When Neil Warnock took charge as Cardiff City manager in October 2016, there is no doubt the club was in big trouble. Vincent Tan and his board's appointment of Paul Trollope had quickly proved a disaster and City were sitting second from bottom of the Championship, having gained just 8 points from their first 11 games and having just been beaten 2-0 by Burton Albion.

Warnock inherited a side that realistically should never have been in such a position, containing as it did the likes of Joe Bennett, Bruna Manga, Sean Morrison, Lee Peltier, Joe Ralls and Aron Gunnarsson - six players who would be regular starters for the Bluebirds in the Premier League during 2018/19.

The squad also included Matt Connolly, Anthony Pilkington, Craig Noone and Peter Whittingham who, although clearly in decline, were still decent players by Championship standards, and Kenneth Zohore, who had yet to show anything like his best form until Warnock got hold of him. Upon his arrival, the manager was quick to bring in free agents Sol Bamba and Junior Hoilett, and both would prove excellent signings as Warnock led City to a mid-table finish.

His work in the transfer market during the summer of 2017 was inspired. Warnock brought in Neil Etheridge, Callum Paterson, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Loic Damour and Danny Ward on free or relatively cheap deals, and all would prove important as City upset the odds and battled for automatic promotion to the Premier League. The only permanent signing Warnock made during that transfer window who proved a disappointment was the only player he paid a serious transfer fee for - Lee Tomlin, who was reported to have cost Cardiff around £2.5 million when he arrived from Bristol City, but only made a handful of appearances and scored just one goal in 2017/18.

It was during the January 2018 transfer window that Warnock's signings started to become more costly and have less of an impact. The permanent signings he made during that and the next three transfer windows are listed below along with the reported transfer fees and contract lengths. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about how beneficial or otherwise those signings proved to be:

January 2018 - Jack McKay (free, two and a half year contract)
January 2018 - Paul McKay (free, two and a half year contract)
January 2018 - Gary Madine (£5 million, three and a half year contract)

June 2018 - Josh Murphy (£11 million, four year contract)
June 2018 - Greg Cunningham (£4 million, three year contract)
June 2018 - Bobby Decordova-Reid (£10 million, four year contract)
June 2018 - Alex Smithies (£3.5 million, four year contract)

January 2019 - Leandro Bacuna (£3 million, four and a half year contract)
January 2019 - Emiliano Sala (£15 million, three and a half year contract)

June 2019 - Joe Day (free, two year contract)
June 2019 - Curtis Nelson (free, two year contract)
June 2019 - Will Vaulks (£2.1 million, three year contract)
July 2019 - Aden Flint (£4 million, three year contract)
July 2019 - Robert Glatzel (£5.5 million, three year contract)
July 2019 - Gavin Whyte (£1 million, four year contract)
August 2019 - Marlon Pack (£750,000, three year contract)
August 2019 - Isaac Vassell (£1 million, three year contract)

"Neil Warnock did a good job taking us up to the Premier League, but then he created a bad side and bought the wrong players. Murphy cost £11 million, hardly scored any goals, and then left on a free transfer. He was never worth that money. I was conned." (Vincent Tan, November 2022)