' How can the Cardiff City roller-coaster be stabilised? '

' How can the Cardiff City roller-coaster be stabilised? '

The Boot Room


Tuesday May 24, 2016


By Scott Salter

It is a tough time to be a Cardiff City fan. The highs of the Premier League seem a distant memory, with the club showing no signs of challenging for a return there.



What right do we have to moan, though?

This is the worst that it has been for Cardiff fans for many years. Admittedly, the Welsh outfit were relegated from the Premier League, but at least they were still able to actually realise the dream of reaching the promised land. Furthermore, to have finished 11th and 8th in the last two seasonsl is not that bad.

Particularly when you look at the turmoil at other clubs, you can realise just how lucky you are. Bolton, for example, are in a much worse state, as they have been on a downward spiral for many years. For Cardiff City, the potential is there. The fan-base is certainly present and correct, the playing staff are not of a poor standard, and the stadium is hardly lagging behind the rest. However, it is underwhelming as a Cardiff fan and the roller-coaster is set to continue.

The Re-brand

When Vincent Tan first bought into Cardiff City, there was a sense of optimism around the club. Finally rid of Peter Ridsdale, the debt to former owner Sam Hammam would be paid off and the club would receive significant investment.

The signs were initially good. Tan paid off some debt, invested money into the club’s facilities, including a new training ground, and gave the managers some money to spend. Then however, it all went downhill.

He re-branded the club from traditional blue to red – it’s a lucky colour in Malaysia if you didn’t already know. At first, whilst there was resistance to the re-brand, success on the pitch focused fans elsewhere. As long as Cardiff were winning, Tan’s re-brand was at least acceptable.



The club gained promotion to the Premier League under popular manager Malky Mackay and Vincent Tan invested heavily in new signings, with Gary Medel, Steven Caulker and Andrea Cornelius the big name arrivals.

Life was good as the club looked set to avoid relegation. In fact, I honestly still believe that Cardiff would indeed have done so if Malky Mackay had kept his job. As is common knowledge now though; and indeed the reasons behind it, the Scotsman was sacked, fans were outraged, and Vincent Tan was the villain.

It was a dark day in the club’s history. Fans revolted against Tan, unaware of Mackay’s actions, and the Malaysian almost went into hiding. He stopped attending games and became a peripheral figure.

Mackay’s successor; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was viewed as a good appointment at the time, but failed to continue Mackay’s good work. His recruits, including Juan Cala, Kenwyne Jones and a number of Norwegians, failed to keep Cardiff in the Premier League.

Although a nice man, Solskjaer never won over the Cardiff faithful. Everything the Bluebirds loved about Mackay – his passion, commitment, drive and even aggressiveness – the former Manchester United forward lacked.

Relegation was followed by a summer overhaul of the squad, which lead to an underwhelming start to life back in the Championship.



Russell Slade

After the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in mid-September, the club needed a man to reignite the passions of the capital fans. The likes of Tony Pulis announced that he was interested in the job, whilst Craig Bellamy was rumoured. Both men loved the club and would provide a spark to the season.

The man tasked with replacing Solskjaer though, was Russell Slade. A man struggling at Leyton Orient, who had never managed any higher than League 1, and a man the fans quite simply did not want. Talk about an underwhelming appointment.

Slade was instantly forced to cut the playing budget as part of Vincent Tan’s cost-cutting measures, which saw the likes of Kenwyne Jones, Mats Daehli and more leave the club. On one hand, you have to feel sorry for Slade. He was finally given a chance at a higher level, but from day one he was fighting a losing battle.

On the other hand though, perhaps he does not deserve such sympathy, as he simply did not help himself. His football was boring, he himself failed to ignite any fight or passion amongst the fans or the players and he was simply missing a backbone – Tan’s yes man if you please.

His first season ended with an eleventh placed finish, whilst his second campaign climaxed with a failed play-off push, falling just short in eighth position.



With Craig Bellamy again linked to the job, this time joined by the likes of Nigel Pearson, David Moyes and Steve Clarke in the running, it was thought that Cardiff would finally get a top class coach ready to take the Bluebirds back to the Premier League.

