Despondency

[splott parker]

Months and months ago I imagined that I’d be buzzing to get back in the ground to watch the City again, how wrong I was. Didn’t go last night and, worryingly, didn’t care too much. I do consider myself a dedicated fan who’s never needed motivation to get down the City, even in the dark dungeon days, I loved it, as, I imagine the majority of posters on here do.

If I’m feeling this lethargic about it I dread to think how the less enthusiastic followers are approaching it. The club seem to be acting the same as well, club shop rarely open, we’ve heard that only one full time person + one part timer are staffing the ticket office, all interaction with fans conducted at ‘online arm’s length’. All this within a multi million pound concern. I’m getting my info on here most of the time, there’s very little PR or pre season, indeed post ‘closed doors’, fanfare coming out of the club, it’s so low key when, during the height of the pandemic, I imagined the imminent return would herald a massive publicity campaign.

Either I need to buck up and get back to some sort of normal or the club needs to show that they give a f*ck.

[poc]

Months and months ago I imagined that I’d be buzzing to get back in the ground to watch the City again, how wrong I was. Didn’t go last night and, worryingly, didn’t care too much. I do consider myself a dedicated fan who’s never needed motivation to get down the City, even in the dark dungeon days, I loved it, as, I imagine the majority of posters on here do.

If I’m feeling this lethargic about it I dread to think how the less enthusiastic followers are approaching it. The club seem to be acting the same as well, club shop rarely open, we’ve heard that only one full time person + one part timer are staffing the ticket office, all interaction with fans conducted at ‘online arm’s length’. All this within a multi million pound concern. I’m getting my info on here most of the time, there’s very little PR or pre season, indeed post ‘closed doors’, fanfare coming out of the club, it’s so low key when, during the height of the pandemic, I imagined the imminent return would herald a massive publicity campaign.

Either I need to buck up and get back to some sort of normal or the club needs to show that they give a f*ck.

certainly seems that way, not a bit of excitement here for the new season

[BLUETIT]

Steve, if my season ticket wasn’t paid for, I don’t think I would have bothered to renew.

As you’ve pointed out, seems no effort by the club at all to make an effort to engage with fans

[EastbourneBlue]

Months and months ago I imagined that I’d be buzzing to get back in the ground to watch the City again, how wrong I was. Didn’t go last night and, worryingly, didn’t care too much. I do consider myself a dedicated fan who’s never needed motivation to get down the City, even in the dark dungeon days, I loved it, as, I imagine the majority of posters on here do.

If I’m feeling this lethargic about it I dread to think how the less enthusiastic followers are approaching it. The club seem to be acting the same as well, club shop rarely open, we’ve heard that only one full time person + one part timer are staffing the ticket office, all interaction with fans conducted at ‘online arm’s length’. All this within a multi million pound concern. I’m getting my info on here most of the time, there’s very little PR or pre season, indeed post ‘closed doors’, fanfare coming out of the club, it’s so low key when, during the height of the pandemic, I imagined the imminent return would herald a massive publicity campaign.

Either I need to buck up and get back to some sort of normal or the club needs to show that they give a f*ck.

They’ve got to sort the ticketing fiasco out otherwise the less determined just won’t bother.

Remember when you could just turn up and hand a tenner over at the turnstiles

[dml1954]

They’ve got to sort the ticketing fiasco out otherwise the less determined just won’t bother.

Remember when you could just turn up and hand a tenner over at the turnstiles

We are living in the 21st century now with a modern automated stadium with bar code access for tickets/cards. However the ticket office is always open on the day of the game and they have cash ticket booths open outside the ground before every game. There is absolutely no reason why people cant just turn up and pay on the day. Nothing is ever quite as bad as some people make out. Also, at the moment the club have absolutely no idea how many people they can let in on August 7th, so can not possibly advertise whether general sale tickets will be available.

[BLUETIT]

We are living in the 21st century now with a modern automated stadium with bar code access for tickets/cards. However the ticket office is always open on the day of the game and they have cash ticket booths open outside the ground before every game. There is absolutely no reason why people cant just turn up and pay on the day. Nothing is ever quite as bad as some people make out. Also, at the moment the club have absolutely no idea how many people they can let in on August 7th, so can not possibly advertise whether general sale tickets will be available.

So you’re saying it’s DUCKFORD’S and his cronies fault ?

Because every other club is selling tickets, even our six fingered friends down west

[delmbox]

So you’re saying it’s DUCKFORD’S and his cronies fault ?

