‘. Cardiff City’s end to 2021 ‘

Cardiff City's end to 2021 is not too dissimilar to how they started it, but once again struggling at the wrong end of the Championship.

The worrying part though is that each season the hierarchy have given less and less money for the managers to spend and each season at some stage of the season City have been involved in a relegation battle, thankfully survived well, let’s hope this season it happens again.


By Glen Williams


Thursday 23rd December 2021


The Bluebirds began the year amid a poor run of form, struggling to fight their way into the top half of the table. They end the year in a better run of form, but with the damage of the early portion of the season landing them in a very precarious position near the bottom of the table.



On the whole, it has been a pretty miserable year. The year 2021 started with games behind closed doors and, in Wales anyway, it will end that way, too.

But there have been the odd bright moment or two and they must be remembered as well.

So, here, we take a look at the good from 2021 from a Bluebirds perspective...





December 2021



UPDATED:

‘’Derby County 21 points deducted / Down and out in My View:

‘Reading 6 points deducted and fighting for every point.

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SOL BAMBA

The former Bluebirds centre-back was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma on Christmas Eve last year, news which devastated the Cardiff fan base who rightly adored him following his five years of stellar service to the club.

As he underwent six rounds of gruelling chemotherapy treatment, he remained optimistic that he would get back out onto the pitch one last time for his beloved Cardiff City.

Against all odds, having been given the green light to play by his doctor, Bamba was sent on for the final 10 seconds in the last game of the season against Rotherham United. We branded it the best 10 seconds of the entire season.


Sadly the circumstances surrounding his exit remain up for debate, with parties either side arguing their case and Sol saying he left the Club in more than unhappiness in how the hierarchy handled it.

What is important is that he is healthy, happy, playing football again and got to don that Bluebirds shirt one final time.

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Mick McCarthy’s incredible run

It is perhaps easy to forget just how remarkable Mick McCarthy's incredible run of results was when he first took over back in January.


He picked up a Cardiff side down on its luck and playing to less than the sum of their parts, languishing in 14th position with a good squad of players in situ.

With Cardiff 2-0 down at half-time in McCarthy's first game in charge up at Barnsley, what followed was nothing short of remarkable. They came back to draw that 2-2 before sharing the spoils against Millwall a game later.

Then, stunningly, six wins in a row followed, culminating in the brilliant 2-1 win over Bournemouth on the south coast on February 24, a result which saw them leapfrog into the top six. From a footballing perspective, undoubtedly the pinnacle of the year.

They would draw two and win one of the next three, so McCarthy's record read 11 games unbeaten after taking the reins. City tailed off thereafter following injuries and a dip in form, but Cardiff fans were encouraged by the manager's dramatic turnaround.

As we know, it didn't go according to plan the following season, but more on that later...

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Dogged derby win and Flint's comeback

Cardiff's gritty derby win over Swansea City back in March was another real highlight of the year.

It was a dogged, organised and determined performance which gave supporters, watching from home, some much-needed joy. It was a result which saw them head into the international break with a renewed sense of optimism about potentially breaking into the top six in the final throes of the season.

It also completed the comeback of Aden Flint, the goalscorer that day. Flint had arguably endured the toughest year of his professional career up to that point.

He had been frozen out of the Cardiff side, went out on loan and sustained a horrible hamstring injury, which needed surgery, and himself admitted he had pretty dark moments at times.

But McCarthy brought him back in from the cold and made him a central part of the team and he flourished. He was one of the standout players in the back half of that campaign and proved many doubters wrong, this writer included.

No-one deserved to be the derby hero more than him and he continues to play an important role in the side.

Rubin's staggering rise

It would be remiss not to mention the youth success story of the year.

Few Cardiff fans had given Rubin Colwill a second thought until McCarthy came into the club and made a point of highlighting what an impression the young playmaker had made on him.

Having started the season on the bench for the under-23s in a defeat in their mini-South Wales derby, he ended it at the Euros with Wales. A wholesome, genuine success story.

Importantly, and encouragingly, the Colwill we see today is a vastly improved player to the one we saw make his debut against Coventry City back in February.

He has come on leaps and bounds in that time, gaining confidence and chipping in with important goals. The 19-year-old is genuinely exciting and Steve Morison is right to expect interest in him in the new year.

He is not the finished article, not by any stretch at the minute, he needs to improve his decision making and positioning at times, but if he improves as much as he has in the last six months then the sky really is the limit for him.

Cardiff fans beamed with pride when he was named in Rob Page's squad for the Euros and that must have been a proud moment for all at the club.

