At what cost?

Cardiff City's transfer window was uninspiring, confusing and it will likely cost them dear as explanations are needed

Our Bluebirds columnist says the transfer window was so confusing for supporters


By Scott Johnson

Tuesday 4th February 2020


When Cardiff City were promoted to the Premier League for the first time, they led from the front pretty much unchallenged. They were boosted by a summer of serious investment, which acted as a sweetener for the controversial rebrand of the club.

Despite their dominance, they reinforced during January, bringing in former England international Fraizer Campbell for a knockdown sum, as he was heading out of contract the following summer. He hit the ground running and scored some valuable goals as Cardiff romped to the title.

The last time the Bluebirds were promoted, they again added from a position of strength by signing Gary Madine, who let's just say did not fare as well as Campbell, but their statement of intent was clear for all to see.

This year, Cardiff signed Albert Adomah, who is 32 and behind Sammy Ameobi in the Nottingham Forest pecking order.

No disrespect to Adomah, who has had a great career, but no-one is expecting him to be Cardiff’s saviour. In a window where Cardiff needed all killer, no filler, they brought in three players who were very much reserves at their parent clubs.

Meanwhile, Fulham were making loan deals for Ivan Cavaleiro and Bobby Reid permanent, at great expense, while Leeds brought in highly-regarded Red Bull Leipzig forward Jean-Kevin Augustin on loan with a view to sign him permanently should they get promoted.

West Brom pinched Lee Peltier and Hull winger Kamil Grosicki to help reinforce their position at the summit. Supporters of these clubs were left in no doubt that they are geared up for a serious charge at promotion.







How are Cardiff supporters supposed to feel though?

Granted, they spent a lot in the summer, but they also made more than they spent. Only eight clubs; Cardiff, Derby, Hull, Blackburn, Stoke, Wigan, Reading and Millwall, had a positive net spend in the summer and none of them were in the top eight when the window closed.

I also know that there are certain mitigating circumstances. The Emiliano Sala transfer remains unresolved, Cardiff have a new manager and the head of recruitment was recently dismissed. As a result, this is probably the sort of window you should expect.

It was such a confusing window though, from the outside at least.



For example, Neil Harris was very clear that he wanted and needed a striker. He bid in excess of £2m for Kieffer Moore, who cost Wigan that sort of price in the summer. The offer was rejected and Cardiff left the table. All fair enough.

That was just after Harris claiming that he would have no money to spend, so contradicted the expectations that had been set. Not only that, the fact that the money that was seemingly available didn’t get spent also raised a further series of question.

Until the Moore bid materialised, you felt for Harris because it appeared that the club were not affording him the opportunity to make his mark on the squad. The feeling was that Neil Warnock wouldn’t have been given additional funds, due to his summer spend and Cardiff’s league position, but Harris surely would, so that was one of the key advantages of his arrival.

Were he to share Warnock’s limited budget, it was likely that would have been made clear to Harris in advance, but that bid changed the narrative. The fact that Moore didn’t arrive, nor an alternative and that money was not spent elsewhere either begs the question; why not?

Could they not find value in the market? Was Moore their only target? Were they unprepared? Did they get cold feet? We just don’t know, but however you cut it, the club do not emerge from this window convincing anyone that there was a clear plan in place.

It feels just like the last time Cardiff were relegated from the Premier League, where they went from a big summer spend to sacking the manager and cost cutting by Christmas. You would like to think that they would have learned from their mistakes because wilderness years followed last time and it feels like history repeating.

Cardiff are currently insulated by 18 more months of parachute payments. If money is already too tight to mention, what happens the season after next when they run out?

The clock is ticking on Cardiff’s chances of a Premier League return and the impression they’re giving is that they’ve already given up. The January window is not for rebuilding, it’s there for a pick me up. A signing to give you a cutting edge over your rivals or everyone a lift. In that respect, Cardiff failed.

Cardiff have a squad with plenty of quality and a wealth of options, but it’s gone a bit stale. They needed an impact player, like Nakhi Wells who joined Bristol City or Emile Smith Rowe, who Arsenal loaned to Huddersfield. The three players Cardiff brought in likely won’t start at Luton on Saturday, so nothing has really changed.

