Dave Jones is like marmite you either love him or hate him?

With all the recent posts either backing or most cases sacking Dave Jones below is a blog that i recently wrote for the excellent WTBF fanzine if you have already read it then apologies and feel free to ignore If however you haven't and you're bored then you might find it interesting feel free to comment but no abuse please and remember it's only my personal opinion

Anyone who posts on either of the 2 main City message boards will now that there is always a healthy debate on the merits of Dave Jones as City Manager with some fans thinking he’s the Devil Incarnate and others he’s the best thing since sliced bread. Most of these debates seem to happen after we have played and dependent on the result range from Dave Jones must go to Dave Jones should be knighted for his services to Cardiff City FC.

However what does the ordinary city fan think after all the 2 message boards only account for a small percentage of our total support and short of canvassing all 22,000 plus supporters for their views. Then all I can do is give you the view of the ‘ordinary fan ‘(i.e. myself) and the way I view Dave Jones.

First off a bit of background my first visit to watch City was 1969 when my Uncle took me to Ninian Park I would love to be able to tell you I fell in love with Cardiff City FC there and then but to be honest I can’t remember a bloody thing about the match other than City played in Blue and the opposition were in Claret and Blue (Could have been Villa) and that’s about it really. Over the following years I went intermittently with my Uncle until by 1972 I was allowed to go with my mates and started watching City regularly at home and from 74/75 home and away.

Anyway I digress but the point I wanted to make was in following City for nearly 40 years I have seen a lot of Managers come and go some good some not so good and some down right terrible, step forward Alan Durban and take a bow. So who do I think was the best Manager in all my time supporting City was it Jimmy Scoular, Frank Burrows or Eddie May and his Barmy Army well actually it’s none of them it is in fact our current Manager Mr Dave Jones.
At this point all the Dave Jones ‘haters’ have probably spit their coffee all over the page you are reading or torn the offending page out whilst muttering the words ‘you’re having a laugh mate’ So why do I think DJ is the best Manager we have ever had well under him I have seen us play the best football I have ever seen in all my time watching City with pass and move which in some games as totally torn teams apart and any Manager who can take a team over the Severn Bridge and stick 6 past our country Bumpkin cousins on their own carrot patch deserves to go down in City folklore!

We also have the small matter of a FA Cup Final I will say that again the FA Cup Final because every time I say or write those words I have to pinch myself. Let’s be honest who in their wildest dreams ever thought they would see Cardiff City play in a FA Cup Final (Sorry I am shouting again) Also I don’t subscribe to the theory that we had an ‘easy’ passage to the Final because during our run we only played one home fixture and knocked out Premiership Middlesboro on their own Ground and then in the Semis put out the team that had beaten both Chelsea and Liverpool so please don’t tell me we were lucky you earn your place in the FA Cup Final and there was nothing lucky about it and Dave Jones was the man who led us there and for that alone must go down in City history as one of our greatest Managers ever?

Under Dave Jones we have also attained our highest League position since the days when they were still kicking a blown up pigs bladder around and had pikes as goal posts well it seems that long ago anyway! Add to this we have some of the best players ever to wear the famous Bluebirds shirt, Craig Bellamy, Jay Bothroyd, Michael Chopra, Peter Whittingham, Chris Burke, Aaron Ramsey (All too briefly) although he is now back on loan from Arsenal.
Even the much maligned Gavin Rae and Mark Hudson (Who I actually think is half decent) are superstars in comparison to some of the dross I have had the misfortune to see in a City shirt. Anyone who can remember ‘names’ like Billy Woof, Kevin Meacock, Toshack (Cameron not John obviously) will know what I mean?
So am I in the camp that believes that Dave Jones walks on water should be knighted and is the Messiah that will lead us to the Promised Land. Well no I am not actually because despite all of the above I happen to think our Manager is far from perfect and so it seems do many of our fans.

Now one of the things I hear regularly levelled at our Manager is he lacks passion mainly because he doesn’t run up and down the touchline waving his arms screaming and shouting like a banshee AKA Neil Warnock. Personally I couldn’t care less if we had a Trappist Monk as a Manager if he gets results and got us promoted would it matter a dam?
So onto the second criticism of Dave Jones he his tactically inept can only play one way and when that fails we have no Plan B. Now as we all know Dave Jones likes his 4 4 2 which is a bit like saying the Jacks are well balanced fans (They have a chip on both shoulders)

Dave Jones is Mr 4 4 2 and only occasionally veers from is tried and trusted formation and whether you prefer 3 5 2 or 4 5 1 or diamonds, Christmas trees ,holding midfielders, sweepers or any other formation you choose you got admit DJ’s tried and tested 4 4 2 is pretty effective after all it got us to the FA Cup Final the Play Off Final and we currently sit 3rd in the Championship 6 points behind the Leaders with a game in hand!

