" Cardiff City must spend money to avoid mediocrity "

" Cardiff City must spend money to avoid mediocrity "


By Delme Parfitt May 5 2012


CARDIFF CITY are more than capable of going to West Ham tomorrow and getting a draw, possibly even that early goal everyone seems to believe can put the play-off semi-final back into the melting pot.

But turning the tie around completely and going to Wembley for the final?

I don’t see it happening for a minute because the gulf in class on Thursday, a terrible night for the Bluebirds, was simply too yawning.


That’s the short term prediction out of the way, now to take a look at the longer term.

Unless Cardiff can bolster fundamental areas of the side for next season then they will be doomed to mediocrity rather than being able to push on and finally nail that Premier League promotion.

On that front, Thursday may eventually prove a blessing in disguise because it showed up just why Mackay’s current squad, even though they’ve punched above their weight all season, simply isn’t good enough.

Above all, Cardiff need a big target man up front, not so they can lump long hopeful balls upfield, but to give them a quality outlet which they so painfully lack at present.

Kenny Miller has his strengths, despite criticism of his lean spells, but in Carlton Cole, the Hammers had a go-to man the Bluebirds must have envied.

Cole is in some ways an unfair comparison because he is so exceptional at Championship level and, were it not for past inconsistency, I’m convinced he would now be with a top Premier League club.

But you get the drift. On Thursday, Cardiff’s midfielders, who were harried to within an inch of their lives anyway, had nothing to aim for in front of them.

They subsequently ended up knocking the ball back to Mark Hudson, whose attempts at picking out team mates with long balls were hardly Beckham-like. Those midfielders, in my eyes, should have taken more responsibility, but at least a big target man would have provided something of an outlet.

While we’re talking about the midfield, that’s another section in need of urgent remedial work if Cardiff are to kick on from here next season.

Peter Whittingham is called Premier League class, and perhaps potentially he is, we don’t know for sure because he hasn’t played at that level for any period of time.

But if the Bluebirds are to get the best out of the former England Under-21 man then they need to bring in more quality around him.

Don Cowie, Aron Gunnarsson, Liam Lawrence... they’ve all given everything this season, but with the greatest respect, they are not going to make the difference in terms of the club making the next step.

In Gary O’Neill, Mark Noble and Kevin Nolan, West Ham showed just what having players a class above can do.Cardiff had nothing to match any of them, which was why the key midfield battleground was so badly lost.

And it wasn’t the first time players who have been there and done it at the higher level have put Whittingham in the shade.

Barry Ferguson did the same to him when Blackpool won 3-1 at the Cardiff City Stadium back in February. Ferguson ran the show from start to finish, just as Noble did.

The final compartment in need of investment? Out wide.

Cardiff have to find one, or even better two, wingmen with zip and creativity who can terrorise Championship defences in the same way Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair did for Swansea when they were promoted 12 months ago.

Sure, those types do not grow on trees, but that’s why Mackay has to be backed financially to find a different class of player this summer.

Blackpool have that type of match-winner in Matt Phillips. Cardiff have sorely been lacking that individual the whole year, with Craig Conway failing to make the impact we had hoped for.

Twelve months ago, having thrown a pile of cash at a star-studded squad and part-funded the loan signing of Craig Bellamy, you could understand reluctance among Cardiff’s Malaysian owners to go on another spending spree after Dave Jones’ failure to secure promotion. But now those who hold the club purse strings have a major decision to make – do they stick or twist?

Do they instruct Mackay to wheel and deal on a shoestring budget and cross their fingers that he can re-energise Cardiff enough to scrape into the play-offs again next time?

Or do they give him the resources to mould a side that, quality-wise, is good enough to compete with the best this league will have to offer?

One thing is certain – it is not going to get any easier.

When it all kicks off again in August, expect Leeds under Neil Warnock, Leicester City, Hull and perhaps a revived Nottingham Forest to have a right old go. Add Wolves, and whoever else comes down out of Blackburn, Bolton, QPR or even Aston Villa, to also present major hurdles.

Well, brilliantly as Mackay has done in the last year, he is not a miracle worker. If he isn’t given the cash to adequately address the above issues, then it’s going to be mid-table at best for Cardiff in my view.

" It’s up to the Malaysians..... "




Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... z1u4XwVpY1

i must admit while watching the game on thursday night im not the one usually to want former players back once they go they go but apart of me was wishing we could have done with bothroyd

I said this a few weeks ago. Our club must strengthen next season we all know, but i feel we need at least eleven quality new players in all positions in order too really push on. Anything less & we will just go around in circles.
But maybe there are a few people connected too our club who are more than happy to see this stagnant situation continue???

