' Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Russell Slade & Paul Trollope '

What has become of the men who failed at Cardiff City? The Slade, Trollope and Solskjaer stories

Neil Warnock is succeeding where Malky Mackay's successors failed.



By Dominic Booth

Monday 6th March 2017


Where are Bluebirds managers now?


The good times are back at Cardiff City.

The Bluebirds have a manager in Neil Warnock who has brought back hope and optimism, with realistic ambitions to earn promotion back to the Premier League next season.

The club might be in mid-table at the moment, but the mood has shifted. The club is the most positive it has been for years.

Not since the 2012-13 season when Malky Mackay oversaw a magnificent promotion campaign has the feeling around the Bluebirds been so buoyant.




Neil Warnock is succeeding where Malky Mackay's successors failed.


Now, after former Bluebirds boss Russell Slade was sacked for the second time since departing Cardiff last summer, we take a look at the men who could not bring back the good times to south Wales and what happened to them after leaving...






' Ole Gunnar Solskjaer '

The man charged with saving Manchester United's Champions League final hopes in 1999 became the man charged with keeping Cardiff in the Premier League when Mackay was replaced in January 2014.

Having previously won two Norwegian Premier League titles with Molde, plus four trophies as boss of United's reserve side, there was hope that Solskjaer could succeed in the Premier League as a manager.


We all know what happened next.

And Solskjaer's chastening time at Cardiff clearly had a lasting effect; the former Norway striker took a year-long sabbatical from management before returning — at his old club Molde. There had been a short spell with Clausenengen FK under-19s in that time.

The 44-year-old's second spell in charge of Molde hasn't been quite so successful.

Molde finished sixth in the 2015 season, but Solskjaer did lead his troops through the Europa League group stages, winning a group that contained Ajax, Fenerbahce and Celtic, before bowing out to eventual champions Sevilla.

The Norwegian side then came fifth under Solskjaer's rule in 2016 and he has appointed former Manchester United youngster Mark Dempsey as his assistant ahead of the 2017 campaign. The season in Norway gets underway in mid-March.








' Russell Slade '

After being sacked for the second time this season , the hapless Slade now finds himself jobless again.

Of course, he wasn't actually sacked from his post at Cardiff City, merely given a new role as Head of Football as Paul Trollope was appointed Head Coach.

It was a move designed to signal a shift in structure, with Slade providing a steady hand, knowledge and transfer insight to assist the hands-on Trollope. Slade hadn't proved popular with Cardiff fans, but he's credited by many with reducing the club's bloated wage bill and managing expectations following Solskjaer's haphazard tenure.

But when Charlton Athletic came calling, Slade opted to return to management, signing a three-year contract at The Valley after the club's relegation to League One.

Promotion was his remit, but with the Addicks down in 15th, Slade was relieved of his duties in a move that saw former MK Dons boss Karl Robinson arrive as Slade's successor.

Charlton's unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet has courted controversy in disputes with fans — just like the owners of Slade's next club, Coventry City, where he arrived with the Sky Blues 23rd in League One on December 21.


A rare high moment of his brief Coventry reign was reaching the Checkatrade Trophy Final after beating Wycombe Wanderers at the Ricoh Arena, but one league win in 13 brought his time in the west midlands to a premature end.

He was sacked on March 5 (Sunday) and has since been replaced by former Huddersfield Town and Scunthorpe boss Mark Robins.










' Paul Trollope '

It says everything about Trollope's coaching credentials that he was part of Wales' extraordinary Euro 2016 achievements and is now helping Brighton & Hove Albion steer towards promotion to the Premier League.

The testament of Seagulls' boss Chris Hughton, when appointing Trollope as assistant manager in November, said it all.

Brighton assistant manager and former Cardiff City man Paul Trollope on the bench at the Amex Stadium
"I'm delighted to be working with Paul again, as we did at both Birmingham and Norwich," said Hughton.

"He's an excellent coach, and since his time with me, he's gone on to gain great experience at international level with Wales and in club management with Cardiff City."

It just didn't work out as a manager of the Bluebirds, as Trollope tried to harness the 'Wales Way' with a wing-back system and the purchases of Jazz Richards and Emyr Huws.

His Cardiff side were quickly exposed; they suffered from a lack of pace and confidence plunged new lows.

But that Trollope has resurrected his career since shows he isn't a poor coach. He just couldn't inspire the Bluebirds like Warnock has.

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Solskjaer was useless in everything he did, and we are still paying for his mistakes 2 years later!!!!

Slade should never have been appointed in the first place...a ridiculous appointment and we stagnated for 18 months

Trollope was probably a gamble that didn't pay off...his record suggests he is a very good coach but not a very good manager

3 very, very poor managers who achieved nothing in 3 years

Solskjaer was useless in everything he did, and we are still paying for his mistakes 2 years later!!!!

Slade should never have been appointed in the first place...a ridiculous appointment and we stagnated for 18 months

Trollope was probably a gamble that didn't pay off...his record suggests he is a very good coach but not a very good manager

3 very, very poor managers who achieved nothing in 3 years

Slade did the best job of the three by a mile, although that's not hard, Ole almost ruined us and Trollope would have finished the job off !!!

Solskjaer was useless in everything he did, and we are still paying for his mistakes 2 years later!!!!

Slade should never have been appointed in the first place...a ridiculous appointment and we stagnated for 18 months

Trollope was probably a gamble that didn't pay off...his record suggests he is a very good coach but not a very good manager

3 very, very poor managers who achieved nothing in 3 years

Slade did the best job of the three by a mile, although that's not hard, Ole almost ruined us and Trollope would have finished the job off !!!

Probably agree with you Mr Bluebina, Slade probably did the best of the 3...but he was still a poor appointment and the football was tedious under his reign

Well you can add that , malky is floundering since parting company with us
Slade was . The onlyone . Out of , our . Last 4 managers not to be sacked

Well you can add that , malky is floundering since parting company with us
Slade was . The onlyone . Out of , our . Last 4 managers not to be sacked

technically he was not sacked. but im sure if OGS or Trolls had asked very nicely they could also have been kept on as assistant milk monitors or in charge of the car park 6 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday too.

As boring and uninspiring Slade was he's the only 1 out of the 3 that can hold his head held high for the job he done. The other 2 were sadly useless, Ole was absolutely woeful, his style of play was non existent and the amount of players he brought in and money he wasted was ridiculous, we're still paying for it now. Trollope like Ole was a likeable bloke but I don't think the players bought into what he wanted to and playing "The Wales way" clearly didnt work. Luckily he never cost us too much money and made the board open their eyes and realise we needed a proper football manager in Neil Warnock.

Solskjaer was useless in everything he did, and we are still paying for his mistakes 2 years later!!!!

Slade should never have been appointed in the first place...a ridiculous appointment and we stagnated for 18 months

Trollope was probably a gamble that didn't pay off...his record suggests he is a very good coach but not a very good manager

3 very, very poor managers who achieved nothing in 3 years

Slade did the best job of the three by a mile, although that's not hard, Ole almost ruined us and Trollope would have finished the job off !!!

Spot On

What a bunch,all yes men.


What has become of the men who failed at Cardiff City? The Slade, Trollope and Solskjaer stories

Annis is your 'Yes men' comment can you throw Ole in that category? Challenged the board to get us back to blue to get on supporters on board and publicly made it knowledge he didn't like it.

Yes I know I tend to throw Malky under a bus but he endorsed the rebrand and said it doesn't matter what colour we play in? This statement I will make will get loads of flack back but Malky was a yes man and you can't get around it.

Ole had the bottle to challenge Tan and the board.

Annis is your 'Yes men' comment can you throw Ole in that category? Challenged the board to get us back to blue to get on supporters on board and publicly made it knowledge he didn't like it.

Yes I know I tend to throw Malky under a bus but he endorsed the rebrand and said it doesn't matter what colour we play in? This statement I will make will get loads of flack back but Malky was a yes man and you can't get around it.

Ole had the bottle to challenge Tan and the board.

He never challenged, I asked Ole himself, he asked politely.

I fell out with Malky over the rebrand.

Annis is your 'Yes men' comment can you throw Ole in that category? Challenged the board to get us back to blue to get on supporters on board and publicly made it knowledge he didn't like it.

Yes I know I tend to throw Malky under a bus but he endorsed the rebrand and said it doesn't matter what colour we play in? This statement I will make will get loads of flack back but Malky was a yes man and you can't get around it.

Ole had the bottle to challenge Tan and the board.

He never challenged, I asked Ole himself, he asked politely.

I fell out with Malky over the rebrand.

Politely then but transfers and questionable team selections/performances you can't fault the guy in actually coming into a club and wanting the board to do the right thing. For me Ole was a genuine guy, it's a shame the contract he was on because if it was cheaper I would have give him the benefit of the doubt and let him carry being manager.

I don't mean no disrespect towards you on the matter but Malky had the balls to ask for more money for players but not to even try and make a change to the rebrand.

Bunch of clowns.

Annis is your 'Yes men' comment can you throw Ole in that category? Challenged the board to get us back to blue to get on supporters on board and publicly made it knowledge he didn't like it.

Yes I know I tend to throw Malky under a bus but he endorsed the rebrand and said it doesn't matter what colour we play in? This statement I will make will get loads of flack back but Malky was a yes man and you can't get around it.

Ole had the bottle to challenge Tan and the board.

He never challenged, I asked Ole himself, he asked politely.

I fell out with Malky over the rebrand.

Politely then but transfers and questionable team selections/performances you can't fault the guy in actually coming into a club and wanting the board to do the right thing. For me Ole was a genuine guy, it's a shame the contract he was on because if it was cheaper I would have give him the benefit of the doubt and let him carry being manager.

I don't mean no disrespect towards you on the matter but Malky had the balls to ask for more money for players but not to even try and make a change to the rebrand.

Ole was a gentleman compared to Malky I agree on that,I got to know both of them well.
I really wanted Ole to do well, but just to nice a guy in my eyes.

Annis is your 'Yes men' comment can you throw Ole in that category? Challenged the board to get us back to blue to get on supporters on board and publicly made it knowledge he didn't like it.

Yes I know I tend to throw Malky under a bus but he endorsed the rebrand and said it doesn't matter what colour we play in? This statement I will make will get loads of flack back but Malky was a yes man and you can't get around it.

Ole had the bottle to challenge Tan and the board.

He never challenged, I asked Ole himself, he asked politely.

I fell out with Malky over the rebrand.

Politely then but transfers and questionable team selections/performances you can't fault the guy in actually coming into a club and wanting the board to do the right thing. For me Ole was a genuine guy, it's a shame the contract he was on because if it was cheaper I would have give him the benefit of the doubt and let him carry being manager.

I don't mean no disrespect towards you on the matter but Malky had the balls to ask for more money for players but not to even try and make a change to the rebrand.

Ole was a gentleman compared to Malky I agree on that,I got to know both of them well.
I really wanted Ole to do well, but just to nice a guy in my eyes.

I agree just as I heard from various people who met him also.. You look back on it on the 2 defeats at home when he got sacked people were saying the first half v Norwich was something they hadn't seen since the DJ days in terms of how class we was and the defeats came against one team who is now in the Prem and one that got to the Prem that season..