City deserve full to capacity crowds

THE dream which Sam Hammam first started 13 years ago, when he breezed into Cardiff City and pledged to lead the then Fourth Division Bluebirds towards the Premier League, stands just a matter of weeks away from being fulfilled.

Malky Mackay is absolutely right to state he and his team will be taking one game at a time, chipping away at the fixture list until it becomes mathematically impossible for them to be overhauled.

But the truth is if the Bluebirds fail to go up from here on in, it would represent a sporting collapse of Devon Loch and Jean van der Velde proportions.

Something very magical is happening in the Welsh capital right at this moment in time and Mackay and his team deserve the backing of the entire city.

Why is it then, I wonder, that a team eight points clear at the top, containing stardust in Craig Bellamy and Petter Whittingham and producing the most consistent run of results for decades, can’t even sell out their own Cardiff City Stadium for home matches?

Hammam’s mantra, when he bullishly took over the Bluebirds, was to state Cardiff would become one of the biggest clubs in the land.

Look, a lot of the Hammam rhetoric was rubbish, and we knew it. On a par with Barcelona, behind only Manchester United and Celtic in stature here.

Those type of remarks were way over the top and something of an insult to Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle and Aston Villa, who had spent the best part of a century building up their brand names.

But the gist of what Hammam had to say was correct. Cardiff City FC was a sleeping giant which he planned to reawaken from its slumbers.

He reckoned that as the capital city club, the Bluebirds were there to represent a proud Welsh nation and would bring unprecedented publicity to a round-ball game historically dwarfed here by rugby union.

We were told that if City got to the Premier League, they would be able to sell out the Millennium Stadium.

Forget the 74,000-seater Millennium. I’d just be happy to see the Bluebirds in a position where they are able to put up the ‘sold out’ signs at Cardiff City Stadium in the last nine home league matches of the season.

Despite their roaring success which sees them with a couple of toes already dipped into the Premier League, Mackay’s Bluebirds languish fifth in the Championship attendance stakes.

Their average home attendance is 22,041. Brighton, down in seventh place and fully 18 points behind the Bluebirds, lead the way with a 25,515 average at the AMEX Stadium.

Dave Jones’ Sheffield Wednesday, desperately trying to stave off relegation, are second on the list with a Hillsborough average of 23,347.

Third and fourth come Derby and Forest. Wolves and Leeds are just behind the Bluebirds, but my guess is that if either of those were eight points clear at the top they would probably be packing out Molineux or Elland Road every week.

There are doubtless a whole host of reasons why Cardiff are not maximising their home support.

The rebranding still grates with some, but I believe it’s too simplistic to suggest they are the missing few thousand.

In times of austerity, some people can’t justify the expense of paying to watch a 90-minute game of football.

Because of the Bluebirds’ historical lower league struggles, Cardiff has always been a city where there is a huge following for the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, rather than the local team.

It’s probably a combination of the above, although if Hammam or Rick Wright were currently at the helm, you could imagine a massive marketing campaign being undertaken to draw in the missing fans.

The Malaysians are not doing that, but we can here at the Echo.

So here goes.

The Bluebirds have nine home matches left, starting with Bristol City on Saturday. And my advice is this – if you can get down to Leckwith to support your Premier League-bound club, then grab the opportunity because this is a history-in-the-making sequence of games coming up.

Cardiff City Stadium, when full, is a rocking venue. Referees can be surreptitiously influenced by the passion and fervour provided by the fans, opposition players can become intimidated, the home ones grow an extra foot tall.

Those City supporters can help drive the Bluebirds over the promotion line as the proverbial 12th man.

There has only been one home game in 2013, against Ipswich in mid-January, so the Cardiff public should savour the prospect of turning out in their droves and roaring on their side against old Severnside derby foe Bristol City.

Let’s pack it out, let’s create the atmosphere and let’s help roar the Bluebirds into Premier League dreamland.

Yes, let’s prove Cardiff City really are a big club.

8 points clear? Where did the other 3 points go?

Buzzing for Bristol now

8 points clear? Where did the other 3 points go?

Buzzing for Bristol now

Hull beat Derby mid week we have a game in hand and 8 points clear

8 points clear? Where did the other 3 points go?

Buzzing for Bristol now

Hull beat Derby we have a game in hand over them

Oh right
I need to get back into the swing of things

Oh right
I need to get back into the swing of things

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

words fail me....

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

words fail me....

c'mon Ken you know we are bigger than Barca....

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

words fail me....

c'mon Ken you know we are bigger than Barca....

obviously. you should just move into the millenium stadium now. in fact no its too small. maybe the maracana

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

words fail me....

c'mon Ken you know we are bigger than Barca....

obviously. you should just move into the millenium stadium now. in fact no its too small. maybe the maracana

Maracana is being rebuilt-not for world cup but for ccfc in prem

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

words fail me....

c'mon Ken you know we are bigger than Barca....

obviously. you should just move into the millenium stadium now. in fact no its too small. maybe the maracana

Maracana is being rebuilt-not for world cup but for ccfc in prem

Nah to small how about st peters square in rome? 250k easily!

Malky can wave to his team from the balcony

I feel Cardiff potentially could be a club like Chelsea in terms of size

words fail me....

Think comparing to a club who have won the European cup ain't the best comparison but you don't have to roll back the years too far to see chelski getting gates in the teens

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21463791