We will continue to be the bridesmaid until the Langstone and other debt issues are cleared and we are able to invest the type of money required to get us up. Hopefully those debt issues will be sorted sooner rather than later. However it has to be sorted out quickly because you can be sure sides like Leicester and all those clubs in receipt of parachute payments will be spending big. Its not a level playing field for Cardiff City at the moment, we have been very much punching above our weight as the writer above states. Fingers crossed the debt issues will be sorted, if they don't mid table it will be next season.

Good comments & agree entirely.

I am an avid reader of the forum and rarely feel that i have the expertise or knowledge to post, but i must say that your summation and analysis of past, present and future in regard to city is so spot on that I felt I had to post and say thanks for setting things out so clearly and concisely.

Lets all bow to the alter of a rugby journalist who told us the bleeding obvious.

That was a waste of a couple of hundred words, we need to spend, fcuk me ! great insight.

He could have told us the compensation package the blues will need to cough up or can they pay?

The article was fodder on a quite weekend.

Why didnt we strenghen in jan? We were close to the top, in the later stages of the carling cup ( surely a plus in attracting top players). All our rivals added quality( billy sharp, j roberts, dobbie ect). We sat on our hands. Ive yet to hear a conclusive reason for not bringing in a couple of quality players in jan. I'll ask again, Why? Why? Why?

Delme 's a rugby man now, but this is a well written article that definately hits a nail. Surely the manager and his staff
can see what we are seeing?.....Although sometimes I'm not so sure!

Kadeem should have ben introduced at some stage this season, he may have been the box of tricks we were missing? We have a SERIOUS lack of pace throughout the WHOLE side...that includes our left back who I am FAR from convinced with. Goals conceeded that side are well into double figures, and he was caught napping for Collinson's second last Thursday.

Take a look at Blackpool's left back who plays more like a winger, outting in telling crosses and is nippy in his own right. Taylor seems to strut around and is not switched on enough for me, yet the shirt has had no competition all season?

We are in serious need of strengthening in the close season, let's hope the manager is given GENUINE funds. I firmly believe they were NOT there in the January window.

Wiggy

You can't rebuild in the winter.

I hope this seasons team was a team of necessity and not Malkys philosophy.

The supposed chasing of Noone or Philips tells me Malky is a 433 guy. The team is packed with central midfielder's, 2 good centre half's and a championship goalie.

We overachieved up to Christmas and a 46 game league tells us we were the 6th best team, a third of a very small squad will be going next month.

Players whose clubs could command £2 million fees over Christmas will barely get £750K over the summer. So of course we need to spend, but we may only have a £5million annual budget that will go a lot further in the summer than one or two player over christmas.

There will be no change until Sam & PMG bugger off. And i have a horrible feeling things are not going to change until 2016 when time is up to pay sam back

You have to remember that West Ham had a wage bill of around 50m last year and haven't got rid of many players. So they are still spending at that level and they still may not get promoted. If anyone thinks Cardiff should spend the 15-20m it would take to bring similar players in and double or triple the wage bill they are crazy. We are punching at exactly our weight in terms of size of club (although there are many in the premiership punching above their weight). We need to target free transfers, loans and take chances on youngsters and hope to continue our run of getting in the playoffs. Anything else would be financial suicide for the club.

We do need strikers and wingers, not so much midfielders for me but I expect wheeling and dealing rather than splashing the cash. Comparisons with West Ham are stupid.

With Wolves and the likes of Bolton,Blackburn and Villa dropping down this league will be another stepup again from this year. Would have been nice to have seen Kadeem Harris given the chance yes he looks like a star for the future.Surely the malaysians must spend in the summer now? Hopefully ready for premiership after West Ham are put away and we win the final!!

I expect West Ham and Birmingham to go into financial meltdown if they don't get promoted. Wolves and Blackpool would be my bet to be up there next year with Leicester and Sheff Wed possibilities to spend wildly. I think Bolton and Blackburn could be a mess financially if they get relegated so who knows how that will effect things on the pitch. QPR's fortunes if relegated will be completely down to the owners willingness to spend his own money. So top ten challenging for top six shouldn't be that much more difficult than this year.

I've said this all season, quality was going to be our downfall.Thursday was living proof of that.

Personally I feel the 3 clubs coming down wont be such a threat unless they spend wisely. Those coming up are nothing either. There are 3 quality teams in this league that wont be here next season, Reading, Southampton and most likely West Ham. Now its starting to look like a mediocre division like it was last season.

Of course there are a couple of teams that will get their act together such as Leicester, Forest, Ipswich and Leeds but after that there is nothing there that scares me. So it will be a good chance to take advantage and finally go up. However that is only going to happen if we find that quality this summer.

