' IRREPLACEABLE '

Nathan Blake says the only way to compensate for the pair would be to buy from the Premier League which is a 'huge task'.

Monday August 31 2015

Vincent Tan, it seems, has spoken and we have to accept that he won’t cut the head and tail off Russell Slade’s Cardiff City team over the next day or so.

West Brom want goalkeeper David Marshall and there has been interest in Kenwyne Jones, but noises from the club maintain that neither will be leaving.

And, it seems, club owner Tan rang Marshall himself to say West Brom’s bid had been officially turned down.

That is fantastic news because losing those two, the head and shoulders of our team, would be disastrous for City fans. They are two of the four players who help form the spine of City’s team. If Tan is serious about Cardiff returning to the Premier League it’s unthinkable that he would even contemplate allowing two key guys to move on.

If both players are happy to stay, and from what I have heard and seen they seem content, then they must not go.

Russell Slade and his staff are trying to build something and they are crucial.

I believe both will stay and if they do Tan and his management team deserve immense credit, but you never know with the transfer window going into the final couple of days. Slade, I’m sure, will be happy with it closes at 6pm on Tuesday.

If, and it looks a big if right now, Marshall and Jones did leave how would he replace them? There is no goalkeeper in the Championship who can match Marshall, while it’s the same story with Jones. Can anybody think of a centre-forward better than him in the second tier? I certainly can’t.

The only way would be to buy players from Premier League clubs and that would be a huge task.

The Bluebirds have started their season well, they are unbeaten so far and need their key players. Roll on 6pm Tuesday and at that stage we all hope City have kept all those players they need for the rest of this season and added one more influential player.

City’s squad must be feeling confident after their unbeaten start. We all looked at the early fixtures and wondered how they would fare in terms of results, but Cardiff have collected two wins and three draws to stand fifth in the table.

It’s far too early to think about that position with even a passing glance, but the players will take confidence from that.

There is always one surprise package among the main promotion contenders and Cardiff could fit the bill. Okay, they have a big wage bill and are a big club by Championship standards, but there weren’t too many people predicting a big push before this season started.

Maybe Cardiff can be the surprise package.

Look at Brighton. They were one of the pre-season favourites with some to go down, but they are top of the table.

Yes, it’s early days. Cardiff and their rivals have 41 matches to play yet. But performances and results are going a lot better than expected. We’d all love to see that trend continue.

All we can say so far, though, is that Cardiff have made an encouraging start. The players are certainly coming together as a team.

Slade named an unchanged starting line-up at Nottingham Forest after the 2-0 home win against Wolves and that’s another plus factor.

City did not have the majority of possession at the City Ground in Nottingham - the home team had 58% - but there were certainly spells during which the Bluebirds looked impressive with their passing and movement.

Now, of course, expectancy levels rise again. Three of City’s next four matches are at home, against Huddersfield, Hull and Charlton.

They also travel to play bottom club Rotherham. After a decent start, an unbeaten start, the next four fixtures provide Slade’s team with an opportunity to strengthen their position in the play-off positions even further.

September provides a big opportunity for the Bluebirds to progress even further.

If outrageous bids were made for both Marshall (£6m) and Jones (£4m+) then you could understand the club selling. If that were to happen then you would hope that loans are in place from Premiership clubs once the emergency window opens.

Marshall is in top 10 of keepers in UK. If we do keep him it's a statement of intent from tan that he is still prepared to back us. If he's sold then good luck Marshall and we all know where we stand. Hopefully Marshall and Jones will stay in this window. If we are in top 8 in January then hopefully tan will keep them and perhaps release the purse strings and bring in a couple more players to push for promotion.

If outrageous bids were made for both Marshall (£6m) and Jones (£4m+) then you could understand the club selling. If that were to happen then you would hope that loans are in place from Premiership clubs once the emergency window opens.

Tony, that's only (slightly) outrageous for Kenwyne, but certainly not Marshall!

Personally, I would want £10m for Marshall at current Premier League values and I would see that as a 'bargain' for a proven international keeper who made the Premier League Team of the Season only 15 months ago!

I've said it before (and we had a 'taste' early season with at least 4 points lost due to of 'fumbles' from his current replacement) that many City fans will not appreciate the true value of Marshall to us until he has gone and only the might the usual 'FIFA 14' experts realise exactly what a gem we have right now!

Marshall is in top 10 of keepers in UK. If we do keep him it's a statement of intent from tan that he is still prepared to back us. If he's sold then good luck Marshall and we all know where we stand. Hopefully Marshall and Jones will stay in this window. If we are in top 8 in January then hopefully tan will keep them and perhaps release the purse strings and bring in a couple more players to push for promotion.

I'd definitely put him top 3, when he was in the Prem I'd say most people would have put him there. There's not much competition is there? Hart, who else is better than him? Unless you're talking about in the British leagues, not nationality.

Marshall is in top 10 of keepers in UK. If we do keep him it's a statement of intent from tan that he is still prepared to back us. If he's sold then good luck Marshall and we all know where we stand. Hopefully Marshall and Jones will stay in this window. If we are in top 8 in January then hopefully tan will keep them and perhaps release the purse strings and bring in a couple more players to push for promotion.

I'd definitely put him top 3, when he was in the Prem I'd say most people would have put him there. There's not much competition is there? Hart, who else is better than him? Unless you're talking about in the British leagues, not nationality.

I meant top 10 in current UK leagues. Hart, de gea, courtois and Cech are certainly better. Not much else is better. His worst aspect is his distribution. Best shot stopper I've seen at ccs. Other good ones are heaton, schmeical and fabianski. Green is pretty good too,

It's funny how a few good games can change people opinions. At the end of last season and all through the summer Kenwynne Jones was be touted by many, me included, as the one player city needed to get off their wage bill as soon as possible! When sheff Wednesday first made their interest known about him at the beginning of the season there were plenty of comments on here saying things like 'I'll drive him there myself' and 'I'd bite their hand off for 3 mil!'

Now it seems the guy is irreplaceable! Funny old game eh?! I'm glad Kenwynne has turned his Cardiff career around and with it the opinions of the fans and media. I hope we keep him because at this level he is proving to be a very effective striker. I think the next 24 hours or so are going to be very interesting. There is obviously something going on with Kenwynne, lets hope at 6pm tomorrow evening he is still a Cardiff City player.

It's funny how a few good games can change people opinions. At the end of last season and all through the summer Kenwynne Jones was be touted by many, me included, as the one player city needed to get off their wage bill as soon as possible! When sheff Wednesday first made their interest known about him at the beginning of the season there were plenty of comments on here saying things like 'I'll drive him there myself' and 'I'd bite their hand off for 3 mil!'

Now it seems the guy is irreplaceable! Funny old game eh?! I'm glad Kenwynne has turned his Cardiff career around and with it the opinions of the fans and media. I hope we keep him because at this level he is proving to be a very effective striker. I think the next 24 hours or so are going to be very interesting. There is obviously something going on with Kenwynne, lets hope at 6pm tomorrow evening he is still a Cardiff City player.

Not for me.

Always considered KJ to be an excellent signing and someone who I want and have wanted to stay.

I put up my starting eleven back in June, based on players we had at that time (not much has changed since), and my preferred striking partnership was Mason and Jones.

I will dig the thread out and see if others had a different view

Here it is viewtopic.php?f=2&t=159058

I will admit though I weren't too concerned if City sold Marshall and went with the season having Moore as first choice.

It's funny how a few good games can change people opinions. At the end of last season and all through the summer Kenwynne Jones was be touted by many, me included, as the one player city needed to get off their wage bill as soon as possible! When sheff Wednesday first made their interest known about him at the beginning of the season there were plenty of comments on here saying things like 'I'll drive him there myself' and 'I'd bite their hand off for 3 mil!'

Now it seems the guy is irreplaceable! Funny old game eh?! I'm glad Kenwynne has turned his Cardiff career around and with it the opinions of the fans and media. I hope we keep him because at this level he is proving to be a very effective striker. I think the next 24 hours or so are going to be very interesting. There is obviously something going on with Kenwynne, lets hope at 6pm tomorrow evening he is still a Cardiff City player.

Football can change very quickly, he's always been our best striker and he can be lazy but his game isn't running channels and closing down he's too bloody big for that! The more fans can see that the more they will appreciate kj, his game is what he did so well against wolves holding it winning free kicks linking play and being a nuisance and then getting his nut on the end if it. He will have games where he isn't interested, that's KJ.

I wouldn't have been crying if he had gone as his wages are so high, but only to mls nit a rival. Right now he is justifying the wages but the main reason is he is benefiting from a different style of play. A key player

Not to worry they are not going.

The trouble with Kenwyn is when he wants to play and plays well he gets everyone's attention and everyone raves about him but that can change in an instant with our Mr Jones. Then he becomes a liability what we are seeing at the moment is his best, how long it will last is anyone's idea.
As for Marshall he is by far the best keeper in the Championship and one of the best in the Prem as well. If we can keep him then great. But our squad overall is pretty damn good IMO.

The trouble with Kenwyn is when he wants to play and plays well he gets everyone's attention and everyone raves about him but that can change in an instant with our Mr Jones. Then he becomes a liability what we are seeing at the moment is his best, how long it will last is anyone's idea.
As for Marshall he is by far the best keeper in the Championship and one of the best in the Prem as well. If we can keep him then great. But our squad overall is pretty damn good IMO.

The trouble with Kenwyne is that when City fans have a go at him, he gives them the finger

KJ is a big unit who is getting on

Whitts is the playmaker, who is getting on and has been routinly over played by all our managers....

Rest them during the Sat ~Tues phase.

Both start the season on fire and fade !!!!! Rest them occassionally


Please

The trouble with Kenwyn is when he wants to play and plays well he gets everyone's attention and everyone raves about him but that can change in an instant with our Mr Jones. Then he becomes a liability what we are seeing at the moment is his best, how long it will last is anyone's idea.
As for Marshall he is by far the best keeper in the Championship and one of the best in the Prem as well. If we can keep him then great. But our squad overall is pretty damn good IMO.

The trouble with Kenwyne is that when City fans have a go at him, he gives them the finger

Dont know what you mean Carlos !!