' HEAD OF SPORT BLAMES RUSSELL SLADE '

Cardiff City atmosphere debate: Is Russell Slade the reason for the shocking attendances? YES SAYS PAUL ABBANDONATO

17 SEPTEMBER 2015

BY PAUL ABBANDONATO Head of Sport Media Wales


Slade’s Championship record reads Played 39, Won 14, Drawn 13, Lost 12.

Since Saturday's pathetic 13,715 attendance against Huddersfield and with just 13,763 against Hull on Tuesday night, Bluebirds fans around the globe have found themselves debating why.

A WalesOnline poll yesterday said 56% of people either blamed last season's terrible football or the appointment of Slade himself as their principal reason for staying away.



Is Slade the reason for the apathy at Cardiff City?


YES - Says Paul Abbandonato

Just before kick-off on Tuesday night against Hull, I glanced around Cardiff City Stadium and stared reflectively at the rows and rows of empty seats in every corner of the ground.

Cardiff City, unbeaten and second in the table, versus a Hull side who had just come down from the Premier League and who are amongst the hot tips for promotion this time around.

A real top of the table clash... which attracted barely 13,000 fans.



Three years ago, with Cardiff playing in their hugely controversial red, the stadium was rocking for Championship night matches, fans utterly galvanised by the Malky Mackay factor.

The other night, of course, the Bluebirds were back in blue... but thousands continue to vote with their feet by staying away.

There are, of course, a variety of reasons for this. Money, the rebrand legacy, general apathy.

But my personal view is that the Russell Slade factor, rightly or wrongly, is a significant cause.




A decent bloke
And I feel sorry for Slade, because he seems a very decent bloke who is doing his best in trying circumstances, having been handed a job by Vincent Tan many believe he probably should never have been given in the first place.

Fans became so disenchanted with the dreary, route one rubbish they had to watch for large parts of last season they simply will not come back until there is the promise of excitement and belief the Bluebirds will achieve something tangible again.

With fans coveting Tony Pulis as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s successor, Slade had one heck of a task to win them over in the first place.

He started damn well, three wins from the first four matches, but immediately there were murmurings and grumblings about the 4-4-2 style of play he adopted.

Russell Slade enjoyed his first game in charge against ForestRussell Slade enjoyed his first game in charge against Forest
More: Are the Bluebirds making positive steps?

“When Real Madrid play that way it’s okay. When Russell Slade does it, it’s seen as old-fashioned,” said Slade. Not the wisest of analogies with which to respond to his critics, as even he would probably accept today.

The nadir for me was a 0-0 draw at home to Rotherham, as turgid an encounter as I can remember and a galaxy away from the enthralling football Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and co serve up week in, week out.

This was followed by a 0-3 home loss to Bolton and a 0-2 Cardiff defeat to Derby, amid other poor results.

Things seemed better on the road, but the majority of Cardiff’s fans could only judge by what they were seeing in front of their own eyes. And it wasn’t very pretty, to say the least.

Change of manager
It was inevitable that without a change of manager, we would see a significant fall off in season ticket sales. Which is what has happened.

Slade started the 2013-14 season as Leyton Orient manager with a fantastic eight straight victories, so clearly has something about him. He accepted he would need something similar with Cardiff this time around to win over the sceptics.

Slade didn’t manage that, but did guide the team through their first six matches unbeaten and to second place in the table. Yet the gate against Huddersfield was the lowest for a League match at Cardiff City Stadium. For Hull, an early season top-of-the-table clash, there were just 48 more people in attendance.

Despite losing, Cardiff played with far more vibrancy, tempo and purpose than we saw for most of last season.



They lacked creativity and guile in the final third, which is something Slade needs to urgently address rather than complain about refereeing decisions, but by and large they were much better.

That said, it wasn’t difficult to improve upon what we had to witness last season when, given the quality in the squad, Cardiff City under-achieved.

An 11th-placed finish for a side containing talents at this level like David Marshall, Fabio, Bruno Manga, Sean Morrison, Peter Whittingham, Craig Noone, Adam Le Fondre and Kenwyne Jones wasn’t good enough, in the eyes of many.


The players
Le Fondre aside, those players are each still there, bolstered by the return to fitness of Kagisho Dikgacoi, Anthony Pilkington and Slade’s seemingly new-found belief in youngsters Joe Ralls and Joe Mason.

Aron Gunnarsson, the captain of Euro 2016 Netherlands slayers Iceland, Noone and Manga couldn’t even make the starting X1 the other night. There is depth to this team.



Slade’s Championship record reads Played 39, Won 14, Drawn 13, Lost 12.

Certainly not good, given the ability of the players available, but definitely not overly-bad, either.

But it’s a record which perhaps demonstrates perfectly the belief of the stay-aways. A bit of six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Rightly or wrongly, those cynics just aren’t convinced by Slade ... and probably won’t return until such time as they DO believe in a Cardiff City manager again.

Whether that is Slade, through inspiring another Bluebirds Premier League dream, or AN Other.

When I saw the title said Head of Sport I thought it meant someone important

When I saw the title said Head of Sport I thought it meant someone important

WOL are bang on out of order for still putting negative shit on Slade and the team when we are doing well.

WOL are bang on out of order for still putting negative shit on Slade and the team when we are doing well.

I agree Rydo, Not a Slade fan, but Slade deserves Respect and our Support

WOL are bang on out of order for still putting negative shit on Slade and the team when we are doing well.

