Are we better off with Solskjaer than we were with Mackay?

Written by Ned Thomas

http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/?p=916

Featured on http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Sport/Footba ... rdiff+City

In December 2013, Cardiff City lost 3-0 at home to Southampton. Following that result, Malky Mackay lost his job as club manager. The following month, former Manchester United star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was named as his replacement.

So, was it the right decision? Was it the right timing? Is Solskjaer a more suitable manager for the club than Mackay?

' Let's start with Mackay. '

The Scotsman was given the job in the summer of 2011. Cardiff City had been flirting with promotion, under Dave Jones, for years. New owner, Dato Tan Tien Ghee decided to make the change in manager following the 3-0 aggregate defeat to Reading in the play-offs.

Mackay, who left Watford to join the Bluebirds, had come into a difficult situation. He only had a handful of players due to loanees returning to their clubs and others moving on. Jay Bothroyd, Craig Bellamy and Michael Chopra were just three of these.

So, in the summer of 2011, he had to re-build a new squad. He brought in the likes of Kenny Miller, Don Cowie and Joe Mason.

In his first season, he achieved a play-off position. City would eventually be thrashed by recently-relegated West Ham United. The season was best known, however, for Mackay taking the club to the League Cup Final, with his new-look side taking Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool to a penalty-shoot out.

The following summer was one of controversy. Vincent Tan had now taken over the club and made the decision to change the home shirts from the traditional blue to red. A colour he felt would help the club grow financially in Asia.

Was it lucky red? Perhaps not, but Mackay led the Welsh capital to the Championship title and the riches of the Premier League that came with it. He made one of the best signings of the January transfer window in Frazier Campbell for less than £1 million.

If the 2012/13 season was one of success for Mackay and his staff, the next was one of pain. Mackay had started the season well. Beating oil-rich Manchester City, drawing with the champions in Manchester United and who could forget the win over Swansea?

However, the tension between manager and owner began to grow. First, there was the reported row that players' agreed bonuses were not being paid.

Several other controversial issues were being reported by natural and local media. Iain Moody was then removed from his role as chief scout for overspending on the summer transfer window, notably the signing of Andreas Cornelius.

It was clear that Mackay's position was untenable, he was told by Vincent Tan that he must resign or he'd by sacked. It was reported that Mackay replied with a simple, "no thank you". Shortly afterwards, Mackay was sacked.


' As for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. '

The Norwegian did a brilliant job at Molde in his home country. But this was his first big job, his first Premier League job. Was it the right time? Maybe, maybe not.

He started slowly. The 3-0 loss at Swansea hurt all of us fans, but also hurt Solskjaer.

However, in recent weeks, we have seen a big difference. The team were perhaps unlucky not to come away with a point at Tottenham and Everton, while a good first half display was put in against in-form Liverpool.

Most importantly though, he has got the win where it matters. This started against Norwich City and continued in the do-or-die game with Fulham.

So, back to my original question. Are we better off with Solskjaer than we were with Mackay? At the moment I'd be inclined to say no.

But Solskjaer has grown into the job well, and if he keeps up what he's been doing in recent weeks then Cardiff City will be a Premier League team next season.

What is crucial though, is that the team rally behind the players and the manager. The Great Escape is still possible.

We will never know.

Thanks for posting this Carl.

Hope people can let me know what they think, any constructive criticism is welcome

Thanks for posting this Carl.

Hope people can let me know what they think, any constructive criticism is welcome

No probs Ned.

I have had a few people interested in writing articles

Yours has been published on newsnow

I enjoyed that maybe should of gone in to more detail on Oles reign so far.
You were fair on Malky and I enjoyed reading Malky's reign.
Tomorrow for me is the big test for Ole, any club can rise when they play big name clubs, but tomorrow is what really matters

As an OGS fan, and as people like to say a 'plastic,' I would agree with this Article. However I think think we need a re-write of this same article whether we stay up or go down. And even one done next season would be justified imo.

Malky did great things for the club and was able to achieve what most managers in their careers will never achieve.

But as I said, I'm a plastic OGS coach fan and still think his style and formational flexibility will keep us up and keep onward. I also have hopes that he stays at the club for a long time; from what I've read about the history and traditions of the club it really draws me more into the club than I thought I would originally; which was observe how OGS did in the premier league through interviews + fixture results... Here I am waking up (hungover) on Saturday mornings to watch each Cardiff game on usually shitty and EXTREMELY frustrating streams.

