' Must start delivering '

Why the strongest squad in Championship history must start delivering for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Wednesday Sep 03, 2014

Columnist Paul Evans says it's now time for the Bluebirds to start doing the business


It’s time for Cardiff City’s so-called “strongest Championship squad in history” to start doing the business.

The Bluebirds personnel kept on changing right up until the end of the transfer window with the concentration being on the centre-back position.

Monday saw Mark Hudson leave for Huddersfield for what was described as a nominal fee and I’d like to think he goes with the thanks of City fans for five great seasons at the club.

It’s some achievement to be voted Player of the Year in a team which tops the table like we did two seasons ago, but Hudson definitely deserved the award.

Coming in were Danny Gabbidon, on a one year deal as player/coach, and Lorient’s Gabon international Bruno Manga.

I will admit to having mixed views about the first of these arrivals because I would have liked to have seen us putting more confidence in someone like Deji Oshilaja who was considered to be good enough for Championship football by Sheffield Wednesday last season, rather than relying on a 35-year-old.

However, when that 35-year-old is the best defender I’ve seen play for the club, then any criticism I give will be pretty mild! It’s also worth remembering that Gabbidon did a perfectly decent job in the Premier League for Crystal Palace last season.

Judging by some of the stuff I’ve read about him since he signed, we might well have got something of a bargain in Bruno Magna despite the £5 million plus fee we might end up paying for him.

I read a ludicrous comment on a messageboard at the weekend which said that Magna was coming from some Mickey Mouse league and would have trouble in coping with the Championship.

The transfer may not work out for any manner of reasons, but, having been widely regarded as a good defender at Ligue 1 level, Magna’s hardly going to find our division a step up in class!

That said, Magna will have to go some to better Danny Gabbidon in his pomp. You get the view that Ole has been looking for a footballing centre-half the whole summer and it strikes me that the Gabbidon of a decade ago would have been exactly what he wanted.

With Juan Cala still there, Matt Connolly reminding everyone what an effective player he is at this level and Ben Turner to come back from injury, the two new arrivals, with recent signing Sean Morrison, will know there is fierce competition for places in their position at Cardiff.

In fact, it could be said that this fierce competition applies to every position on the pitch and it’s understandable in some ways to see it claimed that the squad Ole has put together is the strongest in the division (in fact, I’ve seen it said that it’s the Championship’s strongest squad).


I have a bit of a problem with that though because, while it’s still very early days yet, this squad of talents has resolutely failed to play to anything like their claimed potential so far.

As I say, it’s early yet to be too critical and, in my opinion, it could reasonably be claimed that the manager’s habit of constantly changing his starting line-up is not a recipe for settled and consistent performances from his players.

However, I’d be more inclined to agree with some of the grandiose claims made about our squad if they had put together some concerted spells in games in which they played like promotion favourites.

Given the level of performance so far, it has to be said that we have done very well to get eight points from our first five matches, but it was concerning to hear talk about the players being “flat” during the first half at Fulham when Ole thought we gave our poorest display so far.

The manager’s constant chopping and changing makes him a convenient target, but, by the same token, how many of the squad are turning in performances which demand their inclusion every week?

A division like the Championship will always find out a squad that is “flat” going into matches, no matter how good it looks on paper.

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

Consistently failing to write Manga's name correctly? 4 times called him "Magna".

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

To be fair, if you read the whole story he does say that it's a 'so called' strongest squad. Lots of people believe it & are calling it so. The headline is just that - designed to get people to read the story. Myself, I'm so sure it is but it should definitely be strong enough for promotion without doubt.
I thought it was a pretty balanced piece (especially for WOL) lol

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

I've always felt the 1971/72 season was our strongest squad even though Toshack left us that season. We had the likes of Peter King, Ian Gibson, Brian clark and Nigel Rees. A squad that beat the great Real Madrid. A matured team of players that just failed to get to the old first divison.

Although Malkys squad got to the premier I still feel Scoulars squad was better and if he had managed to keep hold of Toshack we would have gone up and most likely stayed there. However this squad we have now seems to at least on paper match that. To a degree perhaps edge it. It is a younger squad tna its 1972 counterparts but it does not have the togetherness yet that the old guys had. Time this season will only tell us if it is a stronger setup.

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

To be fair, if you read the whole story he does say that it's a 'so called' strongest squad. Lots of people believe it & are calling it so. The headline is just that - designed to get people to read the story. Myself, I'm so sure it is but it should definitely be strong enough for promotion without doubt.
I thought it was a pretty balanced piece (especially for WOL) lol

Thanks, I have no say on what is chosen as the headline to what I write and, in this case, it doesn't reflect my feelings because I don't see our squad as being the best in the history of the Championship. Newcastle, Reading and Leicester have won this league with more than 100 points in the fairly recent past - we may yet end up with a similar number, but I doubt it very much.

