and it seems to me that it would be in the club’s best interests to issue some sort of statement giving their take on things.
There’s a significant anniversary next Friday as well because on 28 August 1920, City played their first game as a Football League club when they recovered from conceding an early goal to win 5-2 at Stockport County in the newly formed Second Division. The honour of scoring our first goal in the new competition fell to Jimmy Gill, a £750 signing from Sheffield Wednesday who was the first player brought in to the club following their election to the Football League.
Gill became City’s top scorer in that first season as they finished runners up to secure promotion and he played in the FA Cup Semi Final against Wolves which finished as a goalless draw, but was missing from the replay at Old Trafford where a couple of hotly disputed early goals helped the midlands team on their way to a 3-1 win.
Left to right, George Beare, Billy Grimshaw, Fred Keenor (who scored our goal from a penalty), Bert Smith, Charlie Brittan, Ben Davies, Arthur Cashmore, Albert Barnett, Billy Hardy, Jack Evans, Jimmy Blair.
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