Every Cardiff City manager of the Vincent Tan era rated:

Every Cardiff City manager of the Vincent Tan era rated:



By Glen Williams

Thursday 15th December 2022

Every Cardiff City manager of the Vincent Tan era rated:






Dave Jones: Was already at Cardiff City when Tan arrived in May 2010, It was Tan who actually sacked Jones in May 2011.

David Kerslake: Kerslake and Joe McBride were placed in charge of the first team at the beginning of December 2013 , They were in charge until 2 January 2014,


Scott Young & Daniel Gabbidon:Young, along with Danny Gabbidon, took over as caretaker manager of Cardiff City after the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjær on 18 September 2014, On 6 October 2014, they stepped down for Russell Slade.







Malky Mackay:

The man who first delivered Premier League football to the capital, albeit subsequent allegations off the pitch clearly taint what should have been a favourable legacy. The Scot temporarily smoothed over, at least partially, the turmoil caused by the change in colour, overseeing the club's strongest home start to a season, which provided the backbone for a successful promotion charge.

An FA investigation took place into inappropriate text messages containing discriminatory content. Although later totally cleared, the scandal caused Malky to drop out of the running to take over at Premier League side Crystal Palace, and he later joined Wigan in 2014. He's now in charge of Ross County.

Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.


Verdict: He did deliver the Premier League dream. 8/10





Ole Gunnar Solskjaer:

The Norwegian followed on from Mackay in a bid to keep the Bluebirds in the Premier League. It proved a hugely difficult reign, and he failed to keep Cardiff up. A poor start to life back in the Championship saw him sacked the following September. After a brief spell back in Norway with Molde, he was appointed caretaker boss of former club Manchester United in 2018 and stayed four years before departing.

Perhaps the only one on this list to move to better things, his reign in the capital has largely become the butt of many a joke among Cardiff fans. Currently without a club.

Verdict: A huge disappointment in the end. 2/10




Russell Slade:

Tasked with picking up the pieces following Solskjaer's largely disastrous reign, he had to oversee a number of first team exits as the club looked to balance the books. Still had a decent squad though and guided the team to 11th and eighth placed finishes in the course of his two-year reign.

Tan had initially said he hoped Slade would rival Arsene Wenger in terms of longevity, but supporters never quite bought into it and attendances dropped amid what many felt was a dire standard of football. Was moved upstairs to become the club's 'head of football', but stepped down from his new role in June 2016 after just two weeks.

He's now without a club after leaving non-league Hereford by mutual consent in 2020.

Verdict: Did the cost cutting but lots of fans simply didn't take to him. 5/10





Paul Trollope:

Lasted just 12 games of the 2016-17 season, winning only two of them before being sacked in the November.

Would later go on to be Chris Hughton's assistant at Brighton and Nottingham Forest.

Hasn't yet returned to management, with his spell at Cardiff a real low point.

Verdict: Was a miserable appointment. 2/10






Neil Warnock:

Surely the most successful of the Tan era. Was sent in to perform a salvage job in 2016, yet mounted an astonishing assault on promotion the following season. Cardiff finished second behind winners Wolverhampton Wanderers to return to the big time.

Once again they failed to maintain their place in the top flight, but not without one heck of a fight. Were VAR in existence back then for a controversial Chelsea goal, the Bluebirds might well have retained their Premier League place.

Warnock was sacked after a disappointing start to the following campaign back in the Championship, and there are some sections of Cardiff fans, who believe his reign is at least partially to blame for some of the club's current problems. An inability to really bring any young players through the ranks, as well as several expensive flops during his time as manager were clearly blots on his legacy in the capital.

But to dwell on those criticisms would be to overlook his success on the pitch, which so far hasn't been topped.

Verdict: Brought a broken club back together again. 9/10






Neil Harris:

To follow on from Warnock was always going to be a tough task, but Harris initially did it quite well, although results were admittedly mixed during the early days of his reign. A thumping defeat at Queens Park Rangers saw many a knife sharpened in terms of his future, but he recovered brilliantly following the enforced break for Covid.

Cardiff won six of their last nine games that season to muscle their way into the play-offs, where they were unfortunately seen off by Fulham. Harris was dismissed the following season following a run of six straight defeats, and is now in charge of Gillingham in League Two.

Verdict: Tan liked him a lot, but many fans begged to differ. 6/10









Mick McCarthy:

He was only supposed to be a short-term stop-gap for the Bluebirds, but a run of six consecutive victories clearly forced the hand of the hierarchy and Big Mick was handed a two-year deal.

The Yorkshireman responded with some hugely strange selection calls, the nadir coming early in the following season when he decided to play five centre-backs in a match against West Brom and did the same versus Swansea. He was then humiliated by old pal Warnock, whose Middlesbrough side condemned McCarthy to an eighth straight defeat, which ultimately saw him dismissed.

It wasn't all bad. He did help the emergence of promising youngsters like Joel Bagan, Isaak Davies, Mark Harris and Rubin Colwill.

But on the whole, the football was dreary, the results were poor, and McCarthy's inability to move with the times ultimately proved fatal.

Verdict: Started well, finished appallingly. 2/10



Steve Morison:

Again, took over in an interim role, and saw his chances of taking over long-term initially dismissed by chairman Mehmet Dalman.

However, Morison changed the brand of football, and turned results around to keep Cardiff away from the relegation zone.

He was entrusted to rip up and rebuild an ageing and largely stale team over the summer, bringing in 17 players. An indifferent start to the season then saw Tan's finger get twitchy once more, and Morison was shown the door.

