How close it came to Steve Morison returning as manager to Cardiff City:
By Paul Abbandonato
Sunday 4th June 2023
It seems at first Tan genuinely considered going back to Morison, the man the owner sacked just ten matches into the new season. There are plenty of reasons why Morison should not have been re-hired, we don't need to go into those, we know what they are. Those in his favour, I guess, were that these are his players, his team, he perhaps deserved another crack with them and at least, unlike Lamouchi, Morison showed a willingness to pick Cardiff’s own home-grown players.
Oh, and he wouldn’t be too expensive an option, either.
However, that move would have spelt disaster for Cardiff in terms of the message it sent out to the fans. Bluebirds chairman Mehmet Dalman knew this and it seems he became intent on ensuring the club employed a different manager, one capable of driving them to upward heights.
Tan bought into the ambition. As the days, and indeed weeks, wore on, a whole raft of alternative names were considered - some expensive options, others less so, some in employment, others not.
We understand a large initial list was drawn up, which was then whittled down to in effect a middle list. That one contained the USA’s World Cup manager Gregg Berhalter and Portuguese boss Vitor Campelos, each of whom were spoken to twice, plus a manager involved in the play-offs.
Despite social media going into meltdown on Friday night upon Campelos leaving Chaves, where he did a decent job, Cardiff had brought their final shortlist down to four candidates a good 10 days earlier. And it didn't include him.
Every one of the men who did make the cut had their merits. Each would have been a decent appointment - but each would also have represented something of a gamble.
Nathan Jones. The favourite for many fans and whose stock rose last weekend when the Luton team he put together won promotion to the Premier League. Jones is a Cardiff supporter, would bring passion and know-how - but he was unable to work his magic at bigger clubs like Southampton and Stoke. That, and the finances, created an area of concern. Southampton are reported to still be paying Jones compensation of 1.25million a year for another three years.
Cameron Toshack. He’s a rookie, but learned from a pretty good master in Toshack senior, the two working together with Macedonia. And he was in the Premier League, as Jesse Marsch’s Leeds No.2, just a few weeks ago. Toshack junior would play Cardifff’s young players and heavily invest in the Academy, having developed a host of current Wales stars whilst working as swansea-city-fc>Swansea City’s youth guru. Very much the type of modern go-ahead younger boss many feel Cardiff have been crying out for. An upgrade on Morison and Hudson, but did he have enough experience?
Oscar Garcia. The Spaniard is being linked with the Swansea job, but Cardiff came calling first. Right at the start of their process. He has pedigree, learning next to Johann Cruyff at Barcelona and winning the league in Israel with Macaabi Tel Aviv and the Austrian league and cup double double with Red Bull Salzburg. Significantly, in one season with Brighton he took them into the Championship play-offs. Another credible contender, but he rarely lasts much time at clubs.
In the end, the pull of Erol Bulut and what he could potentially bring to the Cardiff party in terms of shaking up the dressing room and altering the mindset for everybody proved too irresistible for Tan and the Bluebirds Board.
Bulut was always the number one choice for Cardiff chairman Dalman, who admired his work in Turkey, where he guided two clubs to Europa League places, got to a Turkish Cup final, did well enough with Fenerbache, and then stabilised his most recent team, Gaziantep, in the top flight.
Cardiff were excited by the prospect of landing Bulut, but was it too much of a risk?
Dalman and Tan discussed the pros and cons during a number of meetings. Should they stick with British? Could Bulut thrive in the way foreign bosses have at other clubs? Did they even go back to Morison?
Ultimately, having weighed it up, they still wanted Bulut. He talked a very good game, showed terrific ambition.
He's the type of manager, we were told, who 'will put a bomb inside that dressing room, really shake things up' at the club.
In other words, Cardiff felt Bulut's ambition, drive, passion and managerial expertise, could give them the chance to move in a fresh direction. And how that is needed at the moment.
The question was whether could get him over the one, Bulut had been out of work since January .
He would cost, but Tan and Dalman were prepared to meet that outlay.
An 11th hour complication arose when teams in Germany, Turkey and Saudi Arabia indicated they also wanted Bulut.
Fearing they might lose their man, it seems Cardiff had lined up Garcia, himself with a decent pedigree, as their second choice.
Morison was also still hovering in the background, if necessary.
But after some last minute to'ing and fro'ing, Cardiff managed to get the deal over the line for Bulut and on FA Cup final day announced they had got their man. Bulut will be formally unveiled at a Press conference in the Welsh capital at Monday lunchtime when we'll learn more about his exciting vision for the club.
I have to be honest. When his name was first mentioned to me, I knew nothing about Bulut. But research into his record indicates he is the type of manager capable of taking Cardiff in a much-needed different direction.
He took minnows Yeni Malatyaspor to a Europa League place. Same with Alanyaspor, plus a first Turkish cup final appearance.
Feberbache, a BIG club, headhunted him. He won 21 and drew five of his 34 matches in charge there. Not a bad effort.
Given the demands Bulut will be making, over player signings and his own backroom staff, it's likely almost every other person on Cardiff's short list would have cost less money. Bulut most certainly isn't the cheap option. It’s unclear quite how Cardiff have made the finances work, but make them work they have.
Bulut can’t be given money as City can’t sign any player involving money or even a loan involving money.
Tan has clearly scaled back on the Bluebirds in recent years. But he remains a highly ambitious businessman. It is always felt that were Tan to scent a credible sniff of the top six again, he would be ready to push the boat once more.
With Bulut at the helm, and the signing of five or six quality new players this summer, Tan is hoping that suddenly becomes a possibility again.
Word has it that when he was interviewed, Bulut said something on the lines of wanting to come to Cardiff to win the league. Naive, given the current squad? Perhaps. But you have to admire the enthusiasm. Many Cardiff fans will like that sort of talk.
One of my fears, looking from the outside, is Tan and Bulut clashing. Two forceful characters, neither takes a backward step. In their eyes their way is the right way.
But there will be times when they can't each be right over Cardiff. If and when that happens, Dalman and chief executive Ken Choo will just need to step in and calm the waters.
Clearly we need to see how it plays out, but one thing Bulut definitely needs is time. If early results don't go well, as he learns about the Championship, there should be no knee-jerk reaction.
He is the chosen one, he has to be supported.
The demands, expectations and pressures of the Cardiff City job have swallowed up many. You somehow sense, having managed the football hotbed of Fenerbache, Bulut will take that in his stride.
Back to the gamble element. Yes, of course it is. It could go either way.
It's easy to adopt a glass half-empty approach, say this is too much of a risk, should have gone British, it's doomed to fail.
How about the half full approach instead? Other clubs have unearthed foreign managerial gems - although when you study the records few had the gravitas of managing a club the size of Feberbache. Could this be just the appointment needed to re-ignite Wales' capital city football club and get the Bluebirds thriving onwards and upwards again?
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