' RUSSELL SLADE READY TO MOVE FAST '

' RUSSELL SLADE READY TO MOVE FAST '

Thursday December 18th

By Terry Phillips

Bluebirds boss Slade is prepared to be decisive when the window opens as he looks to stamp his mark on his squad


Russell Slade is ready to move fast when the transfer window opens in January and the Bluebirds manager has confirmed: “There will be players coming in - and a number going out.”

Cardiff City must trim their squad with Magnus Eikrem, Guido Burgstaller, Javi Guerra, Nicky Maynard, Etien Velikonja and Jo Inge Berget, who will be back from a loan spell with Celtic in the new year, all needing regular playing time.

Juan Cala has already left after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent, while loan signing Ravel Morrison is back with West Ham.

The former Manchester United playmaker was due to stay with Cardiff until Boxing Day when he would have been available for their match at Charlton, but Morrison has been allowed to cut short his stay for personal reasons.

Sam Allardyce was asked whether Morrison has a future with the Hammers and said: “It’s difficult to say because obviously it hasn’t worked at Cardiff.

“We will have to look at the situation in the new year. My focus is not on Ravel. It is on my first team squad.”

Slade and Allardyce have talked about Morrison and the Cardiff manager said: “It’s been a difficult period for Ravel. His knee injury didn’t help his progress and I had a chat with Sam about him.”

The Bluebirds boss will put Morrison’s future out of his mind as he plans a new year clear-out - and plots who to bring in.

There seems little chance City will be paying out big transfer fees. Slade will be looking for the right bargain buys or even free transfers who could make an impact in his squad.

He is a manager who once signed Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge - all for nothing - at Sheffield United and has never paid more than £200,000 for a player.

Slade said: “The most I have spent on a player is a couple of hundred thousand pounds and that was Elliott Bennett at Brighton. He did well and moved on later for £1.2m.

“But it won’t worry me spending money if that’s what we decide to do. We are identifying areas where we could improve.

“The biggest, factor for me, though, is the amount of players we will be looking to offload. It doesn’t have to be those moving on first before we can add. Both have to be done. If we identify players we want and can get the right deal we will do it.

“There is, though, quite a bit of wastage here. Our players are professional athletes and need to be competing regularly at first team level. There are a lot of players here who are not doing that. I hope we can sort that out.”

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

thats the general idea works well with right manager!

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

hopefully bring in some unknowns who grasp the opportunity and will work their arses off.Could go either way in this window though

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

thats the general idea works well with right manager!

I think Slade is the right manager.

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

hopefully bring in some unknowns who grasp the opportunity and will work their arses off.Could go either way in this window though

Exactly i mean Bournemouth and Brentford are full of those type of players and do much better Slade will bring in quality at proper bargains.

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

hopefully bring in some unknowns who grasp the opportunity and will work their arses off.Could go either way in this window though

Exactly i mean Bournemouth and Brentford are full of those type of players and do much better Slade will bring in quality at proper bargains.

norwich are prime exsample of this when they got to premier!

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

hopefully bring in some unknowns who grasp the opportunity and will work their arses off.Could go either way in this window though

Exactly i mean Bournemouth and Brentford are full of those type of players and do much better Slade will bring in quality at proper bargains.

norwich are prime exsample of this when they got to premier!

Spot on and they still bought some lower league players and stayed up comfortably in a respectable 12th position.

Slade will bring in players on peanuts that will want to play for cardiff and do well.

hopefully bring in some unknowns who grasp the opportunity and will work their arses off.Could go either way in this window though

Exactly i mean Bournemouth and Brentford are full of those type of players and do much better Slade will bring in quality at proper bargains.

norwich are prime exsample of this when they got to premier!

Spot on and they still bought some lower league players and stayed up comfortably in a respectable 12th position.

your talking about a manager that has never been promoted out of L1. Players of limited ability can only get a club so far