Anyways I don't want this to get off topic. Great article!

Malky was sacked to later, don't think anyone disagrees with that. Organised chaoes

Yes we are better off with Ole he wants the team to play football and we will get even better once he's had time to bring in his own players.
Malky did well for us but after watching his style of play i can honestly say whether we won ,drew or lost i have never witnessed such boring , negative football in 30 or so years of watching Cardiff City.
Thanks Malky but christ i'm glad he's gone

Difficult one.

I will always have a massive soft spot for Malky. He got us to league cup final and to the promised land. He also came across as a decent man. He did have failings and was overly negative with his tactics in certain games (palace away being a prime example).

I quite like ogs as he is getting us playing football. However we have slipped down league under him and pretty football does not grind out away draws.

The OGS/MM debate is an interesting one but the most important thing at moment is for us to get behind the team and fight for survival

Impossible to judge, the circumstances surrounding the sacking are too complicated. Malky was the victim of a witch hunt that was front page news all over the World and did nothing but embarrass Cardiff City Football Club and everyone connected to it.
OGS is unproven at this level of football and the future will decide if he’s a successful manager or not.
Personally I think Ole could turn Cardiff around and make us an established member of the Premier league, it may mean dropping down to the Championship let him bring in players he wants, players to play ‘his way’ and lose the players currently with us who don’t fit in.
And that’s where you have to ask the big questions.
Will he want to stay (play football in a lower league)?
Will Tan support him financially? Without this we’ll end up like Portsmouth or Coventry.
Happy Days

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

In my mind/opinion & strong belief we def would not be in the relegation zone under Malky.

Being in the prem is not everything. Look at west hams fans, they are also pissed off with the drab football allardyce is playing. Malkys football was the most boring iv watched from many managers. I pay my money to be entertained, whether thats in the prem or champ, and Ole is the man to deliver that.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

It is to soon to judge ole and you certainly can't say we would not have been relegated under Malky. Personally when I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I envisaged us being in the bottom three at the end of January bearing in mind the toughness of the fixtures that month
Malkys record shows including Watford that he starts seasons well but then the team runs out of steam towards the end .
We had that 10 game winning home streak last year but won only 3 of the last thirteen games towards the end but every time we had a poor result hull or Watford seemed to match us.
The last few games under Malky I thought the down turn had started and the team were camped in their own half for the final 20 minutes of games trying to defend for their lives with no attacking options left.
Although the team is defensively poorer under ole they now look like they carry an attacking threat and the players look fitter and last the full 90 minutes.
I think Malky did a great job for us but performed poorly in the transfer market.
The mistake tan made was that if he wanted to oust Malky he should have done it 20 minutes after palace away because I don't think he would have had a great deal of resentment from the fans after that poor performance and not going for the win earlier in the week against Stoke.

Agree steve, there is nothing in malkys history that suggests we would of stayed up, his teams hisorically do bad towards the end of seasons.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

In my mind/opinion & strong belief we def would not be in the relegation zone under Malky.

pure speculation though Annis as we will never know but I'm with Jinks on this the 'football' under Malky was dreadful and getting worse, even the crowds were getting restless at the style of football being played!! and look at the dross we have watched over the years you have been around football long enough to see we were going nowhere.

everyone will have their own opinions and mine is he should have gone earlier and giving the new man a better chance.

Keep the Faith

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

It is to soon to judge ole and you certainly can't say we would not have been relegated under Malky. Personally when I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I envisaged us being in the bottom three at the end of January bearing in mind the toughness of the fixtures that month
Malkys record shows including Watford that he starts seasons well but then the team runs out of steam towards the end .
We had that 10 game winning home streak last year but won only 3 of the last thirteen games towards the end but every time we had a poor result hull or Watford seemed to match us.
The last few games under Malky I thought the down turn had started and the team were camped in their own half for the final 20 minutes of games trying to defend for their lives with no attacking options left.
Although the team is defensively poorer under ole they now look like they carry an attacking threat and the players look fitter and last the full 90 minutes.
I think Malky did a great job for us but performed poorly in the transfer market.
The mistake tan made was that if he wanted to oust Malky he should have done it 20 minutes after palace away because I don't think he would have had a great deal of resentment from the fans after that poor performance and not going for the win earlier in the week against Stoke.

