Championship Preview – Cardiff

Posted on | August 6, 2010 | No Comments

Cardiff enter the new season following playoff final misery, although that won’t be the only thing that’s been on their minds this summer. The club’s financial issues have been widely publicised and due to problems with their most recent accounts, they are under a transfer embargo which only permits loan signings. Already one or two members of the club have voiced their frustration and it appears as though this could be a massive season for the Bluebirds. A defeat in the play off final usually has two outcomes; an instant promotion or a very poor season. At the moment it looks as though the club could be heading for the latter, with everything seemingly going wrong at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Last summer was a completely different affair though and the Bluebirds spent bucket loads in the transfer market. The bulk of that was on Michael Chopra, who joined from Sunderland for £4m, while millions of pounds was also spent on David Marshall, Mark Hudson, Anthony Gerrard and Paul Quinn not to mention one or two loan signings. With that, Cardiff had a very talented squad at their disposal and as usual, the goal was promotion. Throughout the whole season they were up there with the top six and while they never really threatened the automatic positions, they were always classed as one of the strongest teams in the league. In the end, Dave Jones led them to 4^th position with a points tally of seventy six. However, despite an impressive campaign it was all to end in tears as after progressing to the play off final, the Bluebirds were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Blackpool. With financial concerns growing, certain people probably knew that this failed attempt at reaching the top flight would mean a summer of worry.

For the past few years we’ve been used to writing pages and pages about Cardiff’s transfer activity but this summer it’s a little different. Other than goalkeeper Tom Heaton who signed on a free transfer from Manchester United, the Bluebirds haven’t signed a single player and that’s all down to their transfer embargo. Dave Jones has publicly stated that he’s lost out on so many players due to the embargo, which only allows the club to make loan signings. The new rule in the Premiership hasn’t helped them out either, as clubs in the top flight are unwilling to loan out anyway player until they are sure of their set 25-man-squad. On the flip side, the club have as of yet just lost one player, with that being Joe Ledley. The club opted on numerous occasions not to sell the Cardiff-born winger and in the end, Celtic managed to snap him once his contract expired. Seeing as it was a Scottish club who made the move, it all meant that Cardiff would not receive a penny despite him being at the club since being a teenager. To make matters worse for the Bluebirds, various players have already come out to the media and vented their frustration. Record signing Michael Chopra claimed in a newspaper that if the club don’t sign any players soon he will be considering his future and those sorts of comments are the last thing that supporters need to be hearing in the club’s current predicament.

Cardiff may have huge off the field problems, but as it stands, they have only lost the one player in Joe Ledley. What’s more, in Dave Jones they have one of the best managers in the league and as long as he stays loyal, the Bluebirds will always have a fighting chance. Still, while Jones might well be a good manager you can’t ignore the small issue of a transfer embargo. Through the loss of Ledley and the minimal transfer activity, it’s clear the Bluebirds have gone backwards and you can’t expect them to achieve anything like last season’s success. The bookies are generally offering odds of 9/2 for promotion, which puts them way down the favourites list and hints that they are tipped more for a mid-table finish. This is something that we agree with although if their embargo is at least lifted for the second transfer window, they may have an outside chance of netting one of the last play off positions. For now though, we’ll predict a mid-table finish.

Related posts:

1. Championship Preview: Cardiff
2. Portsmouth v Cardiff Preview
3. Burnley v Cardiff Preview
4. Cardiff v Doncaster Preview
5. Cardiff v Doncaster Preview

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