The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they could

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The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they could

Postby Forever Blue » Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:51 pm

The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they could affect January striker search


By Dominic Booth

Wednesday 7th November 2018



Lee Tomlin and Gary Madine have floundered after arriving as marquee forward transfers... so what happens in the New Year?



Lee Tomlin and Gary Madine have mustered just one Cardiff City goal between them.





After 35 appearances in all competitions and — more pertinently — £7.5million spent (plus millions more in wages and add-ons), the Bluebirds could soon cut their losses with both players.

Tomlin has seemingly been written off already; Cardiff were open to offers in the summer yet none came and the frustratingly talented playmaker stayed put — only to be shunned from Neil Warnock's 25-man Premier League squad.

Madine just hasn't worked out and although Warnock is persisting with the £6million man, if Cardiff get the striker they want (and need) in January it could be curtains for him too.

But why have two players heralded as crucial signings for Cardiff not been able to shine? And what impact could their failings have on future transfer business?







Lee Tomlin and Gary Madine, along with Kadeem Harris and Omar Bogle, were all linked with exits from Cardiff in the summer
Wrong profile of player?

You wonder if there was some muddled thinking from the Bluebirds hierarchy when picking out these transfers.

Neither particularly fit the profile of a classic Warnock player. They don't possesses the explosive pace needed by attackers in the Yorkshireman's Cardiff teams.

Both have significant attributes, yet the Bluebirds never played to Tomlin's strengths when he was picked. They didn't feed the ball into the No.10 channels, didn't seem on the same wavelength as him.

Madine is excellent in the air but uncomfortable darting in behind defences or playing on the shoulder, the way Kenneth Zohore (at his best) can do.

Tomlin has shown glimpses, including that brilliant late goal at Reading last season, but not enough consistency for Warnock to trust him in the Premier League.

The truth is neither player has fulfilled their expectations in a Cardiff shirt, a source of regret for all concerned.





Transfer fees weigh heavy

Managers are always quick to dismiss the impact of a hefty transfer fee.

We saw it as Madine struggled last season and Warnock issued a staunch defence of his January capture, saying: "I’m absolutely delighted that I got him.

"He’s not going to be everybody’s favourite because he doesn’t score goals and he doesn’t do this or that and because we paid good money for him.

"But he knows what I think about him. I’ve never been happier with a signing."

The boss surely wouldn't repeat that now.





Madine has had little to no effect in the Premier League and, in brutal terms, hasn't justified the outlay.

The same can be said of Tomlin, another whose signature Warnock was very excited about. You could maybe put Omar Bogle in that bracket too, who is now on loan at Birmingham after signing for an admittedly more modest £750,000.

An oddity of Warnock's reign is players like Neil Etheridge, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Sol Bamba and Junior Hoilett — all free transfers — have thrived more than anyone.

Those players arrived as 'underdogs', without the pressure perhaps felt by Madine and Tomlin.

Read about every player who joined and left Cardiff City in the summer here.

“Lee reminds me of Adel Taarabt who I had at QPR," said Warnock when signing Tomlin.

“He’s always a threat when he’s on the ball... and I’m hoping I can get the best out of him here.

“His creativity is second to none an we want to give him the platform to use that. This is the right atmosphere for him to revel in.”

The atmosphere, in truth, hasn't been right for either Madine or Tomlin. So could owner Vincent Tan pull the plug on future deals because of how these two have panned out?





Lessons learned for this January

There's no doubt Warnock has been shopping in the Championship throughout Bluebirds reign. It's a league he knows and loves and a market Cardiff can compete in. It's where Madine and Tomlin were sourced, as well as more recent signings Bobby Decordova-Reid and Josh Murphy last summer.

And while the Bluebirds paid larger fees for the latter pair — who are looking pretty good so far — Tan may be unwilling to sanction major funds in January after the Madine situation last year.

The Malaysian owner has been cutting costs in an attempt to make Cardiff self-sufficient and compliant with Financial Fair Play r
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The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they could

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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby 2blue2handle » Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:55 pm

Haven't seen much of either of them to judge to be honest.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby HarriRhys22 » Wed Nov 07, 2018 6:37 pm

If I was Tan,I’d tell Warnock to only make loan signings in January as his loan signings have proved much better than his marquee signings?
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby northernbluebird » Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:55 pm

madine was never a 'crucial' signing - he was there to add firepower and help get us over the line. he has never been given a run of games and now finds himself in the PL, which is probably a step too far at the moment for him.

tomlin is not fit enough to play for us in the premier league. lesson from there is to sign players who are professional.

if we keep shopping in the championship, that's where we'll end up.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby dogfound » Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:13 am

how many times is this going to be re hashed by this bloke...

we didnt spend the most..did get promoted..so what sort of dunderhead does not understand that is good.

other clubs clearly had worse buys otherwise they would be playing in the prem and not us..
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby 67 blue » Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:57 am

Exactly...and his brilliant late goal at reading...was a goalmouth scramble..where do they get it from?
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby Tony Blue Williams » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:22 am

northernbluebird wrote:madine was never a 'crucial' signing - he was there to add firepower and help get us over the line. he has never been given a run of games and now finds himself in the PL, which is probably a step too far at the moment for him.

tomlin is not fit enough to play for us in the premier league. lesson from there is to sign players who are professional.

if we keep shopping in the championship, that's where we'll end up.


Very good point about Madine. He was brought in when Ken was having one of his moments and his signing seemed to give KZ the kick up the arse he needed and eventually that got us over the line.

At face value it looks like £6m wasted on another duff striker but there is an argument that it helped secure £100m in PL money (plus parachute payments if we came down) and that in anyone's book is good business.

Tomlin does seem to be an expensive mistake but I am sure like many others I would love to see him just tried out if we ever had to change tac during a game.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby City Slicker » Thu Nov 08, 2018 11:55 am

Tony Blue Williams wrote:
northernbluebird wrote:madine was never a 'crucial' signing - he was there to add firepower and help get us over the line. he has never been given a run of games and now finds himself in the PL, which is probably a step too far at the moment for him.

tomlin is not fit enough to play for us in the premier league. lesson from there is to sign players who are professional.

if we keep shopping in the championship, that's where we'll end up.


Very good point about Madine. He was brought in when Ken was having one of his moments and his signing seemed to give KZ the kick up the arse he needed and eventually that got us over the line.

At face value it looks like £6m wasted on another duff striker but there is an argument that it helped secure £100m in PL money (plus parachute payments if we came down) and that in anyone's book is good business.

Tomlin does seem to be an expensive mistake but I am sure like many others I would love to see him just tried out if we ever had to change tac during a game.


Madine was a panic buy and is hopelessly out of his depth. If we could offload him in January, even on a free, it would represent good business. However, I agree with you about Tomlin: it would be useful to see what impact he could have in the Premier for us. His physical attributes are disappointing but he does have an element of class which we sorely lack.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby dogfound » Thu Nov 08, 2018 3:32 pm

Tony Blue Williams wrote:
northernbluebird wrote:madine was never a 'crucial' signing - he was there to add firepower and help get us over the line. he has never been given a run of games and now finds himself in the PL, which is probably a step too far at the moment for him.

tomlin is not fit enough to play for us in the premier league. lesson from there is to sign players who are professional.

if we keep shopping in the championship, that's where we'll end up.


Very good point about Madine. He was brought in when Ken was having one of his moments and his signing seemed to give KZ the kick up the arse he needed and eventually that got us over the line.

At face value it looks like £6m wasted on another duff striker but there is an argument that it helped secure £100m in PL money (plus parachute payments if we came down) and that in anyone's book is good business.

Tomlin does seem to be an expensive mistake but I am sure like many others I would love to see him just tried out if we ever had to change tac during a game.



the Madine signing isn't that different to Eddie Howe loaning KJ for a fee the year they went up...would be shit management to be so close and not have insurance.....had we not gone up he really aint a bad championship striker for 2 mill..and if we did go up...which of course we did but some havent figured it out yet..the extra 4mill is peanuts..

funnily enough its those that have moaned,complained and screamed from the roof tops about lack of investment and speculate to acumalate that also cant figure out 100mill is a good return on 4 mill..especially if you dont have to stake the 4mill unless you win the bet...
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby Bob Bank Bluebird » Thu Nov 08, 2018 5:07 pm

Not sure why Harris is included in this article... had his problems with injuries, been in and out of the team, one of our few players to score in the prem, cost us next to nothing from Wycombe when he was a teenager and always puts a good shift in when called upon.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby northernbluebird » Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:40 pm

City Slicker wrote:
Tony Blue Williams wrote:
northernbluebird wrote:madine was never a 'crucial' signing - he was there to add firepower and help get us over the line. he has never been given a run of games and now finds himself in the PL, which is probably a step too far at the moment for him.

tomlin is not fit enough to play for us in the premier league. lesson from there is to sign players who are professional.

if we keep shopping in the championship, that's where we'll end up.


Very good point about Madine. He was brought in when Ken was having one of his moments and his signing seemed to give KZ the kick up the arse he needed and eventually that got us over the line.

At face value it looks like £6m wasted on another duff striker but there is an argument that it helped secure £100m in PL money (plus parachute payments if we came down) and that in anyone's book is good business.