Steve, From October-Dec 2013 Tan was on Malkys back like a sledge hammer smashing away at him, which u know is true, no manager could manage under those circumstances, Tan should of Sacked Malky then not, let a circus run for 3 months which in my mind damaged our club big time.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

It is to soon to judge ole and you certainly can't say we would not have been relegated under Malky. Personally when I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I envisaged us being in the bottom three at the end of January bearing in mind the toughness of the fixtures that month
Malkys record shows including Watford that he starts seasons well but then the team runs out of steam towards the end .
We had that 10 game winning home streak last year but won only 3 of the last thirteen games towards the end but every time we had a poor result hull or Watford seemed to match us.
The last few games under Malky I thought the down turn had started and the team were camped in their own half for the final 20 minutes of games trying to defend for their lives with no attacking options left.
Although the team is defensively poorer under ole they now look like they carry an attacking threat and the players look fitter and last the full 90 minutes.
I think Malky did a great job for us but performed poorly in the transfer market.
The mistake tan made was that if he wanted to oust Malky he should have done it 20 minutes after palace away because I don't think he would have had a great deal of resentment from the fans after that poor performance and not going for the win earlier in the week against Stoke.

Steve, From October-Dec 2013 Tan was on Malkys back like a sledge hammer smashing away at him, which u know is true, no manager could manage under those circumstances, Tan should of Sacked Malky then not, let a circus run for 3 months which in my mind damaged our club big time.

I agree annis tans behaviour was disgraceful and I knew that he was doubting Malky even before we got promoted but it dident hide the fact that malkys teams had faded in the last third of the season for both us and Watford.
We both know that certain players in the squad were also against Malky because of his negative tactics before he got sacked.
The season has been a mess all round when for the likes of ourselves who were the people at Rochdale and Carlisle on Tuesday nights what should have been the best season in 40 years has been a big disappointment for me personally.
As in my previous post I believe tan should have acted after the palace away defeat and that would have allowed the new manager a better look at the squad and more time to chase players prior to the transfer window starting.
One thing is certain anything less than 6 points in the next 2 games will mean certain relegation and then it will remain to be seen what tan decides to do with the club.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

It is to soon to judge ole and you certainly can't say we would not have been relegated under Malky. Personally when I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I envisaged us being in the bottom three at the end of January bearing in mind the toughness of the fixtures that month
Malkys record shows including Watford that he starts seasons well but then the team runs out of steam towards the end .
We had that 10 game winning home streak last year but won only 3 of the last thirteen games towards the end but every time we had a poor result hull or Watford seemed to match us.
The last few games under Malky I thought the down turn had started and the team were camped in their own half for the final 20 minutes of games trying to defend for their lives with no attacking options left.
Although the team is defensively poorer under ole they now look like they carry an attacking threat and the players look fitter and last the full 90 minutes.
I think Malky did a great job for us but performed poorly in the transfer market.
The mistake tan made was that if he wanted to oust Malky he should have done it 20 minutes after palace away because I don't think he would have had a great deal of resentment from the fans after that poor performance and not going for the win earlier in the week against Stoke.

Agree with Steve's comments.

I know results count but Malkys brand of Prem football was not pleasent to watch and I think teams had Sussed us out.

Even if Tan was on his back, MM was still able to pick the team he wanted and play the way he wanted.
Just excuses.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

In my mind/opinion & strong belief we def would not be in the relegation zone under Malky.

Based on what? we had one of the worse defensive records in the league under malky.

Nice article. Malky should probebly been sacked far earlier, when he left, the team was playing totally without confidence,
and played terrible boaring football.
Ole came to a club in crises, on the pitch and outside. The players he tok over was also not good enough for PL, except for an excellent goalkeeper pluss a couple of others, as the money from the owner in the transfermarket was used in a poor way.
Ole said he should change the team to play more attracting football. Which he did, but it tok some time for the players to adjust. The change has made the defence more vunerable, and the results have not been good enough.
So far City have not played well for 90 minutes under OGS, only parts of the matches. Hopefully this will be differant when the team meet the other bottom teams.
The conclusion is for me that City are much better off footballwise than before, but not sure that will be enough to stay up,
as Ole came in at a too difficult time. Lest hope though.

After promotion and a strong start, malky deserved the season and imo without interference from tan would of kept us up quite comfortable. He is gone now though and there has been signs in recent weeks that ole maybe is the right long term choice. Time will tell all.

