Three reasons City were relegated

1) Tan did not spend enough. City so nearly survived that it could be argued that a wise further investment of say £20m may well have clinched a higher league standing. In view of the guaranteed returns from Premiership funding and gates of 30K+, this seems to be an incredibly foolish and unbusiness-like investment decision by Tan - which was probably spawned by what he perceived as an overspend the last time we were in the upper echelon. When you consider how much other Championship sides would give to achieve promotion, Tan showed a criminal lack of ambition and support for his team.

2) Lack of a effective striker. We did not have a front-man who could finish. Oh, for a Rondon or a Mitrovic! What we endured were strikers who patently couldn't finish. Niasse was an embarrassment. Zohore (when fit) wasn't trusted and looked ineffective when he did play. I understand that Warnock likes playing with one striker and a withdrawn support man in the role that Reid played yesterday and that this means a lot of running about with little reward - in other words, exactly what Rondon does for Newcastle - but that Paterson should have been entrusted with this position for so many games speaks volumes of our striker deficiency.

3) Poor transfer decisions. City appear to have had a transfer committee. The decisions of who to buy were poor - with the exception of Camarasa and Arter. Reid and Murphy can look talented on their day, but how often were they played? Bacuna and Niasse were woeful. If City were looking for players for that final push at the end of the season, these were precisely the men they should have avoided. The net result of this was that we essentially sent out a Championship - and when Cardiff needed good performances at the end of the campaign, key men like Bamba, Paterson, Arter and Ralls were injured and there was no creditable replacement.

I'm not going to point a finger at Warnock. His team over-achieved and while some team selections and substitutions were debatable, we should trust his judgment (although I'm not convinced by all of 'his' signings). While there is no doubt the playing style is dated and different compared with most of the other Premiership teams, there is much to be said for team spirit, fighting mentality and a work ethic. I would only say that much of what he said, particularly towards the end of the season, needed to be read with a pinch of salt.

I thought it was because we didn't get enough points.

That’s easy,defence,attack and midfield

In fairness, the Club did try to buy a £15 million striker but we will never know if he would have made any difference.

I think it's so basic to suggest Tan didn't spend enough when a premier league player can cost nothing or £50 plus million. Think the money was there but perhaps we didn't spread it widely enough to cover positional needs going into the season - if Bobby Reid (I'm excited to see Decodovra Reid play for us next year) wasn't going to play because Camarasa played in his position then could have used that £10 million on a RB, DM and striker. Or, as Nathan Blake suggested, a coach to work alongside Warnock who may have been able to set up a more tactically astute team.

Don't forget the off-the-field stuff. How many other teams had their captain almost die and then their record signing go missing this year?

This hasn't been a bad year overall so if we can do a Burnley and come back up a smarter team then this year will have been a big success.

The defence was a joke mostly. The midfield couldn't hold the ball and constantly lost it to opposition and the attack was mostly left to frankie goes to hollywood throwback Patterson.

I agree on most of that, but a little bit harsh on Bacuna, who is not a premiership player but will be a good addition within our championship squad. I think that if given a bit of consistency Reid would have looked more of a player, though I think Murphy is too hot and cold to be part of any team going forward, Niasse did his best but is no where near good enough for even a challenging championship team (IMO), read the same for Zahore.

Definite outs look to be:

Niasse
Gunnar
Arter
Vic

It's possible that Etheridge could attract interest from above, whilst I would hope that Zahore and Murphy find other clubs. We are desperately in need of a ball holding goal scoring striker, with a quality back up. I believe we need at least seven new faces in the squad.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cyclops

1) Tan did not spend enough. City so nearly survived that it could be argued that a wise further investment of say £20m may well have clinched a higher league standing. In view of the guaranteed returns from Premiership funding and gates of 30K+, this seems to be an incredibly foolish and unbusiness-like investment decision by Tan - which was probably spawned by what he perceived as an overspend the last time we were in the upper echelon. When you consider how much other Championship sides would give to achieve promotion, Tan showed a criminal lack of ambition and support for his team.

2) Lack of a effective striker. We did not have a front-man who could finish. Oh, for a Rondon or a Mitrovic! What we endured were strikers who patently couldn't finish. Niasse was an embarrassment. Zohore (when fit) wasn't trusted and looked ineffective when he did play. I understand that Warnock likes playing with one striker and a withdrawn support man in the role that Reid played yesterday and that this means a lot of running about with little reward - in other words, exactly what Rondon does for Newcastle - but that Paterson should have been entrusted with this position for so many games speaks volumes of our striker deficiency.

