' MALKY MACKAY LEGACY BLEMISHED '

MALKY MACKAY LEGACY BLEMISHED
Dan Lewis 20/01/14

Shoot magazine

Bottom of the table, one point from a possible 21, and a visit to Old Trafford up next in the league – it doesn’t look good if you’re a Cardiff City fan right now. Despite this, there is still room to be optimistic for the Welsh club, with 16 games remaining and a whole lot of ups-and-downs between now and the season’s close.

Saturday’s defeat at the Etihad Stadium was described as being “brave”, “gutsy” and “ambitious” – three words usually associated with clubs near the wrong end of the table who are being patronised for turning up and simply not rolling over at the so-called big boys.

Don’t get me wrong, losing by just a two-goal margin against Manchester City was as good as it gets in terms of recent results, but what City need right now is a victory to regain some confidence in the camp – starting with Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already won over Bluebirds supporters with his enthusiastic and attacking approach, which was best highlighted through the performance of winger Craig Noone at fortress Etihad on the weekend. On a field containing stars that cost close to half a billion pounds, Noone – who set Cardiff back just £1m upon joining from Brighton – was the best player on the park.

Many have used this as a way of slating former manager Malky Mackay, who as the weeks pass seems to get more and more blame for the club’s position in the league table. After 28 incredible months at the helm, Mackay is now seemingly best remembered for a bad two-month period leading up to his departure.

The transfer fee of the much-maligned Andreas Cornelius – who was left out of the squad altogether by new manager Solskjaer due to fitness issues – as well as the non-existence of John Brayford, has led many to question just how good a job the Scot actually achieved.

For every Brayford and Cornelius, there’s a Fraizer Campbell, Craig Noone and Jordon Mutch. Mackay’s legacy as Cardiff City boss has been masked by off-field events which the press have pounced on, and the fans bought into.

Hindsight shows us that Noone should perhaps have started in games away at Norwich, Stoke and Aston Villa – three matches in which Mackay set out a defensive side happy with a point. You have to say, as Premier League new boys, the former Watford manager, who made no secret of his regular chats with Sir Alex Ferguson, set out his side in the correct way.

Boring it may have been, though it was a recipe which would have kept Cardiff in the top flight. Following the Old Trafford visit, City face Norwich, Villa and Hull at home in a month which also includes a mouth-watering visit against arch-rivals Swansea.

If Solskjaer wins these games? Hero, saviour, legend. If he loses? Well, the blame falls on Mackay.

He may have left Cardiff City hovering in a position around the bottom three, but if Cardiff do stay up this season, a large part of that will be down to the vital points picked up at the sides around them under Mackay.

Solskjaer will achieve great things in the Welsh capital, of that I’m sure, though City supporters need to respect the legacy of former manager Malky Mackay, who himself achieved the type of success that hasn’t been seen in a generation.

That's a pretty fair assessment of the situation, but far too balanced for the diverse opinions on this board!

I agree with every word written in that article.

I dont think Malky set us up correctly at all and I think we would have gone down without a fight if he stayed here.

At least if we go now we do it fighting, not limping as we were!

I agree with every word written in that article.

Me too, Carl

It's a disgrace the way some fans have spoken of Malky.

You don't have to like him, he wasn't perfect (no manager is) but he did a superb job at Cardiff.

People talk of the 'mess' he made. Look where we were when he took over and then where we were when he left. That says it all.

Yes a few transfers didn't come off, but the vast majority of them did. The likes of Noone, Theophile, Gunnarsson, Fraizer, Turner & Mutch were signed for relatively small amounts and are now worth far more.

Malky is a City legend, you don't have to like him but it's a disgrace the way some fans turned on him and are continuing to vent their bile even after he has gone.

Thank you Malky for all you did, and I still believe you would have kept us up.

You can say his legacy here has been blemished, but he did get us in the promised land. News will come out soon and will blemish his career ! why has Tan not paid Malky his money yet ? He has something on him ! All this talk about the Cornelius transfer and not understanding firstly why he came to us with no proven record at a top league and for such a high price this is why, it has happened in the past but not at this level and might come as a shock, a deal was made between Malky and Andreas cornelius agent and a cash 'bung' was taken by Malky and Tan knows. Makes a bit of sense when he got rid of Moody. Make of this what you will.
We'll always be blue !

It's a disgrace the way some fans have spoken of Malky.

You don't have to like him, he wasn't perfect (no manager is) but he did a superb job at Cardiff.

People talk of the 'mess' he made. Look where we were when he took over and then where we were when he left. That says it all.

Yes a few transfers didn't come off, but the vast majority of them did. The likes of Noone, Theophile, Gunnarsson, Fraizer, Turner & Mutch were signed for relatively small amounts and are now worth far more.

Malky is a City legend, you don't have to like him but it's a disgrace the way some fans turned on him and are continuing to vent their bile even after he has gone.

Thank you Malky for all you did, and I still believe you would have kept us up.

This. Malky was one of the best managers we've ever had. Would rather him than OGS as our manager anyday!

It's a disgrace the way some fans have spoken of Malky.

You don't have to like him, he wasn't perfect (no manager is) but he did a superb job at Cardiff.

People talk of the 'mess' he made. Look where we were when he took over and then where we were when he left. That says it all.

Yes a few transfers didn't come off, but the vast majority of them did. The likes of Noone, Theophile, Gunnarsson, Fraizer, Turner & Mutch were signed for relatively small amounts and are now worth far more.

Malky is a City legend, you don't have to like him but it's a disgrace the way some fans turned on him and are continuing to vent their bile even after he has gone.

Thank you Malky for all you did, and I still believe you would have kept us up.

This. Malky was one of the best managers we've ever had. Would rather him than OGS as our manager anyday!

I think he has a case for being the best ever.

Though I am fully behind Ole. He is our manager now so he has my full support just as Malky had it before

You can say his legacy here has been blemished, but he did get us in the promised land. News will come out soon and will blemish his career ! why has Tan not paid Malky his money yet ? He has something on him ! All this talk about the Cornelius transfer and not understanding firstly why he came to us with no proven record at a top league and for such a high price this is why, it has happened in the past but not at this level and might come as a shock, a deal was made between Malky and Andreas cornelius agent and a cash 'bung' was taken by Malky and Tan knows. Makes a bit of sense when he got rid of Moody. Make of this what you will.
We'll always be blue !

Absolute tosh and you should hope none of the mentioned parties read this.

These posts are even worse than the ones slating Mackay's management.

I agree with every word written in that article.

For every Brayford and Cornelius, there’s a Fraizer Campbell, Craig Noone and Jordon Mutch. Mackay’s legacy as Cardiff City boss has been masked by off-field events which the press have pounced on, and the fans bought into.

Hear hear.

Im with ryan blue, if we go down id rather go down playing exciting football than snoozball.do a wigan and win the cup on the way down maybe.

I agree with every word written in that article.

Didn't you write that piece Carl?

i dont agree with much of the article

and to be honest dont believe some of the above posters do either............a case of singing the dont sack makay song,more to get at tan and over blue than makays performance and feeling silly about it, but now not able to be honest about their true thoughts

stoke,villa, norwich.....set up correctly..............no we were not and some of you know it.........and have gone on record saying that..

the signings?..........not just this year..........he spent a fortune getting us up on set pieces..and they dont balance either.. 50 million and 34 players later how much has the squad improved..Marshall, mcnaughton,john,whitts,hudson, ..none of them in the 34 or THE 50 mill have eached started at least twice in last 4 games,under both kers and OSG.

and as for the last 2 months, i like many were gob smacked we had this failure from Watford thrust upon us from day 1..
he took just 19 points from his last 21 games there,is rewarded with a better job and a war chest..our manager at the time had just managed to get 37 points from the corresponding games....there was no sympathy for DJ...yet the decision to sack him was a hundred times more harsh..................best manager?????? biggest bore in nearly 50 years.....he was media friendly tho , and made a BIG DEAL about always doing the ayahtolah wen he arrived........
i do not like, or dislike Malky the person,i dont know him
BUT AS A MANAGER NO.....
and to top it all........his teams are prone to a bad patch during 2nd half of the season...........4 wins in 21..and 4 wins in 24 at watford...........a run of 2 wins in 13 here in his 1st season and even ended last season with a run of only 3 wins out of 13.........that was CHAMPIONSHIP.............my theory has always been that u cant play headless chicken 100 miles an hour for a whole season.......we were going down.........we still might..but im sure we were under Malky and all this heartbroken stuff is too much..........