Because every other club is selling tickets, even our six fingered friends down west

God it must be absolutely exhausting being you

[the other bob wilson]

Months and months ago I imagined that I’d be buzzing to get back in the ground to watch the City again, how wrong I was. Didn’t go last night and, worryingly, didn’t care too much. I do consider myself a dedicated fan who’s never needed motivation to get down the City, even in the dark dungeon days, I loved it, as, I imagine the majority of posters on here do.

If I’m feeling this lethargic about it I dread to think how the less enthusiastic followers are approaching it. The club seem to be acting the same as well, club shop rarely open, we’ve heard that only one full time person + one part timer are staffing the ticket office, all interaction with fans conducted at ‘online arm’s length’. All this within a multi million pound concern. I’m getting my info on here most of the time, there’s very little PR or pre season, indeed post ‘closed doors’, fanfare coming out of the club, it’s so low key when, during the height of the pandemic, I imagined the imminent return would herald a massive publicity campaign.

Either I need to buck up and get back to some sort of normal or the club needs to show that they give a f*ck.

Glad I'm not the only one - I can't get excited about watching City at all at the moment and didn't even bother watching the stream of last night's match. You make some good points about the club's attitude, but in my case, my lack of enthusiasm is down to it looking very much like the same old, same old at City - dull football from a team that give the impression that they prefer to let the opposition have the ball.

I've seen brief highlights of last night's match and Mick McCarthy was right about three of the goals coming from us passing the ball to them or losing possession.

in 18/19 we did the double over Southampton with the home game being their current manager's first match in charge, yet there seems to be a chasm of difference between the two clubs now - Southampton have progressed certainly, but we've also declined by becoming even more Warnock like after the man departed. The most telling thing that happened last season was that we had to revert to "the Cardiff way" after a pretty half hearted attempt to try something different because Warnock's influence still runs deep having left behind a squad which is only really equipped to play the game one way.

[AfricanBluebird]

Glad I'm not the only one - I can't get excited about watching City at all at the moment and didn't even bother watching the stream of last night's match. You make some good points about the club's attitude, but in my case, my lack of enthusiasm is down to it looking very much like the same old, same old at City - dull football from a team that give the impression that they prefer to let the opposition have the ball.

I've seen brief highlights of last night's match and Mick McCarthy was right about three of the goals coming from us passing the ball to them or losing possession.

in 18/19 we did the double over Southampton with the home game being their current manager's first match in charge, yet there seems to be a chasm of difference between the two clubs now - Southampton have progressed certainly, but we've also declined by becoming even more Warnock like after the man departed. The most telling thing that happened last season was that we had to revert to "the Cardiff way" after a pretty half hearted attempt to try something different because Warnock's influence still runs deep having left behind a squad which is only really equipped to play the game one way.

Here's the thing Paul... if we are going to change personnel by throwing in the youngsters, let's do it and change the tactics and footballing approach! I get that MM can only get the best out of the players available but these youngster are BETTER, or certainly have the potential to be better, than the useless tactics that depend on long balls, low possession and set pieces.

Many of us have been pleading to use more younger players.... but MM seems content to throw in these youngsters into a low-possession / pressing / long ball system that has really failed to deliver any sustainable footballing success.

Surely this is an opportunity to start developing a more possession and passing type game with youngsters who, by enlarge, have been playing a more attractive game in the U23s and U18s than the first team.

[the other bob wilson]

Here's the thing Paul... if we are going to change personnel by throwing in the youngsters, let's do it and change the tactics and footballing approach! I get that MM can only get the best out of the players available but these youngster are BETTER, or certainly have the potential to be better, than the useless tactics that depend on long balls, low possession and set pieces.

Many of us have been pleading to use more younger players.... but MM seems content to throw in these youngsters into a low-possession / pressing / long ball system that has really failed to deliver any sustainable footballing success.

Surely this is an opportunity to start developing a more possession and passing type game with youngsters who, by enlarge, have been playing a more attractive game in the U23s and U18s than the first team.

The most ludicrous thing of all is that anyone who has seen the current crop of youngsters coming up through the age groups, will now that the methods they were taught during that time were completely contradictory to what awaits in the first team. It's easy just to look at the careers of the many talented footballers who have come through the ranks at Cardiff in the last decade and more and say they weren't good enough because they didn't break into the first team, but all that proves is that they weren't suited to the "Cardiff way".

Keenan Patten's older brother Robbie was released by the club after injury disrupted his progress and I know he had teams interested in him at National League level, at least, who didn't offer him a contract because his footballing education at Cardiff had taught him to play the game the "right way". He was too much a footballer for the way these clubs were going to play!

It's been a joke at Cardiff in recent years - you get players coming through who are unsuited to the way the first team has played in the last ten years or so. Therefore, you have to ask why are we spending so much on the Academy?

We may, finally, be about to see a return on all of that investment, but my impression is that nearly all of the promising crop of players coming through will fail to fulfil their potential if the first team continues to play like it does.

[Llandaff Blue]

The most ludicrous thing of all is that anyone who has seen the current crop of youngsters coming up through the age groups, will now that the methods they were taught during that time were completely contradictory to what awaits in the first team. It's easy just to look at the careers of the many talented footballers who have come through the ranks at Cardiff in the last decade and more and say they weren't good enough because they didn't break into the first team, but all that proves is that they weren't suited to the "Cardiff way".

Keenan Patten's older brother Robbie was released by the club after injury disrupted his progress and I know he had teams interested in him at National League level, at least, who didn't offer him a contract because his footballing education at Cardiff had taught him to play the game the "right way". He was too much a footballer for the way these clubs were going to play!

It's been a joke at Cardiff in recent years - you get players coming through who are unsuited to the way the first team has played in the last ten years or so. Therefore, you have to ask why are we spending so much on the Academy?

We may, finally, be about to see a return on all of that investment, but my impression is that nearly all of the promising crop of players coming through will fail to fulfil their potential if the first team continues to play like it does.

Wonder what he's up to now, oh look he's playing for Barry! He was capped 3 times for the Welsh u19s! Come off it, the players we produce are crap. Like Patten, they barely get capped at international level. I remember people raving about Ratfcliffe cause he looked good at youth level despite being on loan at fecking Barry and being kept out of the Wales side by Przybek. Although he's still young, he would be on loan at national league sides like Pryzbek has but he's obviously not good enough.

I don't want to shit on these kids cause they are being poorly coached regardless of what level they're at, but let's not pretend the stuff they play at youth level is worlds away from the first team, that's nonsense. If we had capable coaches or players, either the players would make it elsewhere (despite your LAUGHABLE comment about Patten) or the coaches would be snapped up by other clubs that are invested in youth development. We have a category 2 academy remember, there's little in the way of us stopping players being snatched

The academy is a joke and a waste of money. I am honestly surprised Tan hasn't scrapped it already

[surge]

I still think this year will be judged as being an interesting one in hindsight.

Smithies
Sang NG Morrison Nelson Bagan
Wintle Ralls
Giles
Moore Collins/Harris

Not a bad starting XI and if the new kids can get 12+ games from the season it sets us up nicely going forward. We finished 8th last year, three teams ahead of us should be worse this year and only five teams behind us will be significantly better. 10th place seems a fair prediction with outside shot at play-offs again.

[the other bob wilson]

Wonder what he's up to now, oh look he's playing for Barry! He was capped 3 times for the Welsh u19s! Come off it, the players we produce are crap. Like Patten, they barely get capped at international level. I remember people raving about Ratfcliffe cause he looked good at youth level despite being on loan at fecking Barry and being kept out of the Wales side by Przybek. Although he's still young, he would be on loan at national league sides like Pryzbek has but he's obviously not good enough.

I don't want to shit on these kids cause they are being poorly coached regardless of what level they're at, but let's not pretend the stuff they play at youth level is worlds away from the first team, that's nonsense. If we had capable coaches or players, either the players would make it elsewhere (despite your LAUGHABLE comment about Patten) or the coaches would be snapped up by other clubs that are invested in youth development. We have a category 2 academy remember, there's little in the way of us stopping players being snatched

The academy is a joke and a waste of money. I am honestly surprised Tan hasn't scrapped it already

I've been wrong about the Academy and the youngsters that come through it in the past and I'm sure I will be again - I'm also probably a bit naive in my thinking in championing our young players as much as I do. However, I'll tell you something, I'd much rather have my attitude towards youth development at City than yours.

You say you "don't want to shit on these kids" and then go on to do precisely that - more than that, is there any need to adopt such a sneering and cynical style while doing so?

Whether by accident or design, you've completely missed my point about Robbie Patten. I acknowledged that injuries had affected his time at the club (he missed an awful lot of football in his late teens, so was always likely to be let go by City) and my point was about him being coached in a way that people at good quality non league sides did not think was best suited for the style of play they favoured.

Do you watch much age group football at City? Judging by your opinion that the way our youth sides play is not too far away from how our senior side plays, I suspect not.

Here's another anecdote concerning something I overheard at game between City and Colchester Under 18s (we had players like George Ratcliffe, Sam Bowen, Keenan Patten, Keiron Evans, Isaak Davies and, possibly, Rubin Colwill in our squad that day). City were 5-0 up at half time and I listened in on a conversation between someone who was obviously very clued up about youth football and who worked for Colchester, or had done in the recent past, talking to the parents of one of their players that day. One of the things he said was that we may be getting well beat, but I can still appreciate the football Cardiff have played today. Year in, year out, Cardiff play the most entertaining and skilful football I see from an opposition team and I always look forward to our matches against them.

It was as much as I could do not to blurt out "you haven't seen our first team play then?". Do you honestly think anyone at another Championship club has said something similar about our senior side in the last ten years? There might be an acknowledgment of our physicality, about how we're difficult to play against and how dangerous we are from set pieces, but envy at the quality of our football? Really?

My message was about the absurdity of having an Academy geared to play one way and a first team set up to play in a manner which is almost completely opposite to it - dismissing every young player the club has produced since Aaron Ramsey as not good enough is just lazy thinking.

[sneggyblubird]

Trouble is we've been giving the ball away since before Micks time.The big thing that struck me is how devastating a direct forward pass can be.We are still too ponderous.

[surge]

We do have a spine of a team that can get us more excited again in Smithies, Morrison, Nelson, Ralls, Wintle, Giles and Moore. We're also going to see more of the younger players semi-established like Sang, Bagan, Harris and hopefully see Colwill, Bowen, Davies and Evans be given the chance to grow into Championship players.

I think this season is about picking up wins so we keep the crowd, keep the TV cameras on us so to protect our budget and generate momentum into next year when we should be less restricted by unbalanced squad Warnock left.

[Rjk]

Trouble is we've been giving the ball away since before Micks time.The big thing that struck me is how devastating a direct forward pass can be.We are still too ponderous.

we need to be more direct?

[life on mars]

I'm keen to be in the stadium, see the City play and meet old friends, it will be interesting to see what the new signings are capable of .

[The Hooded Claw]

It’s The Emperor’s New Clothes: different personnel, same old style.
I can handle a season of consolidation, if we’re going to work towards a more progressive way of playing, but it doesn’t look likely at the moment.
I could copy and paste comments from the last few seasons at this time and they would be the same.

[blue lewj]

You're not the only one.

There was a time when not going to the City on a Saturday wasn't an option.

I think the pandemic has shown people that there are other options that stack up quite competitively with it on a purely entertainment and enjoyment level.

Football clubs, and not just City have ridden the cash cow that is the fans for many years while growing further and further away from the fan base.

Throw into the mix Tan and his can't be @rsed, jobs for the boys regardless of background attitude and their lack of football understanding and it is only going one way.

I think the fact that the most effort we have seen from them since Covid kicked off was when they were selling season tickets both times speaks volumes. In short, they can't be arsed other than when fans money comes into it and I'm not sure how much longer I can be with these owners/modern football.

[Dave Blue]

I don’t think we played long ball last night. We tried to pass around a bit, to the point that we didn’t look likely to create anything in their third.

[dembethewarrior]

I've been like that about life in general since my second covid jab. Need to be pushed into doing things.

As for the football, I've not had the buzz for a while to be honest, not just City but watching it in general. Find myself watching TV series and films.

[WJ99mobile]

It’ll come back

[Rjk]

It's obviously going to feel a bit flat, we are going onto a season where we weren't good enough last season and we seem clearly weaker this time around.
Expectations are low (probably rightly so). We probably haven't had lower expectations of the season ahead since the Slade years - and possibly even before that.

Its a funny old division though. If we get off to a good start you never know. And if a couple of the youngsters make the leap then it could be a great platform season.

[cardiff55]

It was Ok, a typical pre-season friendly. Not very interesting, apart to see in the flesh some players we'd only seen on TV last season, and a couple of new ones, and a load of youngsters. Apart from Phillips, Nelson and Pack it was like a reserve game. And we got hammered after looking quite bright at times.

And you could only get a drink or a coffee/tea on an App (which was difficult to work). Hopefully by 7 August that will go. And even cashless to buy programmes, and the payment machine wouldn't work for my mate.

But great to get back in the stadium and see live football.

[Nobody's Rep]

Not despondent at all - absolutely delighted to be back in the stadium last night - no problem getting tickets no problem getting in and the stewards were all good.

Plus points for me were McGuiness and Bowen, the clapping off of the team at the end and the applause for the taking the knee.

Are we going to get promoted - no
Are we going to see a change of plan from the club - no
Are we going to see a change in playing style - no
Are we going to see improved comms from the club - no

And as I can't massively influence the above I will continue doing what I am doing and go through the turnstiles and support those on the pitch.

As for being despondent - that maybe created by spending too much time on this board as there is a minority of regular posters who do nothing but moan about everything to do with the club and derail other posts with so called funny quips about things they are unhappy with

Just my mostly irrelevant opinion but if I was that unhappy I wouldn't go anywhere near what was making me unhappy in the first place