You have to remember that West Ham had a wage bill of around 50m last year and haven't got rid of many players. So they are still spending at that level and they still may not get promoted. If anyone thinks Cardiff should spend the 15-20m it would take to bring similar players in and double or triple the wage bill they are crazy. We are punching at exactly our weight in terms of size of club (although there are many in the premiership punching above their weight). We need to target free transfers, loans and take chances on youngsters and hope to continue our run of getting in the playoffs. Anything else would be financial suicide for the club.

We do need strikers and wingers, not so much midfielders for me but I expect wheeling and dealing rather than splashing the cash. Comparisons with West Ham are stupid.

I totally agree with you mate, not so much revolution but evolution. Pointless making comparisons with WHU, but we should be comparing ourselves with everyone else in this league, we are now the fifth best supported club in this league and are pretty much finishing where a club of our size should be.
Unfortunately for us supporters, we don't know exactly what is happening behind the scenes with the relationship between the various owners and so we have no real understanding of how much money Malky has. Its fair to say that as we didn't buy
the three players that we so obviously needed in January to give us the extra that in my opinion would have kept us in the top two, then we can only assume that the owners are neither willing nor able to take that calculated risk.
Through those actions or more accurately lack of action in the January transfer window, I would say that unless something dramatic happens with Langston and PMG, then it will be a summer of whealing and dealing.

This season was about one thing, laying down a foundation to build upon in the future.


I believe we have done that.

MM has shown an ability as a manager to compete at this level and has shown what the club needs by highlighting players such as Matt Phillips and Marvin Sordell.

Our Backers need to show MM that they also have the ability to compete at this level.

MediaWales + Delme Parfitt = Utter Bollocks article it's as simple as that so do us a favour Delme crawl back under whichever rock you live in and stay there. Better still crawl back to Cardiff Arms Park with the rest of the egg chasers and stay there.

For me the reality is that we have punched well above our weight this season and Malkay Mackay and the team have delivered a fantastic season. We all hoped we would make the playoffs but some thought because of a lack of spending we would drop away, we didn't, and let's be fair how mant thought we would reach the Carling Cup Final and deliver that performance.

No mention from Delme about the quality in the Liverpool squad or of the game our players, and manager,gave them that day. But there was one big difference between Thursday night and the Carling Cup Final and that is Liverpool wanted a game of football and West Ham wanted to stifle any life out of the game.

Despite having a budget over 3 times higher than ours West Ham showed our group of players total respect by deciding to close down any hope of there being a free flowing game of football. We simply cannot hope to compete with the level of spending West Ham have this season and let's face it they have had £18m of Premier League parachute payments which is more than our entire budget.

I have no doubt there will be changes this summer and yes we will buy some players, maybe we will also sell some, but one thing we will not be doomed to mediocirty next season not on the football pitch anyway not with this manager.

And let's face it Parfitt your not fit to wipe Peter Whittinghams backside let alone even comment on his ability as a footballer. This man has just played every minute of every Championship game, was again out top goalscrorer with the highest number of assists and he hit the woodwork more often than any other player. He has had a magnificent season and little wonder West Ham set out to stop him playing.

No one knows yet how the game will go tomorrow but whatever the result I'm already looking forward to next season under Malkay Mackay.

The tone and direction of this article is bollocks and is far too easy to write after a defeat where we were unlucky to be two goals shy.

We have something that money can't buy - a team. A genuine team ethic and culture which has been assembled by a talented young manager who understands the passion we have for our club and what it means to where the jersey.

I'll take that all day over what splashing the cash brings. West Ham this year have mirrored our season last year where we had a star studded squad at this level and were favourites for automatic. The expectation that brought, along with the negative atmosphere within the stands and surrounding the club has also been witnessed at West Ham this year. It's not an enjoyable experience and with fractions at the club, it's hardly the manner in which you want to acheive your ultimate footballing dream.

I said it many times last season, I was fussed at all going up under Dave Jones as it never felt for one minute the fans and club alike were all as one - to reach the Premiership you envisage a perfect times but the manner in which we reached the Play Offs took all enjoyment out for me largely due to jumped up high earning players at this level and a tw*t of a manager who didnt give a f**k for this part of the of world, it was just a job.

Give me Malky on showstring budget and a safe club financially everyday of the week thanks. The grass aint greener the other side

Proof if proof was ever needed that rugger and those who write about it are the REAL enemy of the football club.

Proof if proof was ever needed that rugger and those who write about it are the REAL enemy of the football club.

All I will say is we had the players with the right attitude this season and guts/bottle/determination/never say die, but we were missing about 3 real quality players in my opinion.