Apologies for the mispellings of Manga - I'd love to be able to say it was the Echo's fault, but it's mine I'm afraid.

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

I've always felt the 1971/72 season was our strongest squad even though Toshack left us that season. We had the likes of Peter King, Ian Gibson, Brian clark and Nigel Rees. A squad that beat the great Real Madrid. A matured team of players that just failed to get to the old first divison.

Although Malkys squad got to the premier I still feel Scoulars squad was better and if he had managed to keep hold of Toshack we would have gone up and most likely stayed there. However this squad we have now seems to at least on paper match that. To a degree perhaps edge it. It is a younger squad tna its 1972 counterparts but it does not have the togetherness yet that the old guys had. Time this season will only tell us if it is a stronger setup.

Agree 100%. This may be the largest squad, but I think Scoular's squad contained far more accomplished players than the present one. That's about as far back as I go, but some say that there were even better squads long before Scoular's days.

"The manager’s constant chopping and changing makes him a convenient target, but, by the same token, how many of the squad are turning in performances which demand their inclusion every week"

This is a good point

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

To be fair, if you read the whole story he does say that it's a 'so called' strongest squad. Lots of people believe it & are calling it so. The headline is just that - designed to get people to read the story. Myself, I'm so sure it is but it should definitely be strong enough for promotion without doubt.
I thought it was a pretty balanced piece (especially for WOL) lol

Thanks, I have no say on what is chosen as the headline to what I write and, in this case, it doesn't reflect my feelings because I don't see our squad as being the best in the history of the Championship. Newcastle, Reading and Leicester have won this league with more than 100 points in the fairly recent past - we may yet end up with a similar number, but I doubt it very much.

Apologies for the mispellings of Manga - I'd love to be able to say it was the Echo's fault, but it's mine I'm afraid.

Thanks for coming on to explain chief

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

I've always felt the 1971/72 season was our strongest squad even though Toshack left us that season. We had the likes of Peter King, Ian Gibson, Brian clark and Nigel Rees. A squad that beat the great Real Madrid. A matured team of players that just failed to get to the old first divison.

Although Malkys squad got to the premier I still feel Scoulars squad was better and if he had managed to keep hold of Toshack we would have gone up and most likely stayed there. However this squad we have now seems to at least on paper match that. To a degree perhaps edge it. It is a younger squad tna its 1972 counterparts but it does not have the togetherness yet that the old guys had. Time this season will only tell us if it is a stronger setup.

Agree 100%. This may be the largest squad, but I think Scoular's squad contained far more accomplished players than the present one. That's about as far back as I go, but some say that there were even better squads long before Scoular's days.

Dad used to rave about the team in the late 40s who stormed the old Div 3 South - played at a lower level obviously. In fact he raved more about that team than the 1927 Cup Winning team who also just missed out on Div 1 title on goal average.

All about perception and memory - for me, Scoular's team was fantastic with Tosh in it. Didn't run a squad system as such as only 1 sub, and with the Football Combination league very active the reserves had a proper game to play most weeks.

Where has it been said we have strongest squad in championship history? A throw away line if ever there was one and completely lacking in any substance.

I've always felt the 1971/72 season was our strongest squad even though Toshack left us that season. We had the likes of Peter King, Ian Gibson, Brian clark and Nigel Rees. A squad that beat the great Real Madrid. A matured team of players that just failed to get to the old first divison.

Although Malkys squad got to the premier I still feel Scoulars squad was better and if he had managed to keep hold of Toshack we would have gone up and most likely stayed there. However this squad we have now seems to at least on paper match that. To a degree perhaps edge it. It is a younger squad tna its 1972 counterparts but it does not have the togetherness yet that the old guys had. Time this season will only tell us if it is a stronger setup.

Agree 100%. This may be the largest squad, but I think Scoular's squad contained far more accomplished players than the present one. That's about as far back as I go, but some say that there were even better squads long before Scoular's days.

Dad used to rave about the team in the late 40s who stormed the old Div 3 South - played at a lower level obviously. In fact he raved more about that team than the 1927 Cup Winning team who also just missed out on Div 1 title on goal average.

All about perception and memory - for me, Scoular's team was fantastic with Tosh in it. Didn't run a squad system as such as only 1 sub, and with the Football Combination league very active the reserves had a proper game to play most weeks.

Dead right Jimmy. I used to watch some of our combination league games back then, and the standard of football was pretty good. With only 12 players named in the 1st team on matchdays, all our combination team players were out to impress in the hope of at least getting the substitute position for the 1sts.