" Expectation management "

For me, this is part of the reason the board have found more and more fans not being pleased with them.

Every summer we hear the same things:

"We are aiming for promotion" or "our target is the top six."

Dalman was even at it the other day when he said "Vincent is determined to get back to the Premier League."

That's all well and good, but then they don't spend the money or bring in the players for that to be a reality.

What that leads to is fans being angry at the end of every window because we haven't brought in the players that are needed.

It's also part of the reason why fans are not happy we're in a relegation battle (which the board only admitted for the first time the other day).

In a way they would be better off saying:

"Look, at some point we will make the signings for a promotion push. But this year, we just don't have the finances for it so we will be consolidating our position in the league and if we can compete in the top half then it will be a good season."

Fans would be annoyed at the time but it wouldn't be such a shock when we don't sign the players needed. In the long run, it would have calmed down the feeling amongst most supporters.


But they will never do that.

Every year, and this will continue I'm afraid, they promise the world but under deliver.

They know the situation regarding consequences of relegation but what do they do? Keep a coach who hadn't won in 8 games and think Davies and attete will be answer to our striking problems... to me it smacks of no insight into why we are in this position.....the squad is good enough to stay in league as we've seen last 3 games and previously but squad needs strengthening but you get feeling it won't be sufficientlyso to pull away from bottom so it's a case of crossing fingers and hope for best regarding relegation

a more experienced manager whould of won more of the games we ended up drawing im sure of it cant blame everything on our injurys everytime i hear what he talks about it just shows his inexperience i wish i could get behind him but i cant

For me , a lot of this comes down to not having a proper football person on the board …someone like Warnock or Mowbray who has in-depth knowledge of the game and who can also push harder on recruiting the right players.
Ignorance is bliss for our board .

I constantly read that we're "6th highest wage bill" in the division. IF that is true, then we are spending the money. We don't seem to pay much on transfer fees, but there is significant investment in wages - again, if true.

I just think the people with the cheque book are absolutely clueless. Our recruitment is terrible, both on the pitch and regards a manager. We don't really have assets that other clubs are coming in for (McGuiness being 1 rare recent example). We have no clear leaders other than Ralls who's a bit part player at best. We recruit or maintain injury prone players.

I genuinely think that the delusion is from the very top, and they are that unaware of the football realities.

Good topic!!

In a way they would be better off saying:

"Look, at some point we will make the signings for a promotion push. But this year, we just don't have the finances for it so we will be consolidating our position in the league and if we can compete in the top half then it will be a good season."

I agree with this!

Even if they did, would us fans believe them?

We have been lied to consistently by the board, and to this day they continue to do so.

Once a Liar always a liar I wouldn’t believe them If they said it was raining outside perthetic I now but sadly so true empty promises year in year out the only players we bring in are either finished or injury primes who other clubs are glad to get rid of you pay for what u get

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The 20/20 hindsighters are out in force.

We all start the season in hope. El Garzi, Chambers & Willock were good free's on paper. We were all excited about Robertson and Simic played champions league. Add Daland and Fish to that list.

We had Rubin, Tanner, Goutas, NG Siopis and spent £2 million on another champions league Celtic player in Turnbull. We only lost an overvalued McGuiness.

I am not saying it hasn't worked, its been a mess and to a man we all shouted we needed 2 strikers and a winger.

The Canton and away fans "wanted Bulut to stay", even when getting spanked 5-0

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The 20/20 hindsighters are out in force.

We all start the season in hope. El Garzi, Chambers & Willock were good free's on paper. We were all excited about Robertson and Simic played champions league. Add Daland and Fish to that list.

We had Rubin, Tanner, Goutas, NG Siopis and spent £2 million on another champions league Celtic player in Turnbull. We only lost an overvalued McGuiness.

I am not saying it hasn't worked, its been a mess and to a man we all shouted we needed 2 strikers and a winger.

The Canton and away fans "wanted Bulut to stay", even when getting spanked 5-0

Funnily enough I've said similar on another thread.

We were all pleased with some of the signings in the summer. It obviously hasn't worked out.

But I would point out that every fan was saying we needed another striker and it didn't happen.


As for Bulut, I made clear that I thought he should have stayed. I thought the stability was what the club needed and surely the style of play would have improved this season.

I've said time and time again I was clearly wrong about that. It took me until Burnley to realise how wrong I was.

Unfortunately there are others, many others, that refuse to admit they've been wrong - about anything.

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The 20/20 hindsighters are out in force.

