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BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all high

Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:45 am

Cardiff are expected to add to their squad before the Championship season begins, with central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all high on the priority list, although Barry-Murphy warned that supporters may need to be patient.


BBM:

“We’re very hungry and have a huge appetite to give the supporters a team they’re genuinely excited to watch again and see evolve and improve.”

“That will involve adding to the squad, although it’s impossible to put exact timings on deals in this transfer window, perhaps even more so than in previous years.”

“We’re looking to move every area of the team forward. It’s not one area or another, like last season.”

“This squad we have will only improve and will get better as the season goes on.”



Despite his desire to make additions, Barry-Murphy remains confident the players already at his disposal can continue to develop following last season’s promotion.

Cardiff’s pre-season preparations continue when they travel to face Cork City on Tuesday.
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Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 9:07 am

Agree that those are the positions we need strengthening in.

People will want some news soon though, a lot of people will be worried after yesterday even though it was only a friendly.

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 9:18 am

worcester_ccfc wrote:Agree that those are the positions we need strengthening in.

People will want some news soon though, a lot of people will be worried after yesterday even though it was only a friendly.

BBM will have learned lots (good and bad) from yesterday’s first warm up game, and will further shape his thinking for the signings he needs to make

No one should be surprised at his ‘people will need to be patient’ comment, as he knows who/what he wants, and he won’t compromise just to appease (some) impatient supporters

It’s early days in the summer recruitment process right now, and I find it refreshing that BBM is trying to recruit players he wants, even if it means waiting

Far too much ‘deadwood’ in recent (overloaded with mediocrity at best) squads, and every player in BBM’s squad will have a part to play, rather than getting splinters in their well-paid backsides :ayatollah:

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 10:57 am

patient,we always are.Its a byword for begging bowl loan players,
Players I'd move on,Turnball,Osho.Chambers,Ashford,Isaac
Give Daland a chance.

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 11:36 am

stickywicket wrote:patient,we always are.Its a byword for begging bowl loan players,
Players I'd move on,Turnball,Osho.Chambers,Ashford,Isaac
Give Daland a chance.

It's Chambers and Robinson that really grate on me. The wages those 2 are gonna be on this season (with their 50% increase) is enough to make your eyes water...and you just know we are gonna get very little output from them as far as how they'll contribute to points on the board.

More fool us though for giving them the contract. Highly unlikely we'll be able to offload them and BBM clearly doesn't rate them that highly by how sparingly he used them both last year.

Happy with the targets above though. Although I'd defo add a big beefy centre back. Someone to give us more prowess in the air. We'll be on the receiving end of some hidings otherwise.

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:01 pm

This league is a different animal . If we don’t strengthen the starting 11 significantly and have a larger squad then we will be in a relegation battle from the start .

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:09 pm

Sven wrote:
worcester_ccfc wrote:Agree that those are the positions we need strengthening in.

People will want some news soon though, a lot of people will be worried after yesterday even though it was only a friendly.

BBM will have learned lots (good and bad) from yesterday’s first warm up game, and will further shape his thinking for the signings he needs to make

No one should be surprised at his ‘people will need to be patient’ comment, as he knows who/what he wants, and he won’t compromise just to appease (some) impatient supporters

It’s early days in the summer recruitment process right now, and I find it refreshing that BBM is trying to recruit players he wants, even if it means waiting

Far too much ‘deadwood’ in recent (overloaded with mediocrity at best) squads, and every player in BBM’s squad will have a part to play, rather than getting splinters in their well-paid backsides :ayatollah:


I'm not sure he'll have learned anything "good" from a 6-0 home drubbing to be honest.

We're always told to be"patient" and that we have to wait until we can get the players we want.

What if we don't end up getting those players and in the meantime other perfectly capable players who could do a job for us have gone elsewhere whilst we've dillly-dallied? Are we looking at players who'll only commit to Cardiff when all of their better options have run out? Is thhat why we're "waiting?"

Other teams in the Championship are managing to sign players that they believe (rightly or wrongly) will strengthen their squads. Are they spending millions on players for a laugh just to buy players for the sake of it rather than waiting for the right players to become available?

The fact that this preseason appears to be heading in the same direction as last season suggests to me that the manager is in much the same boat as he was in last season - there may be a little more money available (not much) but it seems for one reason or another that Cardiff is a tough sell to potential signings as we have to hope that, brilliant job though he did last season, BBM realises that Championship experience is needed for this season.

My own feeling, rightly or wrongly, is that he'll not be backed anywhere near to the extent he needs to be.

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:15 pm

davids wrote:
Sven wrote:
worcester_ccfc wrote:Agree that those are the positions we need strengthening in.

People will want some news soon though, a lot of people will be worried after yesterday even though it was only a friendly.

BBM will have learned lots (good and bad) from yesterday’s first warm up game, and will further shape his thinking for the signings he needs to make

No one should be surprised at his ‘people will need to be patient’ comment, as he knows who/what he wants, and he won’t compromise just to appease (some) impatient supporters

It’s early days in the summer recruitment process right now, and I find it refreshing that BBM is trying to recruit players he wants, even if it means waiting

Far too much ‘deadwood’ in recent (overloaded with mediocrity at best) squads, and every player in BBM’s squad will have a part to play, rather than getting splinters in their well-paid backsides :ayatollah:


I'm not sure he'll have learned anything "good" from a 6-0 home drubbing to be honest.

We're always told to be"patient" and that we have to wait until we can get the players we want.

What if we don't end up getting those players and in the meantime other perfectly capable players who could do a job for us have gone elsewhere whilst we've dillly-dallied? Are we looking at players who'll only commit to Cardiff when all of their better options have run out? Is thhat why we're "waiting?"

