Yes we can find valid reasons to be cynical about the "Bluebirds way" mission statement. But lots of us want us to be a sustainable club that has a successful youth system. I think the idea of using 3-5-2 (let's call it that for the sake of ease) as one of the dominant playing systems might be a smart ploy. Why? Because 3-5-2 is far less reliant on taller, physical types of players. Because tall, physical players who make it to high levels of the game are types of players Cardiff and Wales tend not to produce.

For whatever reason, Cardiff and Wales seem to produce smaller, less athletically dominant players than the average type that EFL clubs like to employ. To prove this point, here's a list of outfield Welsh caps over 6ft in height who are still playing...

Sam Vokes, (48 caps, though English born)
James Collins (50 caps)
Lewin Nyatanga (34 caps, though English born)
Shaun MacDonald (4 caps)
Craig Davies (7 caps)
Steve Morison (21 caps, though Scottish born)
Craig Morgan (23 caps)
Sam Ricketts (52 caps, though English born)
Joel Lynch (1 cap, though English born)

So of this list, only James Collins, Shaun MacDonald, Craig Davies and Craig Morgan have come from Wales and perhaps likely to have come through a Welsh youth system. Consider the odds of one of these four coming through our academy when our Welsh neighbours Swansea, Newport and Wrexham all have a reputation for producing good Welsh talent also. And then consider again that all of these four players turned pro somewhere between 10 to 15 years ago.

So is it not then perhaps a smart idea for CCFC to adopt playing systems, throughout the club, that is more reliant on smaller technical talent that we seem to produce, over the playing systems that most other clubs adopt? Also could Cardiff not potentially benefit at some point by picking up young British players deemed "too small, too slow, too weak to make it" at other academies? And don't smaller, more technically gifted players tend to produce more entertaining football over bigger, less technically capable players anyway?

Perhaps the "Bluebirds Way" mission statement is a smarter strategy than it's given credit for.