I agree Rydo, Not a Slade fan, but Slade deserves Respect and our Support

Very much so Annis.

Poxy Wales on line should be looking at themselves.

Constant negativity.

Only one half decent football reporter amongst the lot of them.

WOL are bang on out of order for still putting negative shit on Slade and the team when we are doing well.

I agree Rydo, Not a Slade fan, but Slade deserves Respect and our Support

Very much so Annis.

Totally agree! He's earnt the respect from the fans. The missing fans nonesesne is doing my nut! It's dissapointing but are we going to go on about it every single match, is it that important?? Would love to see more but the buzz is back or certainly not far off!

Same old story - the fans I speak to say the footys naff, and the stewards have killed it.

I think the club has deliberately set out to stop fans wanting to go down there, or more likely, only want the 'right' sort of fan in attendance.

Maybe Wales online should piss off and just report on the Jacks

I Dont Blame Slade, I Blame viewtopic.php?f=2&t=162925

As much as I didn't like Slade's appointment as manager, I fully support him this season because. I believe he deserves a decent opportunity to succeed. With regard to Tony Pulis,who I would have liked to have come here, I'm not so sure our style of football would have been any different.

I go to all the games and I agree with this fella. Slade is a disaster for this club. Don't tell me the football has improved it hasn't. First half on Saturday was appalling, Mackey, jones or even sol skater didn't have teams playing that badly. Lennie Lawrence would have been a better choice than Slade. He has to go.

And WalesOffLine wonder why readership has gone three the floor. Trinity Mirror Tripe. They've only ever got behind City when it suited them by jumping on the bandwagon. Their 'journos' are now irrevelent as you get better quality views from internet amateurs.

For fooks sake it ain't just one reason why this is happenening, its fooking many reasons. We all know the reason most were caused by the Club but also some the fans are to blame.

For fooks sake it ain't just one reason why this is happenening, its fooking many reasons. We all know the reason most were caused by the Club but also some the fans are to blame.

Spot on Nukes

Hang on. What about the other half of this article that is largely a defence of Slade and addresses some of those many other reasons? viewtopic.php?f=2&t=162958

Just glanced at the second half 'balance' piece and also noticed their usual pole is now at a 58% No. I merely skimmed over it as it more obvious than a bulldogs-bollocks that they get all of their material from the message boards. The usual lazy 'journalism' that we have come to expect from the WOL clowns who are incapable of any original idea or angle. If Slade carries on building and getting results, your watch how quickly they jump on it when the times right.

Just glanced at the second half 'balance' piece and also noticed their usual pole is now at a 58% No. I merely skimmed over it as it more obvious than a bulldogs-bollocks that they get all of their material from the message boards. The usual lazy 'journalism' that we have come to expect from the WOL clowns who are incapable of any original idea or angle. If Slade carries on building and getting results, your watch how quickly they jump on it when the times right.

Spot on.

"Three years ago, with Cardiff playing in their hugely controversial red, the stadium was rocking for Championship night matches, fans utterly galvanised by the Malky Mackay factor."

Really?? I don't remember many rocking nights that season All I remember is constant moaning on here about how crap the atmosphere was week in, week out

Just glanced at the second half 'balance' piece and also noticed their usual pole is now at a 58% No. I merely skimmed over it as it more obvious than a bulldogs-bollocks that they get all of their material from the message boards. The usual lazy 'journalism' that we have come to expect from the WOL clowns who are incapable of any original idea or angle. If Slade carries on building and getting results, your watch how quickly they jump on it when the times right.

Spot on.

Rydo, for a Cardiff based 'news' outfit I can honestly say that they have never taken the initiative and got behind the club when we needed it. Quick enough to do big colour spreads when the times are good though. The rest of their content is largely cut'n'paste too.

Just glanced at the second half 'balance' piece and also noticed their usual pole is now at a 58% No. I merely skimmed over it as it more obvious than a bulldogs-bollocks that they get all of their material from the message boards. The usual lazy 'journalism' that we have come to expect from the WOL clowns who are incapable of any original idea or angle. If Slade carries on building and getting results, your watch how quickly they jump on it when the times right.

Spot on.

Rydo, for a Cardiff based 'news' outfit I can honestly say that they have never taken the initiative and got behind the club when we needed it. Quick enough to do big colour spreads when the times are good though. The rest of their content is largely cut'n'paste too.

Some journalists have got agendas especially Watham who will just undermine the club and heap pressure on Slade and the team with their bullshit criticism and want us to fail to get their kicks.

WOL are bang on out of order for still putting negative shit on Slade and the team when we are doing well.

I agree Rydo, Not a Slade fan, but Slade deserves Respect and our Support

Spot On

WOL are bang on out of order for still putting negative shit on Slade and the team when we are doing well.

I agree Rydo, Not a Slade fan, but Slade deserves Respect and our Support

Spot On

I will drink to that

When I saw the title said Head of Sport I thought it meant someone important

We cannot respect one another so RS stands no chance!

I blame Barack Obama for the poor attendances

He's talking bollocks. This all stems from the rebrand, sacking of Malky and relegation.

Poor business decisions from Tan.

He is spot on fair play

Abbandonato is a c**t, end of story.

Why so much cutting and pasting of articles from papers I wouldn't wipe my arse with and digital copies I wouldn't waste a double click on?
How about warning us first that the post is not a well thought,well penned article from the poster but just another cut and paste effort from Ponsa Carl or Annis. it really is getting tedious.