| + Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
Good read Bob it's such a shame we had numbskulls in charge of buying players the last few years with the money we spent you would like to think we would've had a decent return when sold but instead we've wasted even more money because we've had to pay most of them off. On to these other clubs in the championship spending mental money I just can't see it being sustainable if derby don't go up this year surely next season they will be in big trouble
Cornelius' fee is looking cheaper and cheaper by the window. I think we just have to accept that he was at the start of if players showed any glimpse of potential then they would go for Ł6 million plus. This of course shows just how poor a negotiating position we are in currently.
Malky did waste an awful lot of money when preparing us in the summer prior to premier league football however the number of transfers, fees and wages paid out since should not have anyone in the club still talking about his failure in that window, especially when Tan made a point about being personally involved in Ole's windows.
We have certainly tightened out belts in recent times but I'm strangely hopeful that things are on the right track, even though the smallest of steps are being taken and the football (bar 45 minutes here or there) has not been up to much.
A well researched and thoughtful piece again, Paul.
I have lost most of my pre-season optimism when the club and manager were saying all the right things - because we then saw the new playing system fail to deliver in a few matches, the academy staff cuts were leaked, Marshall was sold and the black dog settled over all CCFC messageboards and forums.
However, I am still hopeful of a reasonably safe season - upper mid table, fitness and new playing style embedded and working, real evidence of youth players having a route to the first team, and more entertaining performances than we got used to under Slade. That means I have a (maybe naively) more positive assessment of the squad than you have given. I hope we sign another keeper (free agent with experience - ex Premier League?), that we get the formula right in the midfield (O'Keefe and Huws may be key) and that the work on the training ground shows on matchdays.
I'm very happy with the signings of Immers, Huws and Lambert. I am hopeful that the rest come good, even if there has been a 'period of adjustment' for some.
On the opinions of other clubs' fans when we have signed one of their ex-players, I think they're generally worth the square route of naff all. What was it our lot said when Dimi departed? Try convincing Boro fans of that view now.
I was initially encouraged by Lambert's transfer as I've always thought his skills as a footballer were underestimated. However, I've been alarmed that the consensus of Albion fans seems to be that he has 'lost his legs' after being sidelined from first team football for so long.
Still, there's always the paraplegic Olympics, I suppose...
I think you are right.We tried throwing money at it and got nowhere.Put yourself in Tans shoes would you spend good money after bad for the likes of Ole to stock pile players on large wages only for them to sit around doing naff all.Like you agree re the fans take no notice and form your own opinions.Originally Posted by jon1959
But Tan was involved right in the centre of the procedure which brought in these players on large wages who sit around doing naff all. I can only think of John Brayford as a player signed in pre Transfer Committee days who would fall into that category. Maybe the penny has finally dropped for Tan, but it sure took long enough for it to happen and the Cornelius episode happened long before it did so.
Regarding supporters' comments on players who have left their clubs, I always believed that they were the best guide you could get as to how good or bad a new City signing was, but I accept that in recent years it seems that it takes a lot less for players or teams to be labelled "shit", "crap", "worst ever" etc. etc and so the opinions being expressed become less meaningful.
I've seen parallels drawn between the Rickie Lambert deal and the signing of Robbie Fowler on a few occasions, but personally I can't agree with them. I'd have thought Kevin Campbell was a far better comparison.
In the season before he joined Cardiff ten years ago, Campbell had played 19 (+10) Premier League games and scored 3 goals for a struggling West Brom side. Lambert, meanwhile, played 5 (+14) Premier League games and scored just one goal last season for a struggling West Brom side.
Campbell was a bit older than Lambert when he arrived at Ninian Park, but to my mind it was a far more similar situation to the Lambert deal than the signing of an injury-prone superstar like Fowler.
The obvious concern about Lambert must be that his legs have gone - as was the case with Campbell and something which happens to all players eventually - but if he does retain a good percentage of his physical strength and stamina, he'll undoubtedly be a useful signing at Championship level. However, I was at the Fulham game recently and the team looked in desperate need of some pace and movement in and around the box. It's a struggle to imagine Lambert providing those attributes, even if he does have plenty left in his legs.
Good point.
Spedger
I used the Fowler comparison because Lambert is also a scouser Dave and also because I thought it was a slightly Ridsdale like transfer. The Riddler's approach, sometimes, could be said to involve bringing in a "big name" to set fans talking while problems in other areas of the team were ignored. I fear we have made a right mess of the goalkeeping position in the last few weeks and believe that, even if Lambert does well and scores consistently for us, the benefits that may bring could be offset by concerns at the other end of the pitch - I genuinely hope Amos proves me wrong mind.
Hopefully, having Pilkington and Immers playing off a target man rather than having to play like one themselves a lot of the time will reduce the lack of pace and movement issue you talk about, but I agree with you that, to me at least, our need was more for a "fox in the box" Fowler/Chopra type striker than someone who plays in a similar way to our two other specialist strikers.
Sometime the penny is going to drop that Immers is very average - 'specially now he has a contract.
He flattered to deceive in a handful of games.
Ask yerself, why come to Cardiff - if so many clubs were interested in signing him?
Good post Bob and as usual you have summed up a lot of our frustrations as a fan base.
The "transfer committee" has been nothing short of shambolic and our activity at both ends of the pitch has highlighted this in a painful way again.
You have discussed the goalkeeper situation but signing 3 target men in one window also shows that it's not a committee who pulling together seeking the best outcome for Cardiff City but 4 different people playing championship manager on their own.
There is no way Trollope would have wanted to sign 3 target men when there do many other deficiencies in our squad.
Add to this the rumoured cuts to relatively low wage staff on the horizon and what you've still got at our club is utterly chaos.
I do think that Choo wants the best for Cardiff but to throw a man in the Lion's den who has had no experience in football to pretty much be our director of football is utterly ridiculous.
I hope the trust will seek some answers about the governance of our club in the next meeting with Choo and Dalman.
I think that's unfair. Immers showed real quality last year and I still believe even in The QPR game when they pressed us in the second half that he was the only one who was able to still seemingly have time on the ball under pressure.
He's been the only player who has remotely looked like closing the gap between midfield and attack and is an excellent signing in my opinion
Good post Jon and the echoes my thoughts
So true I'm afraid Gringo.
Time will tell
Tan trusted people who let him down people who came recommended ie Ole by Sir Alec Ferguson none other.It has taken him time to catch on but now it has I for one am glad to see he is trying to run things on an even keel.He has made mistakes the biggest being the rebrand.These were mistakes and not done with any malice. At the first sign of any set back the knives are out for him I understand why some suspect his intentions with the sale of players of late.Apart from Marshall there is not really one of the remainder who I think we will miss.The players coming in appear to be better prospects for the club and will cost a lot less in wages.
For me the questioning has nothing to do with Tan's intentions mate but rather just a simple lack of understanding and underestimating the value of true football knowledge when scouting and identifying players.
On the one hand we seem to want to be tightening the purse strings to be self sufficient which I have no problem with then on the other hand we have a couple of Malaysian fellas in their senior year who will openly admit that they never even watched a game of football till the last few years believing they are capable of judging what players are needed at our football club.
They were most likely scouted by someone at Tan's Belgian club but he doesn't know what is needed at Cardiff City ffs.
That's like me watching some kid in the Welsh league on Saturday then having the authority to sign him for Sarajevo and Tan expecting him to go straight into the team!
A long season in mid-table obscurity, playing uninspired, unattractive football awaits frustrated CC fans
I hope with the current staff Lenny Lawrence and co most of that has been put right.There is hardly a queue of people waiting to buy the club we are better off with Tan than without him so maybe its about time we all got behind him and we might just get somewhere.The potential to advance at our club is huge if we can learn from past mistakes we will take off again.Trouble is all supporters need someone to blame when things go wrong,you only have to look what the Swansea fans are saying about Huw Jenkins at the moment, after all he has done its crazy.
I dunno if you read Wathan's article regarding Swansea today, but it shows how costly and mistakes in the governance of a club now are.
Because they underestimated the how inflated the fee's have become they missed out on many targets. They are now investing heavily on scouting and analytics to avoid any repeat of this.
People assume that if we get to the Premier league then all will be rosy financially but clubs in the premier are playing Russian roulette with their finances just to finish 17th or above.
if we do ever challenge for promotion I hope we get our house in order first.
We cannot afford to repeat the mismanagement of recent years.
I think the financial side of the club is heading in the right direction but I believe player recruitment is amateur and useless.
If we ever reach the top flight again we'll have to have a far better recruitment structure than at present.
I agree with your comments but how many years (and managers) have come and gone with us still complaining about lack of pace.
You need to go back to the early Chopra days to find a player who injected that 10 metre burst that caused opposition defences to panic.
Finally, someone thinking the same as me.
Immers is 30. He's got 7 full seasons worth of experience in the Dutch top division but he can hardly be described as an exciting youngster. Having been a regular at Feyenoord he fell out of favour in his last season with them and ended up with us, so basically a talented player whose game has slipped.
Are you saying we see eye-to-eye?
All I know is that a new manager at Feyenoord obviously didn't fancy Immers and so, after being a regular starter for them for a long time, he became surplus to requirements there - it's happened to plenty of players a lot younger than Immers is in the past and it will happen again in the future.
He came here with Feyenoord fans saying we had signed a donkey, but was, in my opinion, our best player over the final third of last season and we didn't half miss him when injury kept him out of some of the season defining matches we played in late April.
Cyclops mentions the only concern I have about Immers and that is that he'll let his standards drop now he's here on a permanent contract. He's not had a great start to the season, but he's not been used in his most effective position yet either.
Finally, I can't remember anyone questioning his signing last season once he had made a few appearances for us - this suggests to me that those expressing doubts now didn't have them back then, so let's see how he goes when he gets a chance to play in the same position as he occupied then.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote