I can remember saying before Steve McPhail kicked a ball for the club that some of our fans would not like him because he was too much of a footballer for them. I know that sounds snobbish, but it's still true - every club has it's get stuck in merchants in their fan base, but Cardiff City have a bigger proportion of them than any other side I've come across. I'm talking about those who will be up on their feet applauding for a City player winning a tackle that is 80/20 in his favour, but if the same player creates a chance with a defence splitting pass, there's nothing from them.
For McPhail also read Whitts, some of our fans are instinctively against such players - we've always had them and we always will do.
As for Fred, I'm a little baffled by what's happened in our last few matches because there had been a feeling that he had come on and done pretty well against Blackburn (at least that's how it seemed to me) and, by and large, the reception he got seemed to reflect this.
A few days later, he came on at Fulham and didn't pull up any trees, but, also didn't do anything that I'd say was awful and he got slaughtered by people on here after the match.
On Saturday he then was brought into a team that was creating nothing (in fact, they were barely playing a pass to our strikers mainly because our three man midfield were incapable of either winning the ball or retaining it) and playing poorly and proceeded to fit seamlessly into a side playing so ineptly. It was the worst I've seen Fred play mainly because he didn't show his usual work ethic, but quite a few in the crowd were on his back before this became clear - I don't understand the transformation in reception he got from supporters from one home game to the next.