Instead, Vincent Tan promoted from within by hiring coach Paul Trollope as manager. It has been a move met with disdain by the fans with many feeling that it is another cost-cutting measure by Tan.

However, do I think that Paul Trollope is the right appointment? Yes. Am I excited by it? No.

Whilst Trollope may be the best man for the job, his appointment is another underwhelming one for the Cardiff fans.

There is still hope that Trollope will prove everyone wrong, though. With the right kind of summer additions, he could well Cardiff to the Premier League with exciting, attacking football, with young, Welsh players at the centre of it. This could all come about if he is charismatic and engages with the fans, just like Malky Mackay did.

For now though, his appointment continues the underwhelming rollercoaster that is Cardiff City.

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Interesting Annis, I did wonder whether Ryan Giggs might end up as first team coach, and read that there are mutterings that he will leave Man Utd now that Mourinio is on his way, bringing his own men , add to that the situation Trollope finds himself with his Wales versus CCFC jobs, just makes me wonder whether Trollope may go with Wales and reject the CCFC job, leaving a vacancy that might be appealing to Giggs ?

Interesting Annis, I did wonder whether Ryan Giggs might end up as first team coach, and read that there are mutterings that he will leave Man Utd now that Mourinio is on his way, bringing his own men , add to that the situation Trollope finds himself with his Wales versus CCFC jobs, just makes me wonder whether Trollope may go with Wales and reject the CCFC job, leaving a vacancy that might be appealing to Giggs ?

Have you been reading this Forum in the last day or so??

Paul Trollope has accepted the City job and will almost certainly stand down down from his Wales role once Euro 16 is over and Chris Coleman has effectively confirmed that to be the case (quote): "Let's be honest, we are probably going to lose Paul Trollope. He's not said anything yet, but he can't manage Cardiff and be with us."

As for the article, it goes mainly over old ground rather than looking at the future and it is little different from several others that have been written in recent times and (IMHO) is a weak attempt to curry favour with different elements of our support whilst stating the obvious!

There's no roller coaster. The club has been stabilised and is still looking to be sensible and not overspend by getting rid of more dead wood.

The only problem here now is the fans. We've got a team who finished 8th out 24....come on its better than average. It's a half decent season. Could we have done better? Maybe, but then could lots of other clubs. Football doesn't always work out how it's meant to (leicester).

The fans have to stop this stropping over not having the managers they want and not signing the players they want. If Paul trollope came to me and told me I'm hanging a door wrong I'd tell him to bugger off. They're more experienced than us in their job, they're doing the best in the circumstances so everybody should just put all the nonsense to bed and just start doing what they're meant to do and support the bloody team.
Easily supported them when they were in red and top of the championship, now it feels a bit more like our club again and everyone moans. The club will never win.

There's no roller coaster. The club has been stabilised and is still looking to be sensible and not overspend by getting rid of more dead wood.

The only problem here now is the fans. We've got a team who finished 8th out 24....come on its better than average. It's a half decent season. Could we have done better? Maybe, but then could lots of other clubs. Football doesn't always work out how it's meant to (leicester).

The fans have to stop this stropping over not having the managers they want and not signing the players they want. If Paul trollope came to me and told me I'm hanging a door wrong I'd tell him to bugger off. They're more experienced than us in their job, they're doing the best in the circumstances so everybody should just put all the nonsense to bed and just start doing what they're meant to do and support the bloody team.
Easily supported them when they were in red and top of the championship, now it feels a bit more like our club again and everyone moans. The club will never win.

Good post

There's no roller coaster. The club has been stabilised and is still looking to be sensible and not overspend by getting rid of more dead wood.

The only problem here now is the fans. We've got a team who finished 8th out 24....come on its better than average. It's a half decent season. Could we have done better? Maybe, but then could lots of other clubs. Football doesn't always work out how it's meant to (leicester).