Tomlin does seem to be an expensive mistake but I am sure like many others I would love to see him just tried out if we ever had to change tac during a game.


Madine was a panic buy and is hopelessly out of his depth. If we could offload him in January, even on a free, it would represent good business. However, I agree with you about Tomlin: it would be useful to see what impact he could have in the Premier for us. His physical attributes are disappointing but he does have an element of class which we sorely lack.


at the time, we had ward, zohore, bogle and gounogbe. clearly gounogbe couldn't be relied on to provide any assistance in a promotion push, and bogle is / was young and very raw, so we effectively had two good strikers we could call on. any injury to those would have left us very short.

with that in mind, it was clear to warnock that another striker was absolutely necessary, and also clear that in january our options were limited - it was a calculated risk knowing that the upside would potentially be promotion.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby Tony Blue Williams » Fri Nov 09, 2018 11:04 am

City Slicker wrote:
Tony Blue Williams wrote:
northernbluebird wrote:madine was never a 'crucial' signing - he was there to add firepower and help get us over the line. he has never been given a run of games and now finds himself in the PL, which is probably a step too far at the moment for him.

tomlin is not fit enough to play for us in the premier league. lesson from there is to sign players who are professional.

if we keep shopping in the championship, that's where we'll end up.


Very good point about Madine. He was brought in when Ken was having one of his moments and his signing seemed to give KZ the kick up the arse he needed and eventually that got us over the line.

At face value it looks like £6m wasted on another duff striker but there is an argument that it helped secure £100m in PL money (plus parachute payments if we came down) and that in anyone's book is good business.

Tomlin does seem to be an expensive mistake but I am sure like many others I would love to see him just tried out if we ever had to change tac during a game.


Madine was a panic buy and is hopelessly out of his depth. If we could offload him in January, even on a free, it would represent good business. However, I agree with you about Tomlin: it would be useful to see what impact he could have in the Premier for us. His physical attributes are disappointing but he does have an element of class which we sorely lack.


I agree Madine was a panic buy BUT it did have the knock on affect in giving KZ a kick up the arse. Ken was a different player post January and his performances and goals were vital to promotion to the PL. On that basis GM was indirectly a good buy as we gained £100m from a £6m investment even if the player himself didn't physically contribute anything!

Also you are right that anything we get out of him now (goals, assists, transfer fee, saved wages) will be a bonus.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby Mr Shed » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:06 pm

I'd love to see Madine start for us with a full team behind him (not a cup side) i think he'd do well. Possibly even tomorrow V Brighton.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby Sam ReaN » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:10 pm

I would put in Anthony Pilkington in that mix, yes Gary Madine has yet to score for us since he arrived in January, and Lee Tomlin prefers a move away from the club but what about Pilkington? What is his mind set? Does he still have any sort of future at Cardiff or should he get loaned out or even sold.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby 2blue2handle » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:22 pm

Sam ReaN wrote:I would put in Anthony Pilkington in that mix, yes Gary Madine has yet to score for us since he arrived in January, and Lee Tomlin prefers a move away from the club but what about Pilkington? What is his mind set? Does he still have any sort of future at Cardiff or should he get loaned out or even sold.


If someone would take him he would be gone but no one will pay his wages.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby dogfound » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:36 pm

Mr Shed wrote:I'd love to see Madine start for us with a full team behind him (not a cup side) i think he'd do well. Possibly even tomorrow V Brighton.



I think he was brought here to get us over the line last season and although im one of the few that thought he did well, I just don't see him as a Prem striker.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby northernbluebird » Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:10 pm

Sam ReaN wrote:I would put in Anthony Pilkington in that mix, yes Gary Madine has yet to score for us since he arrived in January, and Lee Tomlin prefers a move away from the club but what about Pilkington? What is his mind set? Does he still have any sort of future at Cardiff or should he get loaned out or even sold.


i think pilkington has declined. he has come in and given 100% for the cause when required though.

that said, i think he has lost his edge. as with tomlin, the fact he's now happy to sit in the stands picking up a wage speaks volumes about his ambition, or lack of it.
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby HarriRhys22 » Fri Nov 09, 2018 10:02 pm

Why aren’t Pilks and Tomlin playing for the under 23’s to keep them match fit ready for the January sales?
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Re: The two major Cardiff City transfer flops and how they c

Postby 2blue2handle » Fri Nov 09, 2018 10:23 pm

HarriRhys22 wrote:Why aren’t Pilks and Tomlin playing for the under 23’s to keep them match fit ready for the January sales?


Guess we have other players needing time who we might actually play. I'd make them play at some level tho.
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