3) Poor transfer decisions. City appear to have had a transfer committee. The decisions of who to buy were poor - with the exception of Camarasa and Arter. Reid and Murphy can look talented on their day, but how often were they played? Bacuna and Niasse were woeful. If City were looking for players for that final push at the end of the season, these were precisely the men they should have avoided. The net result of this was that we essentially sent out a Championship - and when Cardiff needed good performances at the end of the campaign, key men like Bamba, Paterson, Arter and Ralls were injured and there was no creditable replacement.

I'm not going to point a finger at Warnock. His team over-achieved and while some team selections and substitutions were debatable, we should trust his judgment (although I'm not convinced by all of 'his' signings). While there is no doubt the playing style is dated and different compared with most of the other Premiership teams, there is much to be said for team spirit, fighting mentality and a work ethic. I would only say that much of what he said, particularly towards the end of the season, needed to be read with a pinch of salt.

---

All of this written as if you've completely forgotten that we signed a striker with one of the highest conversion rates in Europe that died before playing a game for us!

I tnink from a outsider. Lacked real quality, N.W should of been backed more, and maybe got deeney( if rumor was correct) and N.W should of gone for it more st Games like Fulham away, top scorer of 5 goals speaks volumes, see you next season

Too easy to blame Tan.

Warnocks best dealings have been free transfers in the championship.

The money he has had to spend in his time here (40-45m) has been spent very poorly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Too easy to blame Tan.

Warnocks best dealings have been free transfers in the championship.

The money he has had to spend in his time here (40-45m) has been spent very poorly.

---

Tan is part of the transfer committee, isn't he?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TERRY BLUE

In fairness, the Club did try to buy a £15 million striker but we will never know if he would have made any difference.

---

In January. We should have spent that money in July.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cyclops

1) Tan did not spend enough. City so nearly survived that it could be argued that a wise further investment of say £20m may well have clinched a higher league standing. In view of the guaranteed returns from Premiership funding and gates of 30K+, this seems to be an incredibly foolish and unbusiness-like investment decision by Tan - which was probably spawned by what he perceived as an overspend the last time we were in the upper echelon. When you consider how much other Championship sides would give to achieve promotion, Tan showed a criminal lack of ambition and support for his team.

---

I'd love to know how you know that Tan did not spend enough. There was money for a striker last summer, City failed to land any of their targets due to deals between other clubs and the preferences of those targets to go elsewhere.

I agree that our transfer policy in both windows was dire and I'm definitely no fan of VT but there is no evidence that "Tan did not spend enough"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Des Parrot

I'd love to know how you know that Tan did not spend enough. There was money for a striker last summer, City failed to land any of their targets due to deals between other clubs and the preferences of those targets to go elsewhere.

I agree that our transfer policy in both windows was dire and I'm definitely no fan of VT but there is no evidence that "Tan did not spend enough"

---

Agreed. Tan put the money up, for the loan signings, Reid and Murphy in the summer and Sala in the winter.

I hate to say it as he performed an absolute miracle last season, but Warnock's overly conservative approach setting up for 0-0s and to try and nick a goal from the odd set piece, simply wasn't good enough. We were always going to lose far more than we won, but had we really gone at teams from the start of the season, we'd have surprised some teams who ended up getting an easy ride from us, and we'd have a few more points than we do now.

Also trying to keep Bamba and Morrison at CB at the expense of Manga at RB was misguided.

You could also say not playing Reid enough was counterproductive.

Having said all that, Warnock has the best record of Championship promotions and so I'd like to see him maintain that next season, get us up and then retire on a real high.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fulham traveller

I tnink from a outsider. Lacked real quality, N.W should of been backed more, and maybe got deeney( if rumor was correct) and N.W should of gone for it more st Games like Fulham away, top scorer of 5 goals speaks volumes, see you next season

---

If we didn’t have such big debts from the last disaster then maybe Tan would have spent more. I like the fact we didn’t, and hope we will now become almost debt free. What’s more the players we bought will be useful now instead of being lumbered with rubbish like last time. Harris, hoilett, Murphy and Reid will rip the championship up, we already have a solid defence. Stick sol in the middle and add another playmaker we will be good.

Quality
Quality
Quality

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Too easy to blame Tan.

Warnocks best dealings have been free transfers in the championship.

The money he has had to spend in his time here (40-45m) has been spent very poorly.

---

Not sure we should be looking to blame anyone. Together we fell short but for that happened we were really one two wins off staying up over the course of a thirty-eight game season - not as far as some are making out.

So we were laughing about spending much less than Fulham, and celebrating the fact we were in the hunt with championship players, but now criticising Tan for not spending enough? :hehe:

**** me talk about having you’re cake and eat it

3 reasons
1 Lack of spending power.
2 Injuries to key players for the last 3 months
3 Some of the worst refereeing decisions I have seen in 60 years of watching pro football.I beleive there was a bias against us.
For these reasons.We've hand some of the worst fans over the years,e.g coin throwing hitting the ref etc
and the fact we are Welsh.They obviously dont like Neil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Too easy to blame Tan.

Warnocks best dealings have been free transfers in the championship.

The money he has had to spend in his time here (40-45m) has been spent very poorly.

---

Lets hope reid and murphy cunningham come ggod in the championship.
as for madine and tomlin they are I fear lost causes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Too easy to blame Tan.

Warnocks best dealings have been free transfers in the championship.

The money he has had to spend in his time here (40-45m) has been spent very poorly.

---

Spot on

Not signing a decent striker at the beginning of the season was always going to end up with the team being relegated - as I said at the time.

Just happened to notice that my first post has been echoed by no less a person than Stuart James of The Guardian. Always thought he was the doyen of football analysts.

Neil Warnock’s future at Cardiff City hangs in the balance after relegation

With the dust still to settle on a season that will always be defined by tragedy rather than relegation, the attention at Cardiff City has already turned to the future of Neil Warnock and whether the man who celebrated his 70th birthday last December wants to carry on and try to add a ninth promotion to his CV.

The answer is not as straightforward as some imagined it would be. Warnock has another season of management in him but, as his comments after the 3-2 home defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday illustrated, it is by no means a foregone conclusion that he will be spending it with Cardiff. “I have no idea,” replied the manager when asked whether he would stay.That has nothing to do with how Warnock feels about the club where he has formed such a strong bond with the supporters over the past three seasons, but is more a sign of tensions behind the scenes and a clear sense that the relationship with Vincent Tan, Cardiff’s owner, is not without difficulties. What Tan wants from Cardiff’s players at times, and what Warnock feels they are able to deliver, have been two different things.It is not to say that Tan, or pretty much anyone else at Cardiff for that matter, believes Warnock should have kept them up this season. Given that Cardiff were punching well above their weight when they won promotion 12 months ago, the fact that they landed enough blows in the Premier League still to be within a chance of surviving come the penultimate weekend of the season was an achievement in itself.

Yet their limitations – and Warnock acknowledged this – were evident in the defeat by Palace that condemned them to an immediate return to the Championship. Grit, determination and spirit go a long way in this game – but only so far at the highest level. Wasteful in front of goal and defensively naive, Cardiff lacked “that little bit of quality”, according to the manager himself.

The truth is that Cardiff have spent this season playing Premier League football with a Championship squad. Indeed, it seems remarkable to think seven of the players who started in Warnock’s first game as Cardiff manager, way back in October 2016 and at a time when the club were second from bottom in the Championship and worried about slipping into League One, have been regulars this season and made close to 200 Premier League appearances between them.Without significant investment last summer, relegation was inevitable. Cardiff spent conservatively and maybe that is no bad thing bearing in mind that Fulham were relegated after splurging £100m. There will also be no need for a major overhaul this summer. Cardiff’s biggest outlays – about £21m in total – went on Bobby Reid and Josh Murphy, two players signed from Championship clubs.

Murphy has shown flashes of real promise on the flank but lacked consistency, while Reid has arguably been under-used, with Warnock admitting that the former Bristol City striker can count himself unfortunate to have spent so much time on the bench because of the form of Victor Camarasa, who arrived on loan from Real Betis and brought a touch of class to a workmanlike team. There is an argument that Warnock could have tried harder to accommodate the two of them in the same side.