The fans have to stop this stropping over not having the managers they want and not signing the players they want. If Paul trollope came to me and told me I'm hanging a door wrong I'd tell him to bugger off. They're more experienced than us in their job, they're doing the best in the circumstances so everybody should just put all the nonsense to bed and just start doing what they're meant to do and support the bloody team.
Easily supported them when they were in red and top of the championship, now it feels a bit more like our club again and everyone moans. The club will never win.

Well said!

what right do we have to moan???FFS, ive supported this club since 1975. trophys won 0, successful seasons in the top flight 0.thats why i moan then to cap it all a rebrand which floored me and am just about getting over.

what right do we have to moan???FFS, ive supported this club since 1975. trophys won 0, successful seasons in the top flight 0.thats why i moan then to cap it all a rebrand which floored me and am just about getting over.

None trophies won you sure bout that, we won league two in 93, league one play off in 2003 and the championship only a few years ago... On top of that several cup finals and constantly pushing for playoffs for the past what??... Ten years??

the rebrand is the only thing I can understand but that's in the past and we're moving on and the clubs finally being sorted out financially. There are other clubs worse off than us and we don't have a divine right to win trophies years in year out. So how bout spending that effort you put into moaning into actually supporting the team.

This isn't a dig just at you skip rat but a large amount of city fans who the club just can't please.

There's no roller coaster. The club has been stabilised and is still looking to be sensible and not overspend by getting rid of more dead wood.

The only problem here now is the fans. We've got a team who finished 8th out 24....come on its better than average. It's a half decent season. Could we have done better? Maybe, but then could lots of other clubs. Football doesn't always work out how it's meant to (leicester).

The fans have to stop this stropping over not having the managers they want and not signing the players they want. If Paul trollope came to me and told me I'm hanging a door wrong I'd tell him to bugger off. They're more experienced than us in their job, they're doing the best in the circumstances so everybody should just put all the nonsense to bed and just start doing what they're meant to do and support the bloody team.
Easily supported them when they were in red and top of the championship, now it feels a bit more like our club again and everyone moans. The club will never win.

Excellent post and Spot On

There's no roller coaster. The club has been stabilised and is still looking to be sensible and not overspend by getting rid of more dead wood.

The only problem here now is the fans. We've got a team who finished 8th out 24....come on its better than average. It's a half decent season. Could we have done better? Maybe, but then could lots of other clubs. Football doesn't always work out how it's meant to (leicester).

The fans have to stop this stropping over not having the managers they want and not signing the players they want. If Paul trollope came to me and told me I'm hanging a door wrong I'd tell him to bugger off. They're more experienced than us in their job, they're doing the best in the circumstances so everybody should just put all the nonsense to bed and just start doing what they're meant to do and support the bloody team.
Easily supported them when they were in red and top of the championship, now it feels a bit more like our club again and everyone moans. The club will never win.

Excellent post and Spot On

There's no roller coaster. The club has been stabilised and is still looking to be sensible and not overspend by getting rid of more dead wood.

The only problem here now is the fans. We've got a team who finished 8th out 24....come on its better than average. It's a half decent season. Could we have done better? Maybe, but then could lots of other clubs. Football doesn't always work out how it's meant to (leicester).

The fans have to stop this stropping over not having the managers they want and not signing the players they want. If Paul trollope came to me and told me I'm hanging a door wrong I'd tell him to bugger off. They're more experienced than us in their job, they're doing the best in the circumstances so everybody should just put all the nonsense to bed and just start doing what they're meant to do and support the bloody team.
Easily supported them when they were in red and top of the championship, now it feels a bit more like our club again and everyone moans. The club will never win.

I hate to admit it but the only way the fans would stop moaning would be if we did a Swansea. I bet they would still find one or two things then too!!

We haven't had a successful season in the top flight since 1954.but heyho if you regard winning division 4 and winning the welsh cup as success im genuinely glad your so easily satisfied.

We haven't had a successful season in the top flight since 1954.but heyho if you regard winning division 4 and winning the welsh cup as success im genuinely glad your so easily satisfied.

It's a lot more than lot other clubs and must be thankful for small mercies!