Being in the prem is not everything. Look at west hams fans, they are also pissed off with the drab football allardyce is playing. Malkys football was the most boring iv watched from many managers. I pay my money to be entertained, whether thats in the prem or champ, and Ole is the man to deliver that.

Surely you are better off staying up at least 1 season before wanting to play expansive football? Allardyce has been at West Ham a few years now. I read a piece by a Hammer yesterday basically telling his fellow fans to shut up. It said to keep Allardyce in the job until they move to the Olympic stadium so that they will remain in the top flight and can make a real go of spending more money and expansive football then.

I enjoyed reading that if for no other reason than I seem to be asking myself the same question everyday. Unfortunately I keep coming up with the same answer - maybe yes but then again maybe no.

I think that it's too simplistic to say that under OGS we have got off to a "Slow" start because during his 11 PL matches we have had to play 5 of the top 6 clubs. It's only now that OGS gets a run of matches where we only play one top 6 team (Chelsea) in our last 7 games. I know it's a cliche but as the saying goes "It's not how you start but how you finish" and with this run of games OGS has a chance to prove just that.

One reason why I think we are better off without MM has little to do with football really but has everything to do with stability off the field and that is that now OGS has been appointed VT has NO option other than to support him. MM, in my opinion had little in the way of public support from VT and god alone knows how bad things were for him "behind the scenes" and it's that lack of support which had the biggest and most negative effect on the team and there is only one person responsible in my opinion and that's VT.

Much is made of the way MM set us up to play but until VT decided to sack Moody we were doing OK and although many say our record at the back end of last season was poor in reality, by losing only 1 of our last 12 games that was our best performance since our return to Championship level and was, in my opinion, the major reason we got over the "Promotion" line. Again it's a cliche but as the saying goes "If you can't win don't lose" and that was what MM was best at. By losing that determination, organisation and togetherness is the biggest reason why I think we are not better off with OGS compared to MM.

So we arrive at our last 7 games and in fairness I think we are starting to see the OGS effect on the team and performances like Spurs , Everton and even Liverpool give me hope that we can and will get results in our last 7 games. A strong finish now will I suppose mean that we are better off with OGS but without VT being VT maybe MM would have had us in a stronger position now with less to worry about.

That's the saddest part of all of this and for me the biggest concern, will VT leave OGS to get on with his job and manage the team.

I enjoyed that maybe should of gone in to more detail on Oles reign so far.
You were fair on Malky and I enjoyed reading Malky's reign.
Tomorrow for me is the big test for Ole, any club can rise when they play big name clubs, but tomorrow is what really matters

I agree we have to get consistently good results against teams around us. A freak win against a big club means nothing unless we regularly beat the teams of same or similar standard to us like Sunderland, Palace etc. Next year we must conquer this and we will not be struggling near relegation as they are 6 pointers. I know I have stated the obvious but that is the way it is on a weekend like this v West Brom. But in all fairness , West Brom had a good few last seasons finishing top half of table. They are definitely weakened this year without Lukaku and Shane Long. We can beat them. Pundits recon it will be a draw and I know West Brom have been draw experts this year but I think there will be only one result this weekend as both teams need 3 points. Lets hope its us that takes it. Or we are well and truly in trouble. Also a win will send out a loud message to other teams around us and the nerves will kick in for them when we play them. Yes Palace you heard me!

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

It is to soon to judge ole and you certainly can't say we would not have been relegated under Malky. Personally when I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I envisaged us being in the bottom three at the end of January bearing in mind the toughness of the fixtures that month
Malkys record shows including Watford that he starts seasons well but then the team runs out of steam towards the end .
We had that 10 game winning home streak last year but won only 3 of the last thirteen games towards the end but every time we had a poor result hull or Watford seemed to match us.
The last few games under Malky I thought the down turn had started and the team were camped in their own half for the final 20 minutes of games trying to defend for their lives with no attacking options left.
Although the team is defensively poorer under ole they now look like they carry an attacking threat and the players look fitter and last the full 90 minutes.
I think Malky did a great job for us but performed poorly in the transfer market.
The mistake tan made was that if he wanted to oust Malky he should have done it 20 minutes after palace away because I don't think he would have had a great deal of resentment from the fans after that poor performance and not going for the win earlier in the week against Stoke.

