" RUSSELL SLADE SURREAL! "

"Surreal! Cardiff City boss Russell Slade sums up the moment his team celebrated Leeds United win in front of empty seats"

By Terry Phillips

Saturday 11th April 2015

Moments after his Cardiff City players staged a celebration in front of an empty Elland Road away end, Russell Slade admitted 'That's a first for me!'

Cardiff City boss Russell Slade admitted his team’s victory at Leeds United was one of the most bizarre he’d ever experienced as the Bluebirds were forced to enjoy their moment in front of rows of empty seats.

Goals from Sean Morrison and Aron Gunnarsson handed Cardiff a much-needed 2-1 victory at Elland Road, but there were no Bluebirds fans present to celebrate the triumph.

Cardiff supporters stayed at home as the club-backed a boycott following Leeds’ refusal to give the travelling Bluebirds army more than 500 tickets - 1,500 short of the 2,000 they were entitled to.

The decision, based on apparent safety concerns, infuriated the club and fans ahead of the game and left Slade’s men on their own as they made it seven away matches unbeaten.

And Slade admitted he’d never seen anything like it before.

“That’s a first for me,” he said.

“It was a little surreal. It must be disappointing for Cardiff fans because they would have witnessed a strong, professional performance and an away win.

“We wanted a response after the defeat against Bolton because we felt we were making progress and in decent form.”

The Cardiff players refused to let the circumstances spoil their party, celebrating the win in front of the empty away section after the final whistle sounded.

Slade was in buoyant mood after a difficult week following the 3-0 capitulation at home to Bolton last weekend that saw a number of fans walk out on their team.

“This result showed that was a little bit of a blip and I got the response needed. In the end we were worthy winners,” he added.

“There were generally good performances throughout the team but Joe Mason, having been out for some time, put in a wonderful shift for us. We did not want overstretch him because he will probably have to play against Ipswich on Tuesday and that’s why he came off in the second half.”

Both Cardiff goals came after Peter Whittingham corners, a tactic that caused big problems for Leeds defenders all afternoon.

“We have done well from corners for most of the season,” said Slade. “It helps when you have somebody like Whittingham who has great quality in terms of delivery which is always a threat and gives us chances to score. We made good use of that at Leeds.”

Cardiff will still be without a host of injured players against Ipswich, with Conor McAleny the latest to be ruled out after injuring a hamstring at Elland Road. Danny Gabbidon or Arsenal loanee Semi Ajayi will come into the 18-man squad.

It is great we are so strong on corners, fair-play to the team for working on it, and having players brave enough to want to head it in. We must be up there as the most dangerous team in the league on set-plays.

Now to be hyper-critical, we are now a club that wants to entertain 35k fans at home every game, the club instantly changes the fabric of the club by doing so. I wonder if getting a corner will be sufficient as some of the most exciting moments of a day out at the CCS? I can't remember a good free-flowing team goal this season, rather only individual efforts and set-plays spring to mind. This has to change quickly.

Well done beating Leeds, that is a great achievement to keep the run going against them, well done Slade and the players

He must be quite used to getting no support on a personal level, he gets none during home games.

It is great we are so strong on corners, fair-play to the team for working on it, and having players brave enough to want to head it in. We must be up there as the most dangerous team in the league on set-plays.

Now to be hyper-critical, we are now a club that wants to entertain 35k fans at home every game, the club instantly changes the fabric of the club by doing so. I wonder if getting a corner will be sufficient as some of the most exciting moments of a day out at the CCS? I can't remember a good free-flowing team goal this season, rather only individual efforts and set-plays spring to mind. This has to change quickly.

Well done beating Leeds, that is a great achievement to keep the run going against them, well done Slade and the players

Well said
We are boring
Yeah great to get goals from set pieces but apart from that we are hardly a worrying team
Needs changing for next year

It is great we are so strong on corners, fair-play to the team for working on it, and having players brave enough to want to head it in. We must be up there as the most dangerous team in the league on set-plays.

Now to be hyper-critical, we are now a club that wants to entertain 35k fans at home every game, the club instantly changes the fabric of the club by doing so. I wonder if getting a corner will be sufficient as some of the most exciting moments of a day out at the CCS? I can't remember a good free-flowing team goal this season, rather only individual efforts and set-plays spring to mind. This has to change quickly.

Well done beating Leeds, that is a great achievement to keep the run going against them, well done Slade and the players

Well said
We are boring
Yeah great to get goals from set pieces but apart from that we are hardly a worrying team
Needs changing for next year

That's veen the case for a few seasons now. When we won the league we were shit to watch, scored plenty from set pieces and would grind out a result every week

It is great we are so strong on corners, fair-play to the team for working on it, and having players brave enough to want to head it in. We must be up there as the most dangerous team in the league on set-plays.

Now to be hyper-critical, we are now a club that wants to entertain 35k fans at home every game, the club instantly changes the fabric of the club by doing so. I wonder if getting a corner will be sufficient as some of the most exciting moments of a day out at the CCS? I can't remember a good free-flowing team goal this season, rather only individual efforts and set-plays spring to mind. This has to change quickly.

Well done beating Leeds, that is a great achievement to keep the run going against them, well done Slade and the players

Well said
We are boring
Yeah great to get goals from set pieces but apart from that we are hardly a worrying team
Needs changing for next year

That's veen the case for a few seasons now. When we won the league we were shit to watch, scored plenty from set pieces and would grind out a result every week

The best football I have seen us play was under Dave Jones, we were a very good attacking side under him but the problem we had was if we went a goal down we rarely came back

He must be quite used to getting no support on a personal level, he gets none during home games.

he's a lightning rod to all the fans gripes.

he can't affect the fact vincent tan is chairman. nor that the budget is being slashed. all he can do is try and get a team together and get points. to be fair he has got us 17 points from the last 10.

i can only conclude that the poor home form is down to the terrible atmosphere. if we lose they get booed off. yes they are professionals but i get the feeling some fans want us to lose.