Cardiff have now got a plan in place for the next four to five years says Dalman.
By Paul Abbandonato
Monday 9th October 2023
Chairman Mehmet Dalman was behind Eol Buluts appointment and they work together behind the scenes, the two are the main reasons for Cardiff’s big turn around.
In Erol Bulut, the Bluebirds have a manager the fans appear to believe in. Given the awful circumstances he inherited, Bulut has done a remarkable job in turning things around so quickly with a revamped squad and easier on the eye football.
That doesn’t put Bulut above criticism or scrutiny. In Aaron Ramsey’s absence, his persistence with Ryan Wintle at 10 rather than the far more creative Rubin Colwill, and choice of Ike Ugbo rather than Callum Robinson up top versus Watford, has raised eyebrows among the supporter base.
But generally Bulut has done a great job thus far and is helping everyone pull in the same direction at Wales’ capital city club. A host of younger players - Rubin and Joey Colwill, Ollie Tanner, Mark McGuinness, Perry Ng among them - have signed new contracts, putting the club on a much sounder footing.
A host of court cases have been dealt with, the damages claim against Nantes in the French courts the only outstanding one.
Cardiff have become a club with a much clearer identity and Dalman, who was instrumental in the appointment of Bulut, puts much of it down to the manager.
MEHMET DALMAN:
“Erol is doing a very good job, in more ways than one, and may it continue,” says Dalman. “Football-wise he’s the most tactically-oriented manager I have come across in my time here as chairman. He’s quite funky, can spot and change tactics as the game goes on, and generally that's not something I feel we’ve seen too much of here before.
“He’s changed the style of football, for the better, has a good eye for players, spots potential in the younger ones as we’ve seen with Tanner, is a football obsessive who works incredibly hard.
“When he goes home he watches the game back again to assess things, then he’ll watch the game of the team we play next. It means he goes to bed at 3am, but he’s back at the training ground by 8am. He’s very dedicated, one of the first in and definitely the last to leave. That sets the standard for others to follow.
“But what I also like about him is the way he communicates. He’s a straight talker, you don’t have to second guess what Erol is thinking. When we announced we were appointing Erol I guess most people were saying ‘Who?’. But when the homework was done, they’ll have seen we had captured a highly capable manager who’s incredibly motivated.
“He’s done well. The spirit in the dressing room is good, the mood positive, but Erol is the first to tell us not to start getting carried away by the decent start. He knows how much work is still required as we look to kick on further.”
Bulut’s input has been important in the way the Bluebirds are running things in 2023, with the captures on new contracts of the brightest young players at the club. Perhaps the most exciting, of course, is 21-year-old Tanner, the flying winger with enormous potential who downed Swansea City in the Welsh derby.
But others have also been secured. It has led to critics who previously felt Cardiff were always fighting fires in dealing with the present, instead tipping a much brighter future for the club.
Dalman says: “We had a strategy paper and the plan was to get rid of the quantity and instead work on the quality. The manager will argue we don’t have enough quality, that injuries have shown that, but in terms of the younger players signing new deals this is specific planning for the next four to five years, we have a plan in place.”
“Like any asset you want value that will rise, rather than depreciate. Too often we would sign players with a low valuation, which for various reasons would then get lower. We’re trying to retain good quality players at the moment, ones who have huge potential and can definitely gain in value.
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