Then he is accused of being unable to change a game once we go behind and although I am not one for statistics the records show that we have a very poor ratio of winning having gone a goal behind. Also when a game seems to be running away from us he seems powerless to change it and reluctant to make substitutions until it’s far too late. In his defence however I think up until this season we have lacked squad depth and any players on the bench who could come on and change a game. I must admit however over the years some of his substitutions or lack of substitutions have baffled me and many a time I have joined in the chants of ‘Jonsey Jonsey sort it out’

Talking of being baffled one of the regular features of Dave Jones and his sides is that we can go on a run playing sublime football sweeping all before us and having the fans convinced we are going up as Champions and will be promoted by March. Only to be followed by a slump where we can’t string two passes together and look like a bunch of strangers leaving the fans convinced we are relegation fodder and many calling for Dave Jones head.
I have no explanation for this and having seen it happen again this season with 5 wins on the trot in October taking us to the top of the table only to be followed by a monumental slump in form through November and December cumulating with a 3-0 loss to the carrot crunchers on New Years Day.
This was followed by a return to form which as seen us secure 2 wins and a draw against some of our main promotion rivals. As I have said baffling and just something that occurs under DJs reign which seems as inevitable as death and taxes!

Dave Jones is also accused of being insular and unapproachable and unable to relate to us City fans or our history he also seems to have regular spats with the local media. Mind you taking into account some of the crap written in the local papers you can hardly blame him for not wanting to talk to some of the local hacks! With regards to his persona and his reluctance to engage with to the media and to some extent the fans. I think people should read his autobiography and then they would get an insight into Dave Jones and what is important to him and would certainly understand why he is so guarded of the press after they way he was treated after the allegations made against him while Manager at Southampton.
At the end of the day doing the Ayatollah and waving to the fans is all well and good but I want a Manager who gets results and if he looks as miserable as Avram Grant (Probably the most miserable looking Manager I have ever seen) but gets us promotion at the end of the season then I don’t care if Victor Meldrew is in charge perhaps Victor can be Dave Jones new nick name?

The one thing Dave Jones has done is raise expectations and as a result become a victim of his own success to the extent where people now demand and expect promotion to the Premiership despite the fact that we have no divine right to be there and there are 22 other Clubs striving for the same thing!
So there you have it my opinion of Dave Jones is he is the best Manager we have had in all my years supporting City yes he’s far from perfect and has many faults but if he didn’t he would be managing in the Premiership right now and we would probably still all be moaning about whoever else was in charge?

If he takes us up this season then he will go into the records as one of the greatest Managers in Cardiff City history and even if he fails he will still go into the City annals as the Manager who took us to the FA Cup Final for the first time in 81 years which is not a bad thing to have on your CV.
A CV that he will probably need should he fail in his quest to take us up as I am sure that would mean Dave Jones would depart company with Cardiff City and it will probably only be after he as gone that people will realise what a good Manager we have?

BTW In case you were wondering personally I hate marmite!

fantastic post, i beleive virtually everything you have said, i remember when lennie lawrence got us into the championship and struggled with a cracking side with earnie and gabbidon etc, we then sold these players and DAVEY come in and kept us up and has got better from then til now, i also believe he like you say is a victim of his own success! he has assembled a good squad, NOT GREAT as some say, your squad isn't great when your centre mid are the same of two seasons ago, except olly and koumas, on paper you'd say amazing but in actual fact koumas is not even a shadow of the polayer he once was which leaves the inadequate mcphail and whittingham two players not good enough in the centre!
expectations are high and maybe some fans should look back at those old division 3 games and 2000 crowds and remember where we came from and then remember how supportive our fans were back then even in times of struggle(this is what made me fall in love with cardiff city football club back 15 years ago as an 8 year old footballer myself)how we backed the team all game week in week out, its afr too easy to give abuse to our manager and players, granted sometimes its deserved but e all need to push the right way, whatever happended to that famous support??? i don't see this at home games anymore and thats what dissapoints me, the fact we are poor on form at the moment dissapoints me less than our famous support, we just don;t seem to want it enough as fans which can be heard from the pitch, its a lonely place on that pitch sometimes players need a boost not a mauling!!
support the team til then end the dream is still alive it could still happen!!

Well I hate Marmite

Well I hate Marmite

I hate Marmite as well as DJ

fantastic post, i beleive virtually everything you have said, i remember when lennie lawrence got us into the championship and struggled with a cracking side with earnie and gabbidon etc, we then sold these players and DAVEY come in and kept us up and has got better from then til now, i also believe he like you say is a victim of his own success! he has assembled a good squad, NOT GREAT as some say, your squad isn't great when your centre mid are the same of two seasons ago, except olly and koumas, on paper you'd say amazing but in actual fact koumas is not even a shadow of the polayer he once was which leaves the inadequate mcphail and whittingham two players not good enough in the centre!
expectations are high and maybe some fans should look back at those old division 3 games and 2000 crowds and remember where we came from and then remember how supportive our fans were back then even in times of struggle(this is what made me fall in love with cardiff city football club back 15 years ago as an 8 year old footballer myself)how we backed the team all game week in week out, its afr too easy to give abuse to our manager and players, granted sometimes its deserved but e all need to push the right way, whatever happended to that famous support??? i don't see this at home games anymore and thats what dissapoints me, the fact we are poor on form at the moment dissapoints me less than our famous support, we just don;t seem to want it enough as fans which can be heard from the pitch, its a lonely place on that pitch sometimes players need a boost not a mauling!!
support the team til then end the dream is still alive it could still happen!!

Agree 100% what you said about our support (or lack of it) i have seen some piss poor City sides in the past but we still got behind them both home and away. The only thing i would say is the players could do a lot more by starting at a high tempo and encouraging the fans to get behind them a bit of arm waving and fist pumping wouldn't go amiss