Craig Conway failing to make the impact we had hoped for.

I disagree with this.
He was excellent at the start of the season chipping in with plenty of goals and assists, and he had the bollocks to take a man on and beat him. Then he did go through a barron spell around mid-season where he wasn't featuring. IMO if we had used him for the Millwall away game and Boro home games we would have picked up more points.
He then came back into the frame for the Pompey home game and was MOTM, played excellent, got an assist and a goal. Played brilliantly again 4 days later in the Carling Cup semi-final, then got a goal a week later against Southampton.
For some reason he disappeared after this and we left him on the bench for the Cup Final. IMO if he hadn't took Kev off for Darcy, but instead brought Conway on for Rudy, we would have won that shootout, or even won it in extra time (Rudy was injured, Conway was fresh)
Again he was left out and we didn't see him untill we played Watford where he suffered that season ending injury. He was the only player on that pitch with a bit of determination in that game and when he went off we lost everything.


So all in all, if he didn't suffer that injury he would have been a regular at the moment and we would be playing Brum in the semi finals and going to St Andrews with a lead

All I will say is we had the players with the right attitude this season and guts/bottle/determination/never say die, but we were missing about 3 real quality players in my opinion.

And your spot on Annis who knows what would have happened if we had pulled off the Sordell deal.

Whatever happens tomorrow, and I still believe we have a chance, this summer will see round 2 of MM squad rebuilding and I'm already looking forward to Carl updating us on the player movements, in and out, and to the new fixtures coming out, the pre season fixtures and of course the start of the new season.

For me MM and this team have given me back my love of this club and money just cannot buy that. Absolutely nothing mediocre about that.

MM and the Team have done Us proud this season anyway you look at it' But let's get to the nitty of it. (1) Reading and Southampton promoted with 0 budget compared to Westham-Leicester etc..and promoted with 2-3 added players in January.
(2) CCFC were 2nd at one point in January, most chairman sitting pretty at that stage would have insisted their manager should strengthen.
(3)Why do people keep talking about the myth of large amount of money invested in players last season? CB apart with a handfull of games from Rambo what players cost us so dear? Bywater''Brown''Kumas'' a yp from the gooners''Parkin''??? Its embarrassing every time the press has the nerve to print pathetic spin.
(4)The Press hounded a previous owner of CCFC for leaving the Club in far better shape than it is now ie.... 72M reportedly loosing 1.2M a Month With no stand out assets is horrifying compared to 29M but leaving assets like Ledley-Ramsay and Co.
Bottom line Our Club has been pillaged, only MM His staff and Players have been true to the Fans and the Clubs Name. Then it's Parasites top to bottom I'm afraid!!!

Craig Conway failing to make the impact we had hoped for.

I disagree with this.
He was excellent at the start of the season chipping in with plenty of goals and assists, and he had the bollocks to take a man on and beat him. Then he did go through a barron spell around mid-season where he wasn't featuring. IMO if we had used him for the Millwall away game and Boro home games we would have picked up more points.
He then came back into the frame for the Pompey home game and was MOTM, played excellent, got an assist and a goal. Played brilliantly again 4 days later in the Carling Cup semi-final, then got a goal a week later against Southampton.
For some reason he disappeared after this and we left him on the bench for the Cup Final. IMO if he hadn't took Kev off for Darcy, but instead brought Conway on for Rudy, we would have won that shootout, or even won it in extra time (Rudy was injured, Conway was fresh)
Again he was left out and we didn't see him untill we played Watford where he suffered that season ending injury. He was the only player on that pitch with a bit of determination in that game and when he went off we lost everything.

Can you remind me of the game, where he took on a man and beat him. Either i missed that game or i fell asleep.
So all in all, if he didn't suffer that injury he would have been a regular at the moment and we would be playing Brum in the semi finals and going to St Andrews with a lead

Completely agree with this!

Another dig at Cardiff City by an egg-chaser.

'Don Cowie, Aron Gunnarsson, Liam Lawrence... they’ve all given everything this season, but with the greatest respect, they are not going to make the difference in terms of the club making the next step.'

What the f**k is this guy going on about? The whole article is bollocks; an article you can tell was written by an egg-chaser. The three players mentioned above are three quality players and have all performed well for us this season. Gunnarsson in particular has been a very good signing and IMO could play in the Premier League. Lawrence as well. I'm not too sure about Cowie (I am a fan of his) but he could probably make the step up. As for this Parfitt, I bet the guy has never f*cking seen them play!

The guy dont know much about rugby(fans think hes a joke).I wudnt take any notice of him writing about football players as he just writes to fill spaces in the daily rag on a quiet day.