The decision shocked Cardiff fans. Currently eyeing a return to management.

Verdict: Perhaps the trigger was pulled too soon, but Tan felt Cardiff were going down under Morison. 6/10










Mark Hudson:

Another stop-gap, the third on the trot, who was then given the job full-time. Can he last more time than McCarthy or Morison?

If we're honest, there's not been an awful lot of improvement from the Morison era in terms of results on the pitch. A run of six defeats in their last nine games has left the Bluebirds in real danger of getting sucked into a relegation battle.

Dropping down to League One would be utterly catastrophic, and if Cardiff happen to be in the bottom three in the new year, Hudson could well find himself under pressure.

He's clearly a respected figure inside the dressing room and among the members of the hierarchy. However, results have to improve, for more reasons than one.

Verdict: He needs to get results and fast, although we'll hold off on a mark for the time being.

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think the Malky era and Warnock era are two completely different times at the club. Warnock sort of united the fans again, off the field, and did a great job taking a team facing relegation to promotion. might be more biased for me, as i refused to acknowledge the red era, i didn't go once whilst we were red, i refused, so i don't acknowledge them days

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To the clown Owens, Warnock got 90 points and Malky 87. Top or second didn’t matter we went up.

Take into account the money Malky had compared to Warnock and it clearly shows Warnock deserves higher than Malky.

To the clown Owens, Warnock got 90 points and Malky 87. Top or second didn’t matter we went up.

Take into account the money Malky had compared to Warnock and it clearly shows Warnock deserves higher than Malky.

Agree ,malky totally cocked up the money he was given , at the time it was a record war chest given to a promoted team and he bought acon and Bradford,both never played

Malky, in my time, one of the greats and brought success and money in to the club, made mistakes, so did Fergie, Jealously by Tan ruined Malky. loved by so many Malky, so many fans still respect and are so grateful to him, nothing beats his achievements
Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.

Malky, in my time, one of the greats and brought success and money in to the club, made mistakes, so did Fergie, Jealously by Tan ruined Malky. loved by so many Malky, so many fans still respect and are so grateful to him, nothing beats his achievements
Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.

Dave Jones reached play offs and FA Cup final. Would have smashed the title had he been given the money Malky was and would have bought better players in the premier league.

Malky, in my time, one of the greats and brought success and money in to the club, made mistakes, so did Fergie, Jealously by Tan ruined Malky. loved by so many Malky, so many fans still respect and are so grateful to him, nothing beats his achievements
Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.

Dave Jones reached play offs and FA Cup final. Would have smashed the title had he been given the money Malky was and would have bought better players in the premier league.

Why do you say that Neil?

Dave Jones time in the Premier with Wolves is nothing to brag about.

Malky, in my time, one of the greats and brought success and money in to the club, made mistakes, so did Fergie, Jealously by Tan ruined Malky. loved by so many Malky, so many fans still respect and are so grateful to him, nothing beats his achievements
Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.

Dave Jones reached play offs and FA Cup final. Would have smashed the title had he been given the money Malky was and would have bought better players in the premier league.

Why do you say that Neil?

Dave Jones time in the Premier with Wolves is nothing to brag about.

Correct Ian.

Plus Dave Jones had 6 yrs at Cardiff with some of the biggest names and failed to win anything.
The money Dave Jones had towards wages was beyond massive at the time.

DJ was the nearly man.

Just give Malky the credit he deserves.

Malky, in my time, one of the greats and brought success and money in to the club, made mistakes, so did Fergie, Jealously by Tan ruined Malky. loved by so many Malky, so many fans still respect and are so grateful to him, nothing beats his achievements
Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.

Dave Jones reached play offs and FA Cup final. Would have smashed the title had he been given the money Malky was and would have bought better players in the premier league.

Why do you say that Neil?

Dave Jones time in the Premier with Wolves is nothing to brag about.

Correct Ian.

Plus Dave Jones had 6 yrs at Cardiff with some of the biggest names and failed to win anything.
The money Dave Jones had towards wages was beyond massive at the time.

DJ was the nearly man.

Just give Malky the credit he deserves.

Jones was given just £4 million when Wolves were promoted to the premier league.

I’m not not giving Malky credit, I’m just saying I think Warnock did a better job and that DJ would have had he had the same money to spend as Malky.

Dave Jones was surrounded by quality players and they played good football for Cardiff.
Players on high wages , big names, strikers etc etc
But he was arrogant, selfish, pigheaded , lazy, no control of his players and Won Cardiff Sweet FA

Those are the facts.

I was just looking just look at the players he had, he should of won the Championship twice over, a bottler.

You search his squad 2007-08-09

Incredible

Dave Jones was surrounded by quality players and they played good football for Cardiff.
Players on high wages , big names, strikers etc etc
But he was arrogant, selfish, pigheaded , lazy, no control of his players and Won Cardiff Sweet FA

Those are the facts.

I was just looking just look at the players he had, he should of won the Championship twice over, a bottler.

You search his squad 2007-08-09

Incredible

Incredible squad he assembled with a net gain in the transfer market.

Definite bottlers though. Did the same with Wolves.

Malky, in my time, one of the greats and brought success and money in to the club, made mistakes, so did Fergie, Jealously by Tan ruined Malky. loved by so many Malky, so many fans still respect and are so grateful to him, nothing beats his achievements
Reached play -offs , Cup Final and the Championship Title in two seasons.