" THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF THE SEASON TO COME "

" THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF THE SEASON SO FAR "

Media Wales

Monday 20th Feb 2017

Cardiff v Fulham to be a bumper gate at Cardiff City Stadium this Saturday 3pm.

After three victories on the trot, a feel-good factor not seen since the Malky Mackay promotion days and a real test looming versus Fulham, the Cardiff hierarchy could have anticipated a 25,000 gate.

Whatever Saturday's crowd figure, those who do go to the football ahead of watching the rugby shouldn't under-estimate the significance of the 90 minutes that will be unfolding before them.

It is the most important game Cardiff will play since the win or bust clash with Sheffield Wednesday 10 months ago, when Russell Slade's side saw their hopes of leapfrogging the Owls into sixth spot dashed by a 3-0 Hillsborough hammering.

Why the significance of it? For mind-set, as much as anything else.



Championship pundits strongly tip Fulham (8th) and Norwich (7th) to gatecrash the top six come the end of the season. Cardiff understandably don't even merit a mention, other than from Bluebirds legend Blakey.

Yet overcome the Cottagers in the Welsh capital on Saturday afternoon and Warnock's men will be just a point behind them and potentially only three off Norwich.

It should be emphasised that Fulham have a couple of games in hand, yet get that close to one of your direct rivals and suddenly the impossible dream may just become the most outside of possibilities.

Isn't it nice just to be able to talk like this, though? Three months ago Cardiff's immediate rivals were Rotherham, Burton and Wigan.

Neil Warnock gave Cardiff City's 'secret weapon' Kenneth Zohore a brutal ultimatum after branding striker a 'disgrace'



Suddenly, we're talking about the prospect of hauling in Norwich and Fulham.

Of course, we haven't even discussed the rather more significant matter of Sheffield Wednesday in sixth place. They ensured the 13-point gap between themselves and the Bluebirds remained courtesy of a 2-1 victory at Nottingham Forest.

The other sides currently occupying the play-off spots are Leeds, Reading and Huddersfield, with Newcastle and Brighton likely to make the top two.

But Norwich and Fulham firmly expect to break in there by May. So if they are thinking that way, and Cardiff overcome Fulham to close the gap right down, maybe Blakey's words are more prophetic than we realise.

They say there are no easy games in the Championship, although Rotherham are the exception to the rule given the Bluebirds' 5-0 thumping of them.

But once Fulham is out of the way, Cardiff have a sequence of matches in March that are reasonably favourable.

Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham and Ipswich - three mid-table sides for whom the play-off dream is too much - as well as second from bottom Blackburn.



As we have already seen since Warnock took over Cardiff, string a few wins together in this league and the table suddenly tells a very different story.





Making it now to the play-offs

"It may only be a kind of joke to start with, something like 'Don't go booking your summer holidays just yet', but at least that gets minds thinking," said Blakey.


Neil Warnock watches on as his Cardiff City side are knocked out of the FA Cup (Photo: Getty Images)
A win over Fulham, which would see the gap between them and the Bluebirds cut to a single point, and perhaps the message from Morrison and Bamba could be just a little louder.

"They reckon they'll be in the play-offs, so why can't we go for it too?"

That is why Cardiff versus Fulham suddenly becomes a massive match. It'll help define the rest of the Bluebirds' season.

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I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

I'll go a 1-0 win, a 20k crowd, Warnock and Hariis signed up for next season, and some Chinese outfit give Lambert an offer he cant refuse.

I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

I'll go a 1-0 win, a 20k crowd, Warnock and Hariis signed up for next season, and some Chinese outfit give Lambert an offer he cant refuse.

I think the only offer Lambert needs is the address of a good chiropractor, a decent walking stick and the guarantee of a good private healthcare plan.

I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

Martin, I have no doubt Warnock will be ready for them

I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

I'll go a 1-0 win, a 20k crowd, Warnock and Hariis signed up for next season, and some Chinese outfit give Lambert an offer he cant refuse.

Warnock and the players deserve at least 20,000

I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

I'll go a 1-0 win, a 20k crowd, Warnock and Hariis signed up for next season, and some Chinese outfit give Lambert an offer he cant refuse.

Warnock and the players deserve at least 20,000

Only problem with this articles logic is that Fulham play Bristol midweek and if they win that they go 7 points clear. This was warnock point yesterday is that we are relying on teams above is messing up

To be honest I am just enjoying looking forward to going again as haven't felt this way since Dave Jones time and maybe first year of malky

No way will there 20k plus,there's rugby on and the fans just aren't there.I agree we should have a bumper crowd but can't see it unless Fulham bring 4k.
2-1 to the Bloobirds

To my knowledge city have never had a 20000 crowd whilst being mid table in the second tier .it ain't going to happen either with a rugby international on.

It wasn't so much a prediction but more wishful thinking, particularly on the Lambert bit.

I just want justice done after that embarrassing display in the FA cup.I hope they come down here expecting the same and go home with their tails between their legs after a 3-0 beating.