We all start the season in hope. El Garzi, Chambers & Willock were good free's on paper. We were all excited about Robertson and Simic played champions league. Add Daland and Fish to that list.

We had Rubin, Tanner, Goutas, NG Siopis and spent £2 million on another champions league Celtic player in Turnbull. We only lost an overvalued McGuiness.

I am not saying it hasn't worked, its been a mess and to a man we all shouted we needed 2 strikers and a winger.

The Canton and away fans "wanted Bulut to stay", even when getting spanked 5-0

I was 1 that thought we signed some good players in summer with experience like el ghazi and Chambers etc as well as youth Robertson etc and thought we would be at least 6-10 and pushing

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The below, on paper, are significantly better than bottom 3...

Goes against my opinion of "we don't spend much in the transfer market", also. Circa 9Million euros, according to this source ( https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/cardiff ... verein/603 )

Arrivals 24/25

Jesper Daland Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge €4.10m
Roko Simic Red Bull Salzburg RB Salzburg €2.00m
Will Fish Manchester United U21 Man Utd U21 €1.20m
Alex Robertson Manchester City U21 Man City U21 €1.15m
Wilfried Kanga Hertha BSC Hertha BSC Loan fee: €500k
Chris Willock Queens Park Rangers QPR free transfer
Calum Chambers Aston Villa Aston Villa free transfer
Anwar El Ghazi 1.FSV Mainz 05 1.FSV Mainz 05 free transfer

The investment is in weird places though - In Euros due to the website, but imagen ~£4Mill on a striker as opposed to Daland (who doesn't feel like a 3xmore value player than Robertson, for example). Then as we all know, the 2Million Euros for Simic was bonkers.


Interesting, also - scroll down that link and it quotes Harry Wilson as 1.3Mill Euros on loan. That's the going rate for one of these decent whipper snappers from the prem. 500K from Hertha Berlin gets you a Kanga.

Even if they did, would us fans believe them?

We have been lied to consistently by the board, and to this day they continue to do so.

I’ve actually believed Dalman in the past and it all turned out pure bullshit.

So NO I for one would Not believe a word anymore.

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The 20/20 hindsighters are out in force.

We all start the season in hope. El Garzi, Chambers & Willock were good free's on paper. We were all excited about Robertson and Simic played champions league. Add Daland and Fish to that list.

We had Rubin, Tanner, Goutas, NG Siopis and spent £2 million on another champions league Celtic player in Turnbull. We only lost an overvalued McGuiness.

I am not saying it hasn't worked, its been a mess and to a man we all shouted we needed 2 strikers and a winger.

The Canton and away fans "wanted Bulut to stay", even when getting spanked 5-0

I was 1 that thought we signed some good players in summer with experience like el ghazi and Chambers etc as well as youth Robertson etc and thought we would be at least 6-10 and pushing

I think we all (or most) thought we’d be a lot further up than we actually are; but us supporters, if not the club, knew we were a striker short of a contending team…

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The 20/20 hindsighters are out in force.

We all start the season in hope. El Garzi, Chambers & Willock were good free's on paper. We were all excited about Robertson and Simic played champions league. Add Daland and Fish to that list.

We had Rubin, Tanner, Goutas, NG Siopis and spent £2 million on another champions league Celtic player in Turnbull. We only lost an overvalued McGuiness.

I am not saying it hasn't worked, its been a mess and to a man we all shouted we needed 2 strikers and a winger.

The Canton and away fans "wanted Bulut to stay", even when getting spanked 5-0

I was 1 that thought we signed some good players in summer with experience like el ghazi and Chambers etc as well as youth Robertson etc and thought we would be at least 6-10 and pushing

I think we all (or most) thought we’d be a lot further up than we actually are; but us supporters, if not the club, knew we were a striker short of a contending team…

True which is why simic should of come straight here and tried to blend/ gel rather than wasted in Belgium and still no main striker here

Hang on where are all the fans who thought we bought well over the summer and had the makings of a playoff team?

The 20/20 hindsighters are out in force.

We all start the season in hope. El Garzi, Chambers & Willock were good free's on paper. We were all excited about Robertson and Simic played champions league. Add Daland and Fish to that list.

We had Rubin, Tanner, Goutas, NG Siopis and spent £2 million on another champions league Celtic player in Turnbull. We only lost an overvalued McGuiness.

I am not saying it hasn't worked, its been a mess and to a man we all shouted we needed 2 strikers and a winger.

The Canton and away fans "wanted Bulut to stay", even when getting spanked 5-0

You are right about hindsight. So many were excited at start of season. There wasn’t much against Tan then.