Steve, From October-Dec 2013 Tan was on Malkys back like a sledge hammer smashing away at him, which u know is true, no manager could manage under those circumstances, Tan should of Sacked Malky then not, let a circus run for 3 months which in my mind damaged our club big time.

I agree annis tans behaviour was disgraceful and I knew that he was doubting Malky even before we got promoted but it dident hide the fact that malkys teams had faded in the last third of the season for both us and Watford.
We both know that certain players in the squad were also against Malky because of his negative tactics before he got sacked.
The season has been a mess all round when for the likes of ourselves who were the people at Rochdale and Carlisle on Tuesday nights what should have been the best season in 40 years has been a big disappointment for me personally.
As in my previous post I believe tan should have acted after the palace away defeat and that would have allowed the new manager a better look at the squad and more time to chase players prior to the transfer window starting.
One thing is certain anything less than 6 points in the next 2 games will mean certain relegation and then it will remain to be seen what tan decides to do with the club.

I will agree with you Steve that Tan should have sacked Malky after the Palace game and that is to give the new manager a fairer chance of doing their own thing.

All other arguments have a counter to them. You say Malky's team faded in the second half of the season. Well at Watford they did because he lost most of his loanees. Last season we faded because we did the business in the first half of the season and did enough in the second half to complete the job. No it was not pretty but why was that? I personally believe it was the pressure to get promoted. Malky ensured that last season and to be honest I felt he was doing it right to keep us up this season. Once again there are arguments against that.

I do believe that if Ole keeps us up Tan will have got away with murder.

They are very different type of managers. OGS has a more ambitious style of playing. Of course OGS is unproven at this level, but he has a managerial style more suited to the modern game. If you look at the top managers in the game they aren't fixed to one system of playing. Tactical flexibility is a must in the modern game. Imo OGS has the bigger potential as a manager. Malky is a bit old school and i don't think he could have taken the team much further. Possibly he would have kept the team up thats impossible to say though. By the same token you could ask would OGS keep the team up if he had a pre season and the players he need for his disposable? None of them had or has ideal work conditions, with the club in turmoil and a lot of negative press thats is very disruptive.

As to answering the question, I admire Ole, like him and respect him, but we would of 100% been better off with Malky in my opinion.

This. We wouldnt be in the relegation zone if Malky was still in charge

It is to soon to judge ole and you certainly can't say we would not have been relegated under Malky. Personally when I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I envisaged us being in the bottom three at the end of January bearing in mind the toughness of the fixtures that month
Malkys record shows including Watford that he starts seasons well but then the team runs out of steam towards the end .
We had that 10 game winning home streak last year but won only 3 of the last thirteen games towards the end but every time we had a poor result hull or Watford seemed to match us.
The last few games under Malky I thought the down turn had started and the team were camped in their own half for the final 20 minutes of games trying to defend for their lives with no attacking options left.
Although the team is defensively poorer under ole they now look like they carry an attacking threat and the players look fitter and last the full 90 minutes.
I think Malky did a great job for us but performed poorly in the transfer market.
The mistake tan made was that if he wanted to oust Malky he should have done it 20 minutes after palace away because I don't think he would have had a great deal of resentment from the fans after that poor performance and not going for the win earlier in the week against Stoke.

Steve, From October-Dec 2013 Tan was on Malkys back like a sledge hammer smashing away at him, which u know is true, no manager could manage under those circumstances, Tan should of Sacked Malky then not, let a circus run for 3 months which in my mind damaged our club big time.

I agree annis tans behaviour was disgraceful and I knew that he was doubting Malky even before we got promoted but it dident hide the fact that malkys teams had faded in the last third of the season for both us and Watford.
We both know that certain players in the squad were also against Malky because of his negative tactics before he got sacked.
The season has been a mess all round when for the likes of ourselves who were the people at Rochdale and Carlisle on Tuesday nights what should have been the best season in 40 years has been a big disappointment for me personally.
As in my previous post I believe tan should have acted after the palace away defeat and that would have allowed the new manager a better look at the squad and more time to chase players prior to the transfer window starting.
One thing is certain anything less than 6 points in the next 2 games will mean certain relegation and then it will remain to be seen what tan decides to do with the club.

Steve, the bit about certain players in the squad were against Malky because of his negative tactics, apart from Conway who fell out with Malky over personal issues, what other players were against Malky ?