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Kieffer hits 20

Bluebirds fans had waited a decade for one of their players to hit 20 goals in a season again and that moment finally came last season.

Moore was a revelation last season and shouldered so much of the attacking burden, but it was after McCarthy's arrival at the start of 2021 when he really started to motor.

Moore scored eight goals in McCarthy's first 10 games in charge and it was then when fans started talking about that 20 target.

He hit two against Wycombe back in April and, with those, became the first Bluebirds player to hit 20 league goals in a season since the late, great Peter Whittingham in the 2009/10 campaign.

Jay Bothroyd had scored 20 goals in the 2010/11 season, but only 18 came in the league, with two being scored in the cup.

"I've got goals of my own and today I've hit one of my goals," Moore said of the feat. "I'm very thankful for this opportunity and I'm just thrilled to reach the 20 mark.

"You mentioned a great striker and a great midfielder there and to be up there with them is something special.

"I didn't want to go to the Euros not scoring goals or not in form. I want to hit the ground running and give myself the best opportunity I can to help the team, score goals and show what I can do on the big stage.

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Under-23s blow everyone away

Cardiff's under-23s this season have been an unstoppable force.

Under Morison, they started the season like a house on fire, before Matt Bloxham stepped up after the former was appointed first-team boss.

The managerial transition has not halted their remarkable success, though.

The young Bluebirds boast a record of 11 wins in their first 12 matches of the season and sit 11 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Bristol City, in the Professional Development League 2 South table.

Those talented youngsters really are doing the club proud. With Chanka Zimba having scored goals for fun, Kieron Evans continuing to produce and Isaak Davies having also played his part, all three have got their just rewards with first-team call-ups.

It really is a source of pride for many City fans and long may that continue into 2022...

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Fans make themselves known

On a human level, one of the most uneasy and ugly experiences of the season was during McCarthy's final defeat, when the fans made themselves known from the terraces.

Chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning" and, more piercingly, "Mick McCarthy, get out of our club!" had heads turning and mouths grimacing in the press box.

There was no coming back from that and less than an hour after the final whistle, McCarthy had been given the boot.

Cardiff fans had endured enough after eight successive defeats and they voiced their anger in unison during that horror day against Boro.

What made that experience even more fraught with tension was the juxtaposition between fans lamenting their own manager just minutes before lauding the opposition boss, Neil Warnock, as he did a lap of the stadium to thank the supporters for their appreciation and the love they showed him during his time with the Bluebirds.

The atmosphere that day was toxic and not nice to be a part of, but the passionate City fan base will always voice their thoughts if they believe it to be in the best interest of their club.

They pay the money, they travel to far-flung corners of the UK, who can deny them their right to speak their mind on such matters? (Although, Oldham have taken a different stance recently! But that's another matter altogether...)

It is a crying shame that Lee Tomlin did not play a single minute of football for Cardiff City in 2021, yet a very very talented player who seems to underachieve at every single club and has never sorted his attitude out or his fitness levels despite promising he would so many times.

So this year saw finally Cardiff move him out and pay him off.



That was down to Tomlin this finally happened as the club could see he was never going to change.

There are two sides to that story, as they always are. Some believe he was fit enough to play at the back end of last season, others say McCarthy demanded he get even fitter before getting a shot.

Tomlin also had problems with Neil Warnock who eventually gave up on Lee Tomlins attitude and fitness.

A £3mill buy and only 34 starts in 4 years for Cardiff City was one of the highest paid players on their pay roll was certainly not enough and will go down in history as player that was very unsuccessful at the Bluebird and if you look back at his career in football that’s happened at all his seven previous clubs.

It was always a tetchy subject whenever it was brought up in press conferences. There was a defensiveness to McCarthy which you rarely saw when he was speaking about other aspects.

Tomlin was named on the bench in the final game of last season and played a part in pre-season, but news of an injury in the final summer match against Newport County brought with it a familiar feeling.

It is clear neither party saw eye to eye when the playmaker was cut from his contract towards the end of the manager's reign, a plot line which sneaked under the radar a little bit as the pressure mounted on McCarthy's shoulders.

At nearly 33 years age his best days that could of been have finally gone now anyway.

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Some tough matches coming up in 2022.
We need to get Wintle, Watters, Whyte and, Murphy(if fit) back. We are in serious danger of getting relegated.

Some tough matches coming up in 2022.
We need to get Wintle, Watters, Whyte and, Murphy(if fit) back. We are in serious danger of getting relegated.

I’m very very worried and I said this back in July and the usual suspects slag me down as I saw it coming, they’ve suddenly stopped posting.