I'll go a 1-0 win, a 20k crowd, Warnock and Hariis signed up for next season, and some Chinese outfit give Lambert an offer he cant refuse.

I think the only offer Lambert needs is the address of a good chiropractor, a decent walking stick and the guarantee of a good private healthcare plan.

throw in a stair chair and a seat in the shower and he's sorted for life

What a rediculous article....it's not our most important game of the season...with the rugby on the crowd will be about 15,000...even without the rugby it would only be about 16,500, as mentioned when have we ever had a 25,000 crowd for a mid table championship clash???

What a rediculous article....it's not our most important game of the season...with the rugby on the crowd will be about 15,000...even without the rugby it would only be about 16,500, as mentioned when have we ever had a 25,000 crowd for a mid table championship clash???

Agree with your thoughts on the article but the rugby is away and more importantly doesn't kick off until 8:30pm

Absolutely crazy talk.

Most important game of the season????? 25,000?????

You have to ask yourself whether whoever wrote that at Wales Online has ever followed Cardiff or has any clue about how our crowds work and how our support works as a rule.

Seems like a hidden agenda to me, setting us up for a fall, its as if they are setting unrealistic expectations so they can turn around and say we are not backing Warnock.

There will be 16,000-17,000 there on Saturday, 18,000 at a push depending on what Fulham bring. For a mid-table championship side who are playing for nothing more than pride that will be more than acceptable.

Why on earth do they suddenly think an extra 10,000 home fans are going to come from in the space of a week?

Unbelievable, and thankfully most people see it as so

What a rediculous article....it's not our most important game of the season...with the rugby on the crowd will be about 15,000...even without the rugby it would only be about 16,500, as mentioned when have we ever had a 25,000 crowd for a mid table championship clash???

Agree with your thoughts on the article but the rugby is away and more importantly doesn't kick off until 8:30pm

Strike that it's a 2:25pm kick off.

Absolutely crazy talk.

Most important game of the season????? 25,000?????

You have to ask yourself whether whoever wrote that at Wales Online has ever followed Cardiff or has any clue about how our crowds work and how our support works as a rule.

Seems like a hidden agenda to me, setting us up for a fall, its as if they are setting unrealistic expectations so they can turn around and say we are not backing Warnock.

There will be 16,000-17,000 there on Saturday, 18,000 at a push depending on what Fulham bring. For a mid-table championship side who are playing for nothing more than pride that will be more than acceptable.

Why on earth do they suddenly think an extra 10,000 home fans are going to come from in the space of a week?
Agree with you. A ridiculous statement anyway, this game is not going to attract that sort of crowd for the reasons already said, and we are not going to be promoted or relegated, so I would argue that this match is far from important. Nice to get a win, but it won't make any difference to where we will be playing next season. I think some of these journalists live on a different planet to the rest of us.
Unbelievable, and thankfully most people see it as so

Absolutely crazy talk.

Most important game of the season????? 25,000?????

You have to ask yourself whether whoever wrote that at Wales Online has ever followed Cardiff or has any clue about how our crowds work and how our support works as a rule.

Seems like a hidden agenda to me, setting us up for a fall, its as if they are setting unrealistic expectations so they can turn around and say we are not backing Warnock.

There will be 16,000-17,000 there on Saturday, 18,000 at a push depending on what Fulham bring. For a mid-table championship side who are playing for nothing more than pride that will be more than acceptable.

Why on earth do they suddenly think an extra 10,000 home fans are going to come from in the space of a week?
Agree with you. A ridiculous statement anyway, this game is not going to attract that sort of crowd for the reasons already said, and we are not going to be promoted or relegated, so I would argue that this match is far from important. Nice to get a win, but it won't make any difference to where we will be playing next season. I think some of these journalists live on a different planet to the rest of us.
Unbelievable, and thankfully most people see it as so

Agree with you. A ridiculous statement anyway, this game is not going to attract that sort of crowd for the reasons already said, and we are not going to be promoted or relegated, so I would argue that this match is far from important. Nice to get a win, but it won't make any difference to where we will be playing next season. I think some of these journalists live on a different planet to the rest of us.

article courtesy of Ethel wrinkley knitting corespondent

Absolutely crazy talk.

Most important game of the season????? 25,000?????

You have to ask yourself whether whoever wrote that at Wales Online has ever followed Cardiff or has any clue about how our crowds work and how our support works as a rule.

Seems like a hidden agenda to me, setting us up for a fall, its as if they are setting unrealistic expectations so they can turn around and say we are not backing Warnock.

There will be 16,000-17,000 there on Saturday, 18,000 at a push depending on what Fulham bring. For a mid-table championship side who are playing for nothing more than pride that will be more than acceptable.

Why on earth do they suddenly think an extra 10,000 home fans are going to come from in the space of a week?

Unbelievable, and thankfully most people see it as so

Spot on,18000 tops,feel food factor is coming back,but still not there yet to get 25000 back through the turnstiles