Wales on the brink of having two Premier League teams

Wales today stands on the brink of having two clubs in football’s top flight for the first time, with Cardiff City all but certain of joining Swansea in the Premier League.

The Bluebirds’ 3-0 win at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday leaves them needing just a point at home to Charlton tomorrow to seal promotion from the Championship, though if Watford fail to win at Millwall City’s result will be irrelevant.

The rise of Malky Mackay’s men underlines the unprecedented boom in Welsh club football, which could be further bolstered if either Wrexham or Newport can reclaim their Football League status via the Blue Square Premier League play-offs. To a man Cardiff’s players, and their manager, attempted to keep a lid on their excitement at the weekend, the party line being that until the mathematics are taken care of no celebrations will take place.

But it would require an unthinkable sequence of results to deny the capital city club now, whose ambition must surely be to match the impact bitter rivals Swansea have made at the highest level.

Michael Laudrup’s men claimed the Swans’ first major trophy by winning the League Cup in February, and will begin next season playing European football as one of the Premier League’s most respected sides.

Already, supporters on both sides of the South Wales divide will be relishing derby matches at Premier League level for the first time in history.

The Bluebirds will need to invest significantly in their squad to hold their own in what is dubbed the best league in the world, but will now be boosted by millions of pounds of broadcasting revenue.

Meanwhile, their clash with Charlton tomorrow is expected to be a sell-out.

Mackay said: “The atmosphere in our stadium will be fantastic, but we have a game to play against Charlton and they will be tough opposition.

“Charlton away (a 5-4 defeat) was probably one of our worst performances of the season and their manager, Chris Powell, will have his team ready.

“We’ll go out and apply ourselves just as we have the rest of the season.

“There’s a structure and a process to the way I plan our games and we’ll do the exact same thing for the Charlton match.

“But it is going to be quite special because there won’t be a ticket to be had.”

However, there was a sense on Saturday that, with Watford losing at Peterborough, Cardiff had cleared the critical hurdle in ensuring they do not suffer a late slip-up.

Striker Heidar Helguson gave them a first-half lead with a header, and, after Forest striker Darius Henderson was sent off for a flailing arm on the Icelandic international, sub Frenchman Rudy Gestede clinched the points for Mackay’s men with a second-half double.


Darius Henderson's sending off for elbowing Helguson ended Forest's hopes

Gestede came off the bench to score twice

Gestede said: “We are close to promotion and a party atmosphere among the fans tomorrow would be fantastic.

“But we will focus on the job in hand because we have not sealed anything yet.

“Let’s get through tomorrow’s match and see where we are then. This is a long season, we are a good team and the players trust each other. It was a good performance against Forest, but this is a long season and we don’t stop now. There are four games to go and if we win all four we’ll win the title.

Brilliant 10% Welsh

as much as it kills me to say it we are apart of the english FA sadly we are just based in wales

as much as it kills me to say it we are apart of the english FA sadly we are just based in wales

nothing wrong with that

Not bad having the two Football League clubs in the top tier. Now that's all we need is for Wrexham to wave some magic and join us

Two is certainly good for Wales and good for our rivalry

BUT

Don't ever confuse that "Good for Wales" statement for the FACT that there is only one team in Wales (or outside for that matter) that I give a flying feck for:

'THE' CARDIFF CITY FC

theres only 1 team in wales