Friday 17 June 2011

Fixtures and fitted up


It’s the day the fixtures are announced for the forthcoming season. This year it’s difficult for any Cardiff City fan to look forward to them. Not only are we faced with the same old bar a few, our West Walian cousins are preparing for trips to The Emirates, Anfield and Stamford Bridge. I could argue that I’ve been to the aforementioned grounds with Cardiff recently, albeit in cup competitions, but unlike my favourite tipple, I’m not bitter.

Anyway, we are where we are and our 2011/2012 fixtures have been released and I’d like to thank the fixtures people for absolutely f@*k all.

On a personal level there are now four main fixture dates that I look for straight away now that our derby matches have been cruelly taken away from me......opening day fixture, last day fixture and the two Christmas ones. West Ham away, Crystal Palace away, Watford away on Boxing Day, Nottingham Forest away on New Years Eve. Yes, you’ve spotted it, they are all away! What happened to ‘if you’re away in the first game, you’ll be home on the last game’? and visa versa. What happened to the season of good will? The I.T. Services Company in charge of collating the fixtures can do one.


Whilst I sit here preparing my ‘you won’t see me over Xmas’ speech to my wife, I then dwell on the other fixtures. Our sunny south coast visits to newly promoted Southampton and Brighton have been downgraded to the cold, dark midweek slot, as too is that excruciating trip to Peterborough.

I feel hard done by this year but I don’t usually feel sorry for myself so it’s with energetic enthusiasm that I will dust down my pick and shovel and……well you know the rest.

Cardiff City fixtures 2011/12

Saturday, 6 August 2011                      West Ham v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 13 August 2011                    Cardiff v Bristol City, 15:00
Tuesday, 16 August 2011                     Cardiff v Brighton, 19:45
Saturday, 20 August 2011                    Burnley v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 27 August 2011                    Portsmouth v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 10 September 2011              Cardiff v Doncaster, 15:00
Saturday, 17 September 2011              Blackpool v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 24 September 2011              Cardiff v Leicester, 15:00
Tuesday, 27 September 2011               Cardiff v Southampton, 19:45
Saturday, 1 October 2011                    Hull v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 15 October 2011                  Cardiff v Ipswich, 15:00
Tuesday, 18 October 2011                   Peterborough v Cardiff, 19:45
Saturday, 22 October 2011                  Cardiff v Barnsley, 15:00
Saturday, 29 October 2011                  Leeds v Cardiff, 15:00
Tuesday, 1 November 2011                 Derby v Cardiff, 19:45
Saturday, 5 November 2011                Cardiff v Crystal Palace, 15:00
Saturday, 19 November 2011              Reading v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 26 November 2011              Cardiff v Nott'm Forest, 15:00
Tuesday, 29 November 2011               Coventry v Cardiff, 19:45
Saturday, 3 December 2011                 Cardiff v Birmingham, 15:00
Saturday, 10 December 2011               Millwall v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 17 December 2011               Cardiff v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Monday, 26 December 2011                Watford v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 31 December 2011               Nott'm Forest v Cardiff, 15:00
Monday, 2 January 2012                      Cardiff v Reading, 15:00
Saturday, 14 January 2012                   Doncaster v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 21 January 2012                   Cardiff v Portsmouth, 15:00
Tuesday, 31 January 2012                    Southampton v Cardiff, 19:45
Saturday, 4 February 2012                   Cardiff v Blackpool, 15:00
Saturday, 11 February 2012                 Leicester v Cardiff, 15:00
Tuesday, 14 February 2012                  Cardiff v Peterborough, 19:45
Saturday, 18 February 2012                 Ipswich v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 25 February 2012                 Cardiff v Hull, 15:00
Saturday, 3 March 2012                       Cardiff v West Ham, 15:00
Tuesday, 6 March 2012                       Brighton v Cardiff, 19:45
Saturday, 10 March 2012                     Bristol City v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 17 March 2012                     Cardiff v Burnley, 15:00
Tuesday, 20 March 2012                     Cardiff v Coventry, 19:45
Saturday, 24 March 2012                     Birmingham v Cardiff, 15:00
Saturday, 31 March 2012                     Cardiff v Millwall, 15:00
Saturday, 7 April 2012                         Middlesbrough v Cardiff, 15:00
Monday, 9 April 2012                          Cardiff v Watford, 15:00
Saturday, 14 April 2012                       Barnsley v Cardiff, 15:00
Tuesday, 17 April 2012                        Cardiff v Derby, 19:45
Saturday, 21 April 2012                       Cardiff v Leeds, 15:00
Saturday, 28 April 2012                       Crystal Palace v Cardiff, 15:00

Thursday 9 June 2011

In off the Ante Post

If you left it up to our illustrious turf accountants to name Cardiff City’s next manager we would’ve gone through 6 managers within a week. Bookmakers odds have gone up and down more times than Ryan Giggs on a promise.

Although, the dust has started to settle on former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton. Hughton seems to be the man they are plumping for, so much so, some bookmakers are offering 8/11 on while current Watford manager Malky Mackay is not far behind him 11/10.

Last week however, according to the odds, we looked to have sealed the services of Roberto Di Matteo, Martin O’Neill, Mark Robins and, quite astonishingly from nowhere, Alan Shearer. Then came a new entry that made me think bookmakers are just having a giggle to see how many people would actually have a bet on it…..Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink…..and I bet there were takers.

The uncertainty in the betting market is down to one factor. Credit must go to the Cardiff City board for their rigorous search for their new man. They will announce the decision in their own time and on their terms. Replacing Dave Jones isn’t such an easy job and the last thing they want after 6 years of managerial stability is a process of hiring and firing. Wage demands, squad budgets, managerial experience all playing a crucial part in the selection process.    

I used to say that the bookmakers are seldom wrong, I still do, but as the past week have shown, not even they’re exactly sure who it will be.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Moving on

So there we have it. Swansea City have become the first Wales based football club to enter the English Premier League and in a sadistic sort of way I am pleased for them. Not for the fans, certainly not for ‘Welsh football’, not even for Brendan Rodgers’ approach to playing football. Pleased for the Football Club.

From the days of Tony Petty and the brink of departing the Football League, Huw Jenkins, who purchased the club for a £1, has guided Swansea through the divisions his own way. Met with hurdles along the way, like seeing manager Roberto Martinez leave for 'bigger fish', Jenkins met the problems head on and without controversy or over expenditure he has delivered Premiership football to the people of Swansea.

In a way I am pleased this ‘first Welsh club to reach the Premiership’ honour is over too. Before Swansea’s play off final victory over Reading everybody looked to us to achieve Premiership status. Owners and directors of the Club also gambled in many ways in a bid to achieve this. Expectation was the buzz word surrounding the Club and in the end it wasn’t to be. Swansea supporters have the bragging rights and brag they should…..because I certainly would.

It has been well documented that Cardiff City has been mismanaged in the past. We all have our opinions as to who is to blame. For me, I am not going to dwell on past failures any more. I’m driving myself away from those storm clouds as I see a brighter outlook ahead.

Arguably one of Cardiff City’s most ‘successful’ managers has left the Club. I use the term successful in that I thought I would never see the day my team would walk out in an FA Cup Final let alone visit Wembley 3 times in 4 years. So much so I got bored of the place, or maybe that was down to the defeats that occurred there. None more so than that devastating £90 million defeat to Blackpool . These visits to our recently adopted second home coupled with player signings of the calibre of Craig Bellamy, Jay Bothroyd, Seyi Olifinjana, Michael Chopra, Lee Naylor.....well, his Mum loves him anyway.......expectation levels were as high as a Happy Mondays reunion party. Dave Jones himself knew at the start of the season if we didn’t go up with the squad we had then a P45 would be landing on his doormat the next day.

Personally, I’d like to thank Dave Jones for what he has achieved at the football club in some what difficult times. I certainly won’t forget his time here.

Onwards and upwards though it is. The search for a new man to take the helm is underway, Malaysian investors have pledged their future to the club, outstanding debts are to be addressed and a new Class of 2012 is waiting to be assembled. We will soon find out the intentions of the directors when they announce the new manager and what backing he has been promised. Though it was pleasing to hear recently that the intentions are to challenge for promotion once again.

Swansea’s promotion, Malaysian investment, debt restructuring, new manager and a new squad, I strangely feel that a great weight is being lifted from the club. Optimism has replaced expectation, security replacing uncertainty.

Here’s to a happy 2011/12 season!