“ A HUGE CHALLENGE FOR CARDIFF CITY “
The squad has been slimmed down once again and no money available to the manager.
City will depend on a lot of home grown Accademy players this season on low wages but raring to go.
Cardiff have a great early set of winnable fixtures - Barnsley, Blackpool, Peterborough, Millwall, Bristol City.
By Glenn Williams
Tuesday 20th July 2021
Cardiff City
The truth is it's really difficult to say what kind of campaign is in store for Wales' capital city club.
They had a near perfect transfer window last summer, Wilson, Seyi Ojo and Kieffer Moore among the exciting captures, and really should have challenged for promotion.
But there was always that nagging doubt about whether Neil Harris was the man to make the most of the sum of the parts available to him.
Not so, it transpired.
By the time owner Vincent Tan belatedly succumbed with the managerial change that so many felt was crying out to be made, the 15th-placed Bluebirds, six defeats on the trot, looked more like a relegation team than a promotion one.
In Mick McCarthy, this time they have a wily old campaigner who has been there, seen it and done it at this level.
The problem is McCarthy has had No money at all and only been able to sign free agents mostly lower league and a loan signing.
Part of you senses a Neil Warnock kind of special effect on the Cardiff team this season; the other part worries that the creative force isn't there and a place outside the top six is more likely.
Of course the dream would be, were McCarthy to land Wilson on loan for another year, and at some point Gareth Bale were to magically come on board, as the bookies still reckon he will, well that would alter the dynamics of everything.
Suddenly Cardiff would be top two material.
But that dream scenario isn't going to be happening any time soon. Big Mick appears to be going into the campaign with what he has and, I'm told, he is quite pragmatic about the Bluebirds' financial situation and ready to make the most of the players available.
Under McCarthy, Cardiff will be very hard to beat. That we know, but challenging for promotion is another thing.
He will set up again with Sean Morrison, Aden Flint and Curtis Nelson as a no-nonsense back three, ably supported on either flank by Perry Ng and new signing Ryan Giles, who brings much needed pace to the team.
We don't know yet how another new signing, Ryan Wintle from Crewe, will go.
But McCarthy and his Army of scouts know the lower leagues inside out and they have high hopes Wintle will bolster a midfield City will depend on.
Whoever is picked in midfield out of Wintle, Will Vaulks, Joe Ralls, Leo Bacuna and Marlon Pack, will put in a shift. There won't be many harder working teams than McCarthy's Cardiff.
The key to their fortunes, however, will be turning draws into victories.
The slimmed down squad seems more fit for purpose, even if the Wilson stardust is missing. McCarthy has managed to keep the core players that he wanted to - Morrison, Ralls, Vaulks, Nelson, Kieffer Moore, Alex Smithies among them.
He's brought in newcomers he feels will improve the side, including striker James Collins, while highly-rated youngsters like Rubin Colwill, Tom Sang and Joel Bagan will be afforded more opportunities.
Home grown players given a chance. That has to be a plus.
Kieffer, we know, will score goals. Lots of them.
If only those two creative berths right behind him could be sorted.
Then again, dare I mention the names Lee Tomlin and Josh Murphy, Cardiff's two big mercurial talents but who, for differing reasons, sometimes drive the manager and fan base mad.
Their talent is not in doubt, it's about seeing it on a more consistent basis.
If Tomlin can get fit, if Murphy can deliver more often, then Cardiff can be a real promotion force.
But those are two enormous ifs.
As things stand, anywhere between fifth and ninth could be on the cards.
Cardiff have a great early set of winnable fixtures - Barnsley, Blackpool, Peterborough, Millwall, Bristol City.
If they can get off to a flier, and with their fanatical fans back to roar on the team in decent numbers home and away again, then with early momentum who knows?
Sean Morrison and Ryan Bennett have key roles to play this season
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