Other teams in the Championship are managing to sign players that they believe (rightly or wrongly) will strengthen their squads. Are they spending millions on players for a laugh just to buy players for the sake of it rather than waiting for the right players to become available?

The fact that this preseason appears to be heading in the same direction as last season suggests to me that the manager is in much the same boat as he was in last season - there may be a little more money available (not much) but it seems for one reason or another that Cardiff is a tough sell to potential signings as we have to hope that, brilliant job though he did last season, BBM realises that Championship experience is needed for this season.

My own feeling, rightly or wrongly, is that he'll not be backed anywhere near to the extent he needs to be.



Not backed and he'll walk as simple as that... his stock is high so getting good job not a problem so why stay where theres no ambition ?

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Sun Jul 12, 2026 3:50 pm

I think BBM is a fundamentalist (they scare me in all walks of life). I believe he'll only sign exactly what he wants and would wait and lose rather than recruit "a regret".

I thought Wintle had his best season, was at his peak, but BBM wanted something else. That's ballsy, and you need to have 100% belief in your philosophy for those decisions.

We were told there was money at Christmas, but he didn't find what he wanted.

We lack championship-quality and know-how. We struggled with physical teams last season; in the championship, the physical teams are more skillful, and the skillful teams are more physical. He would have told his ststs team what he is looking for and they probably have very developed lists.

I think we'll be buying 22~23-year-olds from Premier League squads (limited 1st team games), but we'll have to wait until the clubs decide on players x or y or slightly older foreign league players.

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Mon Jul 13, 2026 6:55 am

davids wrote:
Sven wrote:
worcester_ccfc wrote:Agree that those are the positions we need strengthening in.

People will want some news soon though, a lot of people will be worried after yesterday even though it was only a friendly.

BBM will have learned lots (good and bad) from yesterday’s first warm up game, and will further shape his thinking for the signings he needs to make

No one should be surprised at his ‘people will need to be patient’ comment, as he knows who/what he wants, and he won’t compromise just to appease (some) impatient supporters

It’s early days in the summer recruitment process right now, and I find it refreshing that BBM is trying to recruit players he wants, even if it means waiting

Far too much ‘deadwood’ in recent (overloaded with mediocrity at best) squads, and every player in BBM’s squad will have a part to play, rather than getting splinters in their well-paid backsides :ayatollah:


I'm not sure he'll have learned anything "good" from a 6-0 home drubbing to be honest.

We're always told to be"patient" and that we have to wait until we can get the players we want.

What if we don't end up getting those players and in the meantime other perfectly capable players who could do a job for us have gone elsewhere whilst we've dillly-dallied? Are we looking at players who'll only commit to Cardiff when all of their better options have run out? Is thhat why we're "waiting?"

Other teams in the Championship are managing to sign players that they believe (rightly or wrongly) will strengthen their squads. Are they spending millions on players for a laugh just to buy players for the sake of it rather than waiting for the right players to become available?

The fact that this preseason appears to be heading in the same direction as last season suggests to me that the manager is in much the same boat as he was in last season - there may be a little more money available (not much) but it seems for one reason or another that Cardiff is a tough sell to potential signings as we have to hope that, brilliant job though he did last season, BBM realises that Championship experience is needed for this season.

My own feeling, rightly or wrongly, is that he'll not be backed anywhere near to the extent he needs to be.


The good will be Tan abd Dalmon, seeing we really need some players, although it was just back from the beach squad, with youth team players vs a European qualifying squad, so we really shouldn't worry about it, but hope that they do.

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Mon Jul 13, 2026 10:21 pm

TaxiBlue wrote:This league is a different animal . If we don’t strengthen the starting 11 significantly and have a larger squad then we will be in a relegation battle from the start .


Agree .

Re: BBM:central midfield, striker, winger and left-back all

Mon Jul 13, 2026 10:29 pm

davids wrote:
Sven wrote:
worcester_ccfc wrote:Agree that those are the positions we need strengthening in.

People will want some news soon though, a lot of people will be worried after yesterday even though it was only a friendly.

BBM will have learned lots (good and bad) from yesterday’s first warm up game, and will further shape his thinking for the signings he needs to make

No one should be surprised at his ‘people will need to be patient’ comment, as he knows who/what he wants, and he won’t compromise just to appease (some) impatient supporters

It’s early days in the summer recruitment process right now, and I find it refreshing that BBM is trying to recruit players he wants, even if it means waiting

Far too much ‘deadwood’ in recent (overloaded with mediocrity at best) squads, and every player in BBM’s squad will have a part to play, rather than getting splinters in their well-paid backsides :ayatollah:


I'm not sure he'll have learned anything "good" from a 6-0 home drubbing to be honest.

We're always told to be"patient" and that we have to wait until we can get the players we want.

What if we don't end up getting those players and in the meantime other perfectly capable players who could do a job for us have gone elsewhere whilst we've dillly-dallied? Are we looking at players who'll only commit to Cardiff when all of their better options have run out? Is thhat why we're "waiting?"

Other teams in the Championship are managing to sign players that they believe (rightly or wrongly) will strengthen their squads. Are they spending millions on players for a laugh just to buy players for the sake of it rather than waiting for the right players to become available?

The fact that this preseason appears to be heading in the same direction as last season suggests to me that the manager is in much the same boat as he was in last season - there may be a little more money available (not much) but it seems for one reason or another that Cardiff is a tough sell to potential signings as we have to hope that, brilliant job though he did last season, BBM realises that Championship experience is needed for this season.

My own feeling, rightly or wrongly, is that he'll not be backed anywhere near to the extent he needs to be.

You may be right, but only time will tell! :thumbup:

Personally, I trust BBM to know who/what he wants to improve the squad. He let Wintle go for a reason, so I believe he will have a replacement lined up, and it may be more a case of when than who? :ayatollah: