' CCFC / RISKY BUSINESS SAYS /COULD BE A COSTLY MISTAKE '

The risky decision to let Robert Glatzel leave Cardiff City could prove a costly mistake says Scott Johnson



The Bluebirds allowed their second-choice striker to leave on transfer deadline day but did not replace him with an experienced forward at this level

By Scott Johnson


Friday 5th February 2021


Robert Glatzel was allowed to leave Cardiff City with no replacement lined up to fill the void,shocking.


What I wouldn’t give for a boring transfer deadline day. As it approaches, anxiety levels rise because you always feel Cardiff City are vulnerable to a late rush of blood to the head or pursuit from a desperate rival.

This time last year, Cardiff saw fit to let Lee Peltier leave at the last minute and they have struggled for strength in depth at right back ever since.

In October, Cardiff somehow managed to loan out Aden Flint, plus bring in Filip Benkovic and Harry Wilson right at the death. An impressive feat, that didn’t quite work out as they would have hoped.




On Monday, Cardiff loaned out Robert Glatzel and I can’t quite believe it. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the logic behind it.

When you consider that Cardiff are five points off Rotherham in the final relegation place, and they have a game in hand on us, shipping out your second best striker and not replacing him feels like a cavalier, unnecessarily risky move.

Cardiff loaned out £10m worth of players this window in Glatzel and Greg Cunningham. The latter has a contract that expires in the summer, so Cardiff could have done with recouping some of their £4m investment, rather than effectively let him leave early. Add them to the long list of shame, with all the other wasted talents and expensive arrivals that departed for next to nothing or actually nothing.

Glatzel was always a head scratcher. I can’t imagine anyone watching him over any period of time and deciding that he was a good fit for either Cardiff or the Championship. Having scored hat-tricks against Bayern Munich and Middlesbrough in a pre-season friendly, it feels like that was all the recommendation he needed.

The unfortunate reality is that Glatzel is probably not tough enough for the Championship or enough of a grafter for Cardiff, where you need a very specific set of skills to succeed. Fortunately, they already have someone that embodies all those qualities.

Kieffer Moore is tailor made for Cardiff, with his all-too rare combination of strength, work ethic and poacher's instinct. To play up front for Cardiff, you have to put in the hard yards, create your own opportunities and finish the rare chances presented to you. Glatzel may have come up short, but he’s in good company with plenty of other good players that failed to make much of an impression.

The arrival of Moore, who has become indispensable, was always going to limit Glatzel’s opportunities, but what happens if Moore goes down? It’s happened once already this season, when the slog of two games a week, plus three on international breaks, caught up with his hamstrings.

Cardiff’s form dropped off a cliff in his absence, as Glatzel failed to capitalise on his opportunity as first choice up front. He shares the blame for that though, as Cardiff continued to play as if Moore was still in the side, disregarding Glatzel’s different needs and strengths.

That is why so many Cardiff strikers in the past have failed. Moore can make a little go a long way, but Glatzel wants ball to feet and crosses to feed on. He was never fit for purpose and that is not his fault.

As is often the case with Cardiff, their recent dealings have raised far more questions than provided answers. Is that it for Glatzel? It’s only a loan, but is the idea for him to get his confidence back in Germany, or try and earn a move elsewhere? Also, who made the call? Mick McCarthy has only been in the job for a couple of games, surely not long enough to make up his mind on Glatzel?

It has left Cardiff with Moore, new recruit Max Watters, Mark Harris and Isaac Vassell as their options up front. Vassell is a long-term absentee and has enjoyed rotten luck since joining Cardiff. Who knows if he will even be able to play any part this season.

Harris has been the surprise of the season, impressing with his all-action, high-intensity forward play. Still only 22, it should not be forgotten that he has only played a handful of games at Championship level and was turning out for Wrexham in the National League last season.

Watters, also currently sidelined and a year younger than Harris, has been tearing it up in League Two with Crawley, but prior to that played for Gainsborough Trinity, Mickleover Sports and Maidstone United.

Both are exciting prospects, but it would be a huge ask to expect them to lead the line in Moore’s absence. Especially if that is in the heat of a relegation scrap.

The optimism generated by the arrivals of Watters and Perry Ng earlier in the month vanished on deadline day and not even the addition of the already very popular Jonny Williams could restore any faith or confidence.

The underwhelming likes of Jordan Rhodes and Martyn Waghorn were mooted as possible additions at one point, when the hope was that the days of Cardiff being linked with journeymen were behind them.

The icing on the cake was Nathaniel Mendez-Laing linking up again with Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough. Having been sacked by Cardiff, supporters have still not been offered any sort of explanation and his absence in the side is still keenly felt at times.

Glatzel leaving hasn’t helped the mood in general, which was already pretty toxic in the middles of such an awful season. It feels like everything now depends on Moore and keeping him fit. He has quickly become Cardiff’s most important player, but he’s now become both invaluable and irreplaceable. He’s more than up to the task, but it didn’t need to be this way.

Last week, Mehmet Dalman met with supporters and claimed that relegation was unthinkable, but the subsequent actions of the club have only made that more likely.

Glatzel may have been an expensive mistake, but you wonder if letting him leave when they did may prove to be an even costlier mistake.

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If he tears it up in the German league we might get a decent return should we sell.

I think we will take any reasonable offer TBH.

If Moore gets injured we are definitely going to struggle for goals. But I don't think wilson would do any worse if played as a striker. Glatzel was poor in the air so wouldnt be losing a target.

Hopefuly he has a half decent season in Germany and we can get some money back on him.

When you consider our league position and the issues they’ve had with a lack of cover, I still can’t quite believe Cardiff loaned out Glatzel without replacing him. He may well have been an expensive mistake, but letting him go may prove more costly

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel could only dream of Watters strike rate in British football.

All three played at the same level in the same team so of course they can be talked about

Interestingly only one of them was dumped by the manager and allowed to leave . Obviously Mick rates them higher than Glatzel aswell to go along with Warnock and Harris.

Keep believing in him mate but nothing is going to change. He will flop in Germany like be did here.

Did he really prove better than madine ? Not sure about that one . Madine helped us get promoted , Glatzel did Jack shit

When you consider our league position and the issues they’ve had with a lack of cover, I still can’t quite believe Cardiff loaned out Glatzel without replacing him. He may well have been an expensive mistake, but letting him go may prove more costly

we brought jonny williams and watters in...

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel could only dream of Watters strike rate in British football.

All three played at the same level in the same team so of course they can be talked about

Interestingly only one of them was dumped by the manager and allowed to leave . Obviously Mick rates them higher than Glatzel aswell to go along with Warnock and Harris.

Keep believing in him mate but nothing is going to change. He will flop in Germany like be did here.

Did he really prove better than madine ? Not sure about that one . Madine helped us get promoted , Glatzel did Jack shit

Madine helped us get promoted?? he was a complete disaster for us scoring zilch goals, you can’t make it up.
Madine was in a team that got promoted in spite of him not because of him. At least Glatzel actually scored goals for us. The trouble is with you Thomas is when you take a dislike to any of our players it doesn’t matter what they do you just slag them off but I suppose it’s all about opinions and your opinion is not shared by many people

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel could only dream of Watters strike rate in British football.

All three played at the same level in the same team so of course they can be talked about

Interestingly only one of them was dumped by the manager and allowed to leave . Obviously Mick rates them higher than Glatzel aswell to go along with Warnock and Harris.

Keep believing in him mate but nothing is going to change. He will flop in Germany like be did here.

Did he really prove better than madine ? Not sure about that one . Madine helped us get promoted , Glatzel did Jack shit

Do you even watch us play football? You have no idea mate. Glatzel could hold up and link up play. The guy got zero service as every single set piece is for Morrison. We don’t put decent crosses in and we don’t play decent long balls either. We lump it forward and watters and Harris won’t live with huge central defenders. We can’t play silky football through midfield we haven’t got any decent midfielders. Williams was £50k for a reason and is injured so nothing changes their. He was league 1 for a reason.

I get you didn’t rate him, your opinion fair enough but you back it up with utter gash. Glatzel was nowhere near as bad as you make out by any stretch. At times he showed he had quality, but we didn’t suit him. Much like Reid, he had quality but we didn’t suit him. The football (if you can call it that) doesn’t lend itself to quality players. But, if it makes you feel better you keep chatting dribble and believing we are a quality outfit.

When you consider our league position and the issues they’ve had with a lack of cover, I still can’t quite believe Cardiff loaned out Glatzel without replacing him. He may well have been an expensive mistake, but letting him go may prove more costly

we brought jonny williams and watters in...

Yeah and both injured at the moment just to save a couple of grand in wages? Got all the ingredients of a club taking a big fall. No one can see it with some of the decisions going on.

It’s like a rabbit getting caught in a cars headlights.

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel could only dream of Watters strike rate in British football.

All three played at the same level in the same team so of course they can be talked about

Interestingly only one of them was dumped by the manager and allowed to leave . Obviously Mick rates them higher than Glatzel aswell to go along with Warnock and Harris.

Keep believing in him mate but nothing is going to change. He will flop in Germany like be did here.

Did he really prove better than madine ? Not sure about that one . Madine helped us get promoted , Glatzel did Jack shit

Do you even watch us play football? You have no idea mate. Glatzel could hold up and link up play. The guy got zero service as every single set piece is for Morrison. We don’t put decent crosses in and we don’t play decent long balls either. We lump it forward and watters and Harris won’t live with huge central defenders. We can’t play silky football through midfield we haven’t got any decent midfielders. Williams was £50k for a reason and is injured so nothing changes their. He was league 1 for a reason.

I get you didn’t rate him, your opinion fair enough but you back it up with utter gash. Glatzel was nowhere near as bad as you make out by any stretch. At times he showed he had quality, but we didn’t suit him. Much like Reid, he had quality but we didn’t suit him. The football (if you can call it that) doesn’t lend itself to quality players. But, if it makes you feel better you keep chatting dribble and believing we are a quality outfit.

Glatzel was shite end of story
Strange how Moore can score with the same service , also Patterson scored more and he wasn't even a striker.

He didn't score because he didn't get in positions for his team mates to find him. He had the touch of a elephant and a head like a 50p coin. I never said Watters and Harris were better I said the managers preferred them which is obvious as they are still here and were picked before him. To be honest I also think those two are shit aswell and won't be here long.

And I watch every game thanks I just don't view city players with tinted glasses and say it as I see it

Don't blame Glatzels failings on the team , he should look at himself first . The chances were there he just either didn't or couldn't take them

If you rate him thats fine but I would say its you who doesn't have a clue if you think he's any good

Moore plays more, didn’t mean glatzel was crap. You talk crap mate, glatzel didn’t suit us, doesn’t mean he was a bad player, but you can have your opinion.
As for tinted views you’ve posted previously about how great Ralls is - sums your knowledge up fella.

Moore plays more, didn’t mean glatzel was crap. You talk crap mate, glatzel didn’t suit us, doesn’t mean he was a bad player, but you can have your opinion.
As for tinted views you’ve posted previously about how great Ralls is - sums your knowledge up fella.

No I said ralls was a good championship player thats different and its very easy to see that is true.

Moore plays because he is a good player , glatzel warms the bench under 3 different managers because he is shit and did nothing to earn his place after multiple chances.

That is just a fact

All the stats back it up
Managers not picking him back it up
Being loaned out backs it up
His goal record backs it up

Only you and some other blind sheep with nlue tinted glasses on think he was good . That hes in the wrong team bollocks is a load of crap aswell. Put him in Man city's team and he would struggle.
Revisit this in the summer once he flops at Mainz and is released for free by us and ends up in Germany lower leagues again. Then we will see who was right

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel could only dream of Watters strike rate in British football.

All three played at the same level in the same team so of course they can be talked about

Interestingly only one of them was dumped by the manager and allowed to leave . Obviously Mick rates them higher than Glatzel aswell to go along with Warnock and Harris.

Keep believing in him mate but nothing is going to change. He will flop in Germany like be did here.

Did he really prove better than madine ? Not sure about that one . Madine helped us get promoted , Glatzel did Jack shit

Do you even watch us play football? You have no idea mate. Glatzel could hold up and link up play. The guy got zero service as every single set piece is for Morrison. We don’t put decent crosses in and we don’t play decent long balls either. We lump it forward and watters and Harris won’t live with huge central defenders. We can’t play silky football through midfield we haven’t got any decent midfielders. Williams was £50k for a reason and is injured so nothing changes their. He was league 1 for a reason.

I get you didn’t rate him, your opinion fair enough but you back it up with utter gash. Glatzel was nowhere near as bad as you make out by any stretch. At times he showed he had quality, but we didn’t suit him. Much like Reid, he had quality but we didn’t suit him. The football (if you can call it that) doesn’t lend itself to quality players. But, if it makes you feel better you keep chatting dribble and believing we are a quality outfit.

he holds the ball up well { providing its a perfect ball into feet and as long as there is no challenge involved } and football doesnt really suit him...seems to be the line..

Glatzel is a bog standard league one player at best. He will be no miss.

Its only his massively inflated price tag that is making people think he is any good

No better or worse than Watters and Harris and certainly doesn't have any more of a ability to change a game

Proved to be no better than a lot of other flops we've had in the past like Glombard and Ndungu nsungu

He has gone,breathe mate! Proved better than madine,how you can even mention waters and harris in same breath,shows your knowledge of a striker!

Glatzel could only dream of Watters strike rate in British football.

All three played at the same level in the same team so of course they can be talked about

Interestingly only one of them was dumped by the manager and allowed to leave . Obviously Mick rates them higher than Glatzel aswell to go along with Warnock and Harris.

Keep believing in him mate but nothing is going to change. He will flop in Germany like be did here.

Did he really prove better than madine ? Not sure about that one . Madine helped us get promoted , Glatzel did Jack shit

Do you even watch us play football? You have no idea mate. Glatzel could hold up and link up play. The guy got zero service as every single set piece is for Morrison. We don’t put decent crosses in and we don’t play decent long balls either. We lump it forward and watters and Harris won’t live with huge central defenders. We can’t play silky football through midfield we haven’t got any decent midfielders. Williams was £50k for a reason and is injured so nothing changes their. He was league 1 for a reason.

I get you didn’t rate him, your opinion fair enough but you back it up with utter gash. Glatzel was nowhere near as bad as you make out by any stretch. At times he showed he had quality, but we didn’t suit him. Much like Reid, he had quality but we didn’t suit him. The football (if you can call it that) doesn’t lend itself to quality players. But, if it makes you feel better you keep chatting dribble and believing we are a quality outfit.

he holds the ball up well { providing its a perfect ball into feet and as long as there is no challenge involved } and football doesnt really suit him...seems to be the line..

Thats the line because he literally hs no other qualities that can be proven either by match he has played for us or an actual stat from his time here.

Like you said hes fine controlling it when he is unchallenged, weak when he is.

I was wondering when your sidekick would join in. He made space for himself and got out of so many tight spots with 2 or 3 players on his back you just refuse to accept it. Moore doesn’t pull it down from his forehead does he? So all players want it feet, What a stupid comment from the 2 of you.

I was wondering when your sidekick would join in. He made space for himself and got out of so many tight spots with 2 or 3 players on his back you just refuse to accept it. Moore doesn’t pull it down from his forehead does he? So all players want it feet, What a stupid comment from the 2 of you.

On the other glatzel topic I'm a multi,as others have same opinion as me!! Are you and the others above,me too? Im confused with lockdown,perhaps you are me? Help! Pmsl.the boy just posts garbage about players,but " Hes just being truthful" as I've suggested he is to date 11 times better than madine,as surely strikers are paid to "SCORE" goals?? Thomas for chief scout!!