Losing Peltier was the sting in the tail, like Reid’s departure in the final hours of the previous window. You have to assume there is more to the move than meets the eye because it was senseless to let a key player leave mid-season, to join a rival, when his contract is expiring in a few months anyway.

Having spent the month pursuing full-backs, they let one of their own walk away on deadline day and that at the very least requires an explanation.

The problem Cardiff have now is that the January window feeds in to the launch of season tickets for next season. The club will soon ask supporters to invest in the future of the club when they didn’t.

No one wanted or expected Cardiff to break the bank, but some sign of ambition was needed. After a muddled, underwhelming window, it feels like an opportunity was wasted and everyone is now seemingly bracing themselves for more mid-table mediocrity.

Give me mid table Championship mediocrity over Premier League stuffings every week any day. Don't want a return to the Premier League until we have the investment in our squad to stay there.

Give me mid table Championship mediocrity over Premier League stuffings every week any day. Don't want a return to the Premier League until we have the investment in our squad to stay there.

in an ideal world I would agree. but I think if your not giving it a go at one end of this division your likely to be dragged into a fight the other end..

Maybe in the summer we will get some quality players in, ones that like sheffield united had are good enough to keep us up, if we get there

Maybe in the summer we will get some quality players in, ones that like sheffield united had are good enough to keep us up, if we get there

having read what Mr Choo has come out with....I doubt it.

I would not take what has been said as what will actually happen. When we go after players we do not want their cost to go up because we have said we have loads of money!

I would not take what has been said as what will actually happen. When we go after players we do not want their cost to go up because we have said we have loads of money!

its not like we have been the last of the big spenders anyway..

I would not take what has been said as what will actually happen. When we go after players we do not want their cost to go up because we have said we have loads of money!

its not like we have been the last of the big spenders anyway..

TERRY B

I personally enjoyed our brief spell in the prem it was good also for the city as a whole we did' nt get stuffed every week and the atmosphere was so much better than today 2 points was the difference of us staying,but look at us now we have gone back 5 years quickly,
and look where wolves are and we came up together whether they had more money or not they obviously have run things better than us, and look at sheffield this year spending nearly 20 million on 1 player in January, showing there intention to stay in the prem something we did' nt granted we lost sala and the F.A. not giving us an extention in the transfer window shafted us, but are sheffield a richer club than us.

TERRY B

I personally enjoyed our brief spell in the prem it was good also for the city as a whole we did' nt get stuffed every week and the atmosphere was so much better than today 2 points was the difference of us staying,but look at us now we have gone back 5 years quickly,
and look where wolves are and we came up together whether they had more money or not they obviously have run things better than us, and look at sheffield this year spending nearly 20 million on 1 player in January, showing there intention to stay in the prem something we did' nt granted we lost sala and the F.A. not giving us an extention in the transfer window shafted us, but are sheffield a richer club than us.

When I see that our Club are ambitious enough to invest in the squad to give us at least a fighting chance of staying up with the big boys I will welcome our return.
Until then I am quite happy for us to remain in the second tier where we can at least look forward each season to us competing rather than being slaughtered with the inevitable consequences. Just my opinion.

TERRYB

i would much rather be in the premier if this season in the championship is anything to go be
I still say we had some cracking games and wins in the prem and the atmosphere could' nt have been better , yes we where going to get whooped by citeh and pool but we gave most teams a good game
How many wins have we had this season not many either, and more draws than ann summers, and the crowds are down along with the atmosphere
which is not making it an enjoyable season so far.

Love the Championship, but the place to be has to be the Prem. Better exposure, larger crowds, higher quality of opposition, etc. It must be our ambition season after season

Last season was far more enjoyable than this one and we didn’t even beat any of the big teams (Man Utd doesn’t count).

This season has just been miserable I would much rather be in the Premier League going down fighting than where we are now

Give me the Premier League anytime. But if we ever get there again we have to spend serious money. If we had invested last time we may still have been there.

I wouldn't worry anyone reading this has seen city play precious little top flight football and is unlikely to see any more in the foreseeable future.

Love the Championship, but the place to be has to be the Prem. Better exposure, larger crowds, higher quality of opposition, etc. It must be our ambition season after season

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