' THE REBIRTH OF CARDIFF CITY - THE INDEPENDENT '

Another nice piece following on from the excellent Guardian interview with BBM.


The Rebirth of Cardiff City
By Daniel Storey
Chief Sports Writer

As the game entered stoppage time, a loud murmur circled the Cardiff City Stadium. It was hard to place at first, not least because whenever I’ve visited this stadium before it’s either to watch bad Cardiff or exultant Wales, very much opposite ends of the noise spectrum. Call it football white noise. The score was 3-3.

Then it hit me. Audible urges, implorations to push forward, those involuntary noises you make when you’re desperate for your team to make you happy: this was the sound of people finally caring. In the final seconds, the score became 4-3. They leapt in twos and threes in the Canton Stand and soon went off to enjoy their Saturday nights.

The last time I came here to watch this team was almost a year ago to the day. It was a pitiful picture, the type of forlornness that leaves you feeling glum even as a neutral. Then the noise was all individual: groans, gripes, swears and deflated near silence.

Now there are almost 4,000 extra people in the ground and everything is one connected mass. You might say the same about Cardiff City.

Back then, it was hard to believe that Cardiff supporters could be happy again, at least not while Vincent Tan was the owner. Everything was a statue to what could have been but wasn’t: wasted stadium, wasted goodwill, wasted fanbase, wasted money and wasted talent.

Tan is still here and going nowhere. On some level, that will always matter because of the unforgivable lines he drew into the sand. If this season is joyful, it was precipitated by a dreadful, avoidable relegation that the owner oversaw.

Still, sport teaches us all to bask whenever pleasure comes along and Cardiff City are top of League One by four points and have a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Chelsea on Tuesday.

Much of the credit must go to Brian Barry-Murphy, whose route here has been circuitous: Rochdale, Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad, Leicester City first-team coach and then, his first major senior managerial role at the age of 47.

You see, if supporters needed to be stirred by the football then Barry-Murphy’s team jolted them awake. Away games are sold out, home crowds are up and suddenly watching Cardiff City play doesn’t feel like a community service punishment. They are open, chaotic and occasionally piping hot nonsense. They are great fun.

Barry-Murphy’s first task was to overhaul the squad to bring down the average age. That work has been monumental, given the timescale. Last season, Cardiff had the ninth oldest squad in the Championship and they now have the third youngest team in the Football League.

Fourteen different players aged 23 or under have played a league game this season and nobody older than 30 has played even a minute.

“Some of our recent managers treated our young players shoddily or signed older players on big money that meant our young players dropped down the pecking order,” says Ben James of the excellent View from the Ninian.

“This summer was about resetting things, but the fact Barry-Murphy has done it so quickly while also taking us top of the league is huge.

“It felt completely natural and makes me wonder what our previous managers were doing.”

Most important of all is the creation of a Welsh core within the squad; that’s really why I’m here.

For too long, Cardiff seemed to lose their appetite to be a producer of young Welsh talent that was given room to breathe in the first team. Last season, only two of their 24 most regular starters in the league were Welsh.

That’s been entirely turned on its head. Of the 10 players with more than 10 league starts so far this season, half are Welsh and aged between 18 and 23. And they’re making a difference.

On Saturday, Isaak Davies assisted the first goal, Cian Ashford scored the second, Joel Bagan (Irish, but graduated from Cardiff’s academy) scored the winner and Ronan Kpakio was excellent at overlapping from right-back.

In the four Wales squads during the last break (Under-17, Under-19, Under-21 and seniors), Cardiff City had 17 different representatives. This should be a non-negotiable, a hardwired truth of the club’s modern existence that everybody must agree to embrace when they take a job.

“We have a responsibility to bring through Welsh footballers otherwise there’s no point having an academy or a youth system,” James says.

“For years, we’d seen players like Bale and Bellamy being part of other clubs’ youth systems.

“Now they are coming from our academy, which is just a really nice thing to be able to say.”

This also just makes complete sense, right? Cardiff City are the club of Wales’ capital in a majoritively English league. That not only gives them an engaged talent pool but also an inherent identity that can bring the community and fanbase closer to the club.

You do not have to choose to back a local lad done good as he develops; it happens subconsciously because we see ourselves and our youngsters in them.

Here, this has never mattered more because of what has come before. Tan isn’t leaving. New benevolent, super-wealthy owners don’t grow on trees and the league ladder is a meritocracy where you earn your place in the Championship.

After years of short-term thinking or no thinking at all, Cardiff have a shot at a newer, brighter, more wholesome and more sustainable future. Long live the white noise we waited years for.

That's a brilliant read.

Easy to forget how grim watching us last season was.

Now, we're not only getting results but it's actually enjoyable to watch.

Thanks for posting, a great summary.

That's a brilliant read.

Easy to forget how grim watching us last season was.

Now, we're not only getting results but it's actually enjoyable to watch.

Thanks for posting, a great summary.

No problem Ned and it follows on from an excellent BBM interview piece in the Guardian. Good to see sports journos now covering us for positive reasons and quite right too.

How good is that?!?!

It’s great to be buoyed by a positive media; and that’s down to BBM, his coaching staffs, and his players!

A very good read.

That's a brilliant read.

Easy to forget how grim watching us last season was.

Now, we're not only getting results but it's actually enjoyable to watch.

Thanks for posting, a great summary.

It's been grim watching us for quite a few seasons to be honest.

That's a brilliant read.

Easy to forget how grim watching us last season was.

Now, we're not only getting results but it's actually enjoyable to watch.

Thanks for posting, a great summary.

No problem Ned and it follows on from an excellent BBM interview piece in the Guardian. Good to see sports journos now covering us for positive reasons and quite right too.

Riza appointment after buluts departure drove fans away,
a man with zilch experience trying to take us forward in the championship nearly broke me i' ll be honest thankfully we are where most fans want to be in all aspects.

That's a brilliant read.

Easy to forget how grim watching us last season was.

Now, we're not only getting results but it's actually enjoyable to watch.

Thanks for posting, a great summary.

No problem Ned and it follows on from an excellent BBM interview piece in the Guardian. Good to see sports journos now covering us for positive reasons and quite right too.

Riza appointment after buluts departure drove fans away,
a man with zilch experience trying to take us forward in the championship nearly broke me i' ll be honest thankfully we are where most fans want to be in all aspects.

BBM was just as much a shot in the dark as Riza. Leaving him in charge for 40 games while the ship was sinking was insane though.

The Future is Bright - The Future is Blue

Brilliant summary of Cardiff.