What can be said with absolute certainty is that Cardiff’s biggest weakness this season has been the absence of a proven goalscorer. Warnock thought he had found a solution to that problem when he travelled to France on 6 December to watch a rugged and experienced striker score a bullet-header for Nantes against Marseille. The player’s name was Emiliano Sala.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cyclops

Just happened to notice that my first post has been echoed by no less a person than Stuart James of The Guardian. Always thought he was the doyen of football analysts.

Neil Warnock’s future at Cardiff City hangs in the balance after relegation

With the dust still to settle on a season that will always be defined by tragedy rather than relegation, the attention at Cardiff City has already turned to the future of Neil Warnock and whether the man who celebrated his 70th birthday last December wants to carry on and try to add a ninth promotion to his CV.

The answer is not as straightforward as some imagined it would be. Warnock has another season of management in him but, as his comments after the 3-2 home defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday illustrated, it is by no means a foregone conclusion that he will be spending it with Cardiff. “I have no idea,” replied the manager when asked whether he would stay.That has nothing to do with how Warnock feels about the club where he has formed such a strong bond with the supporters over the past three seasons, but is more a sign of tensions behind the scenes and a clear sense that the relationship with Vincent Tan, Cardiff’s owner, is not without difficulties. What Tan wants from Cardiff’s players at times, and what Warnock feels they are able to deliver, have been two different things.It is not to say that Tan, or pretty much anyone else at Cardiff for that matter, believes Warnock should have kept them up this season. Given that Cardiff were punching well above their weight when they won promotion 12 months ago, the fact that they landed enough blows in the Premier League still to be within a chance of surviving come the penultimate weekend of the season was an achievement in itself.

Yet their limitations – and Warnock acknowledged this – were evident in the defeat by Palace that condemned them to an immediate return to the Championship. Grit, determination and spirit go a long way in this game – but only so far at the highest level. Wasteful in front of goal and defensively naive, Cardiff lacked “that little bit of quality”, according to the manager himself.

The truth is that Cardiff have spent this season playing Premier League football with a Championship squad. Indeed, it seems remarkable to think seven of the players who started in Warnock’s first game as Cardiff manager, way back in October 2016 and at a time when the club were second from bottom in the Championship and worried about slipping into League One, have been regulars this season and made close to 200 Premier League appearances between them.Without significant investment last summer, relegation was inevitable. Cardiff spent conservatively and maybe that is no bad thing bearing in mind that Fulham were relegated after splurging £100m. There will also be no need for a major overhaul this summer. Cardiff’s biggest outlays – about £21m in total – went on Bobby Reid and Josh Murphy, two players signed from Championship clubs.

Murphy has shown flashes of real promise on the flank but lacked consistency, while Reid has arguably been under-used, with Warnock admitting that the former Bristol City striker can count himself unfortunate to have spent so much time on the bench because of the form of Victor Camarasa, who arrived on loan from Real Betis and brought a touch of class to a workmanlike team. There is an argument that Warnock could have tried harder to accommodate the two of them in the same side.

What can be said with absolute certainty is that Cardiff’s biggest weakness this season has been the absence of a proven goalscorer. Warnock thought he had found a solution to that problem when he travelled to France on 6 December to watch a rugged and experienced striker score a bullet-header for Nantes against Marseille. The player’s name was Emiliano Sala.

---

A fairly accurate reflection although I would say that having watched every Premiership game this season, we were extremely naive defensively in almost every game. My particular criticism was players running 30-40 yards up to the edge of our area without a challenge.
Add to that some of the comical defending from all three central defenders, (not all resulting in goals conceded) and the striking problem was never going to be a solution on its own

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Freitag 4.17

All of this written as if you've completely forgotten that we signed a striker with one of the highest conversion rates in Europe that died before playing a game for us!

---

Sala's untimely and tragic death was a massive blow on the playing side but that was not the point being made. The point was that the Club was most unprofessional in not addressing this fact in the summer. Had Sala, or anyone of similar ability, been signed at the start of the season I'm sure we'd have scored the goals to stay up. That was the reason we used six players in that position this season and none of them were of PL standard.

StT.
<><

Sala tragedy, both the loss of the player who would have scored goals and the side effects of the tragedy.

Poor refereeing decisions, it didn't equal itself out and was in effect a 10 points as an absolute minimum penalty.

Failure to sign a Striker and Rightback before the season started.