" IS STEVE TUCKER FOR REAL WITH THESE COMMENTS? "

" Why Cardiff City's sorry season WAS the worst in living memory "- Steve Tucker

BY STEVE TUCKER

09th May 2015

Steve Tucker has seen more of Cardiff City than most this season and he admits it's the most disappointing he can remember

We caused controversy recently when, in a strongly worded, but strongly argued editorial, Wales Online described last season as the worst ever for the Bluebirds.

People were quick to point out things had been incredibly awful before, in fact Bluebirds campaigns had usually been more disappointing than decent down the years and, personally, I was not about to disagree with that.

For me, the 1997-98 campaign lingers in the memory and not for any particularly good reasons. The Bluebirds finished near the bottom of the basement that term, with the poorness of Doncaster meaning there was not even the excitement of potentially ‘dropping out of the Football League altogether’ to get excited about. Cardiff drew, with the record for most draws that year. Yep, it was so bad they could not even break it.

But try as I might, I can hardly remember my expectations ahead of that campaign, but one thing I know for certain, they were nowhere near as high as at the start of the season just gone.

You see when the Bluebirds trooped out for their first Championship clash at Blackburn back in August, which feels like about 100 years ago in truth, there was real optimism in the air. Just down from the Premier League, Cardiff were the favourites to bounce straight back up with a big squad just jam packed with talent.

What followed, of course, was a horror show, a great dull rock of passionless mediocrity upon which any hopes, any dreams, any enthusiasm were crudely wrecked.

Now that is what we mean by worst season ever.

For me, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must go down as one of, if not THE worst, Bluebirds manager in history and as those with long memories will attest, there has been plenty of competition.

In retrospect, the Norwegian was clueless about how to line up a side or even pick one. His signings last summer were to only further endorse that, too.

He could have kept Cardiff in the Premier League, rendering the last campaign some awful, hypothetical nightmare, but in the end, they did not even make a fight of it.

And the start of last season showed again that nothing was about to change under Solskjaer. Although things got off to an okay start, well when it came to results in the Championship at least. A draw, two wins and progress in the Capital One Cup. If you closed your eyes things looked fine, it was only when you saw the performances and the teams Solskjaer was putting out that you began to worry.

Solskjaer always seemed on the edge and then he fell off, a defeat at home to Middlesbrough proving the tipping point. Look, it felt at times last season that the club had gone back years, a decade, this was not even the class of Dave Jones, bravely battling away in the face of financial restrictions at the top end of the table.

Solskjaer was the man, I feel, who guided that disintegration.

But no problem, of course, there was still plenty of football to be played and after the hardy, but unspectacular caretaker stint of Danny Gabbidon and Scott Young, just who would be the next man to take the Cardiff hot-seat?

Tony Pulis? Seven Goran Eriksson? Tim Sherwood?

No, Russell Slade of course. After everyone had Googled Slade to find out who he was, everyone was far from happy.

A veteran at Scarborough, Grimsby and Yeovil, most recently Slade had arguably over-achieved at Orient before being on the point of the sack... and then heading to Cardiff.

It was under-whelming to say the least, in a fit of football snobbery, supporters reasoned that Slade was not up to the job, was not good enough to manage the mighty Bluebirds. Sadly, seven months on, most of them are still saying the same thing.

A brilliant start at home proved a cypher, latterly in the campaign, with the pressure off, Slade’s men did well away, too. But they could never seem to do both and much of the time they could not win anywhere.

A new man maybe, but the same old problems were evident. What was the best Cardiff side? Who knows, Slade struggled to find his best options up front, even. But for all the tactical failings, there was a new problem last season, one Cardiff fans were definitely unused to. There was a lack of spirit in the side, a lack of fight, yes, a lack of bottle.

Now Cardiff fans will forgive most things, they are used to most frailties, but a side not prepared to go toe-to-toe with the opposition and scrap it out, well, that was virtually a completely new experience. To say results were wayward was an understatement akin to saying Ed Milliband had a pretty poor election. Cardiff would put in a good first half then collapse (Bolton home) or collapse in the first-half and then bravely try to fight back in the second, often to no avail (Brentford home).

The Bluebirds lacked consistency, forget game-to-game, you barely knew what was coming minute-to-minute. By the turn of the year they were looking anxiously over their shoulders at the relegation scrap with the idea of the top-six a distant and faintly embarrassing dream.

To be fair on Slade, he did steady the ship, but where is the thrill of a voyage on a steady ship?

In January owner Vincent Tan reversed his rebrand and Cardiff were back in blue shirts at home, much to everyone’s relief. His mum apparently told him to do it, which reminds of the guy in a bar recently who said that he wished Madame Tan would tell her son to sack Slade, too.

But of the back to blue business, it almost seemed one should be thankful about it, but why be thankful for reversing something that should not have happened in the first place? It would be like thanking someone for not beating you up. Strange.

Although their first outing in the blue at home saw Cardiff beat Fulham. It was a good result, but one the Bluebirds were barely to repeat in front of their own supporters for the rest of the campaign.

People voted with their feet, of course. Attendances were announced as three billion and 20 when there was only one man and his dog there and the dog had gone home, angry.

Then Cardiff were no longer shopping in Harrods and, by the looks of it, had actually moved on to Bessemer Road market for their signings instead.

Slade’s dealings in the January transfer window were obscure, troubling, and are still not proven as any good, even as the summer transfer window yawns open.

Still, without a philosophy or sense of direction or purpose, the season fizzled out into a sort of absurdity with results gained with the pressure off and performances still poor at worst and patchy at best. So ended the Bluebirds worst season ever (arguably!) and, if you do have a problem with that, well, just remember the hope and expectation of its start before musing on its abject finish.

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80's and 90's.

I completely agree Annis, this is another ridiculous thing to say from Tucker

I have to agree that Ole is one the worst managers we have had and responsible for the mess this season.

I have to agree that Ole is one the worst managers we have had and responsible for the mess this season.

I agree Ole is in my bottom 2 of all time,but its not the worst ever season.

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Agree tucker must be a newbe

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Agree tucker must be a newbe

Wez, I honestly cant believe he can say that? ? ?

Has to be a new fan?

Mason, Ive edited the title


" IS STEVE TUCKER FOR REAL WITH THESE COMMENTS? "

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Agree tucker must be a newbe

The more I think of it,even a couple of the years in the 70s were far worse.

Tucker talks bollox

Tucker talks bollox

Tim, thats saying it nicely

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Agree tucker must be a newbe

The more I think of it,even a couple of the years in the 70s were far worse.

Considering what we had in the 80s/90s playing on the pitch to what we has this season, that is far superior players today, yes I would say the value for money this has been the worse season ever. One of our players today cost ore than our whole squad, management, backroom staff and tea lady from the 90s and that is taking into account inflation.

Mason, Ive edited the title


" IS STEVE TUCKER FOR REAL WITH THESE COMMENTS? "

Why edit the title, Annis? Is Steve Tucker for real, full stop? The worst type of hack. Trying to be 'controversial'. The Western Mail and South Wales Echo must surely have the worst 'football journalists' anywhere. Lazy at best, totally clueless the rest of the time. Tucker and Wathan are the worst, but Abbandonato must take the overall blame. The only half-decant one is Terry Phillips. Karl Woodward must be turning in his grave!

Tucker is spot on we expected nothing in the 80s this season we did

Tucker is spot on we expected nothing in the 80s this season we did

Did we? After a truly horrendous season in the Premier League? Some of us feared the worst. It actually didn't turn out as bad as I feared.

There once was a bloke called Steve Tucker,
...............................

Tucker is spot on we knew what we were in the bad old days we competed with the like a good season would be if we got to the fa cup 3rd round but today million pound players playing dire football losing at home by 3 or more goals this def worst ever

Only read the headline and no he isn't. He craves attention.

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Tucker was certainly watching City regularly in that awful period in the late 90s.

I have to agree that Ole is one the worst managers we have had and responsible for the mess this season.

I agree Ole is in my bottom 2 of all time,but its not the worst ever season.

Worst since I can remember, never seen a manager swap formation/personnel so much in my life, he thought he could rotate 40 players, keep everyone happy, fit and play good football. He absolutely destroyed our squads spine and spirit. The guy was a joke And il never forgive him for that spineless attempted away at Swansea total embarrassment

I didn't read the article, as I knew as soon as I saw the headline that Steve Tucker had written more bo****ks!

Responses above simply confirm that!

I have to agree that Ole is one the worst managers we have had and responsible for the mess this season.

I agree Ole is in my bottom 2 of all time,but its not the worst ever season.

Worst since I can remember, never seen a manager swap formation/personnel so much in my life, he thought he could rotate 40 players, keep everyone happy, fit and play good football. He absolutely destroyed our squads spine and spirit. The guy was a joke And il never forgive him for that spineless attempted away at Swansea total embarrassment

Pep Guardiola does it. Rotation and swap formation all the time, double the formations of what Ole did. Thats just one example, there are many more.. But it takes more than 7 games to get it together. If Celtic fired their manager after 7 games, their fans would feel just like city fans, but they didnt, and they dont.

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

The point he's trying to make is, with the squad we had we should have done a whole lot better, like you Annis i was there in the 80s and 90s too, but we didn't expect much from the squad then as it was mostly shit. The squad we had going into this season, we should have walked this league, so in that sense it has been one of the worst seasons on record

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

The point he's trying to make is, with the squad we had we should have done a whole lot better, like you Annis i was there in the 80s and 90s too, but we didn't expect much from the squad then as it was mostly shit. The squad we had going into this season, we should have walked this league, so in that sense it has been one of the worst seasons on record

Its his headline that is totally wrong in my opinion.

In terms of value for money then this season has been majorly disappointing and nowhere near as exciting as we hoped it would be.

But certainly not the most disappointing in living memory.

IMO having a season ticket for cardiff city is excellent value for money
Mine and Williams for next season has cost me £568 this =£ 24.70 for us both per game
Yesterday William wanted to go to the cinema and then bowling
The cinema cost me £15.00 for us both ,the bowling cost us £15.00 for us both
At the cinema pop corn was from £4a box cold drinks from £3 each
At the bowling a burger and skinny fries was £7.99 each
Time to get back into the real world guys the costs of entertainment are not cheap anymore
After yesterday's day out with William I for one can't wait for the footy to start again ,neither can my pocket

Steve, I thought that you were annoyed that your season ticket had gone up in price.

Tucker, must of not been around in the real bad days, these days are still glory days compared to the 80s and 90's.

Agree tucker must be a newbe

The more I think of it,even a couple of the years in the 70s were far worse.

I've been there since 82 and tucker clearly fails to remember Andy Kerr, Carlton Leonard, steve Sherlock, lethal Lynx, Kevin meacock, will foley etc....

Last season was poor but no where near as bad as the 80s.

Steve, I thought that you were annoyed that your season ticket had gone up in price.

I was annoyed Williams went up mine actually came down due to being a over 60
but we are talking about value for money ,and my point is yesterday cost me a lot more than if we had gone to footy
yesterday was not as value for money as going to footy

Tucker needs to remember to use soap when he's in the shower. He looks like 1970's porn-shop owner.