Warnock

[the other bob wilson]

You must have read the transcript of a different interview to me. It was generally positive and motivational. Some people are also having trouble differentiating between when he says something 'tongue in cheek' and when he is being serious. There is no doubt in my mind that he knows what he is doing and has built his reputation on getting the best out of players that some people have written off and forging an excellent team spirit wherever he goes. I note that he also said today that 'not when you meet some fans - they are not the full shilling but the fans here are generallynot like that'. Made me laugh anyway.

A reputation which says whatever it is which makes him such a successful manager in the Championship deserts him when he gets to the higher level and, sadly, there is no sign of him turning that perception around this season yet.

I think Tuerto makes some great points. I've said a few times that any side which gets ninety points and automatic promotion in a Championship season does not go up through some sort of fluke, but that's the attitude which so many who have Cardiff City's best interests at heart have displayed in response to what we achieved last season.

We went up playing in a manner which would not endear ourselves to neutrals and when you add in that we have a manager who has made influential enemies in the media and within the game over a period of almost forty years we were never going to be media darlings - it's no surprise that nationally we have been derided and written off virtually since that draw with Reading back in May.

What is a surprise though is that so many who want Cardiff to succeed have been prepared to write us off as well - if Neil Warnock's continual downbeat assessments of our chances every Friday are part of some sort of strategy to work things to our advantage, then it's too subtle for me and it must be a long term plan, because its certainly not worked so far.

Based on places like this. too many of our fans were expecting the worst before a ball was kicked, hence the prevalence of all that "enjoy the ride" bollox. Based on what we've seen so far, we've looked like a bottom three, or even bottom of the table side, but, if we are to be that, can't we at least go down "having a go" in the manner Tuerto suggests? Yes, we did that against Burnley and were unlucky, but I've not really seen it in our other home games.

Our first go at the Premier League was an abysmal failure on so many levels thank to a series of self inflicted wounds and our second one was, perhaps, derailed before it had even begun because of a sense of timidity which can be traced to our summer recruitment, through to the public utterances of our manager (does the fire which riled so many opponents, but inspired so many of his players, burn less brightly than it once did as he reaches his eighth decade of life?) and a support which, in many cases, seemed resigned to our fate from day one.

Neil Warnock has a habit of saying "hey ho" in response to various challenges we have (e.g. multiple injuries, a testing set of fixtures or his modest transfer budget when compared to others). In many ways, this is an admirable trait and can be seen in a positive light, but it can also portray a sense of resignation sometimes and I feel that word is in danger of summing up our second Premier League campaign.