A corpse stuck in a chimney, Malky and Tan wielding the knife

Like the majority of City fans I regard Malky as a hero.

His acquisitions were bang on the money. The team he built took city to a cup final against Liverpool along with promotion from the Championship. All inside two short seasons.

This was ecstatic bliss after the dour, bitterly disappointing Dave Jones years - though I still contend that Jones was unlucky.

If a manager and owner fallout there is only one victor. And as Terry Venables discovered during his run in with Alan Sugar at Spurs, the owner plays the final card no matter how great the feelings of the fans.

Malky could play the fans like no manager we have seen. He tickled us under the chin and told us how wonderful we were, and we loved it. He may have used the same tactics to motivate his players. And fair enough. He was in the results business.

But Tan like Sugar appear to be suggesting that each of the managers weren’t so much incompetent as less than honourable - and my team of lawyers are gathered over my shoulder as I write these words.

If it has reached a stage where Cardiff have sent a report to the FA about Malky then those contents should be shared with those of us who cough up our hard earned at the gate.

We deserve to know and we need to know.

As politicians would advise Tan, being ‘right’ in knocking out a leader won’t make you a hero. He who wields the knife rarely wears the crown. Destroying Malky, even if warranted, will hang around the club for years like a corpse stuck in the chimney.

It will stink.

Malky had apologised to Tan in a letter ending threats of legal action between them. That ‘apology’ raised eyebrows at the time and in all honesty the eyebrows haven’t fallen since that time.

Personally I have never thought that successful men in any field are 100% straightforward. The footballing managerial giants of the 1970s and 80s were proven to have had their hands in the tills. 

The word ‘bung’ emerged along with tales of money changing hands at motorway service stations. People who at the time dominated soccer like Revie, Clough and George Graham were all tainted.

Not saying that Cardiff’s problem with Malky is money just pointing out that the best in their time were underhand for personal reasons.

But of course the fans don’t care. Whatever it takes, we might say. We don’t want saints, we want winners. If those winners get caught out then that is their tough luck.

But now Vincent must share it all with the rest of us. It’s like being at a family funeral with people shaking their heads and muttering dark thoughts about good ol’ Uncle Dick. We need to know and we need to know now.

Cardiff City v Wigan, Frankenstein and the wolfman, the engine is running in nicely.

19.08.2014

Cardiff City 1 Wigan Athletic (a big fat) zero.

Closed down with grit, pace and attitude. Good vision going forward, tight at the back, controlled midfield, the majority of the possession, the majority of shots on target. Promotion contenders without a doubt.

Enough about Wigan.

We beat them because we were just about a bit smarter, a little more savvy, and wanted it more.

All the features missing in Solskjaer’s dismal team of last year were present in spades, or buckets or maybe present in buckets and spades. All this despite having a couple of new players still finding where they fit. 

Morrison played like he had lived with Connolly all his life, knowing which toothpaste he uses, how he likes his lasagne cooked and what his favourite movies are. It is a partnership that must be first choice. With Hudson, Cala and Turner in the squad, Solskjaer could look at his three man defence with greater confidence.

Pilkington came on like a man desperate to make an impression with supporters worried sick at the lack of attacking penetration from the home side. With Noone still in the sick room being fed grapes and chocolates by sexy nurses in short dresses we desperately needed a winger. Daehli is brilliant, a star, but not a winger. If he continues to play as he did on his debut Pilkington will help keep us near the top.

Pilkington actually began a dialogue with the full backs. He and Brayford looking to see what the other wanted. They could become as famous as Morecambe and Wise, Frankenstein and the Wolfman, Batman and Robin …well ok you get the picture. It’s gonna work!

Make no mistake, Wigan maybe floating near the bottom of the division but they won’t be at the end of the season. This was a good victory over a side who will probably be in the play offs.

Man of the Match. Fabio. A fabulous athlete, stunning skills, phenomenal work rate. He maybe the only man in the championship who can keep the talented Declan John warming the subs bench. Somehow the management team at Cardiff have focused what was often a deranged, headless chicken performance to one that may put him in a Brazilian shirt – well he is better than either full backs or half backs that Brazil offered up in the World Cup.

And talking of the management sorting out players whose defects appeared to outnumber their attributes. Who the hell is this new Kenwynne jones? Who is this guy who is out there tackling, chasing, harrying, crossing, (what? Yes, crossing!). Can’t be the same anonymous guy from last season surely? This Kenwynne Jones could become a fan’s legend. Another wonderful, telling display.

Was I the only one worried when we locked down the 1-0 lead a la Mourinho? Solskjaer again got it right. His well-organised players can kill the game when necessary.

BTW I pat the back of every player out there. A good team performance and the sort of performance that continues to give us hope.

One final bit of mindless optimism. This feels like a team still finding their way. Passes were spilled, the ball lost and at times they were a bit clueless when heading forward. We will get better.

They have clearly worked hard in close season and the results so far make it all worthwhile.

Let relief be unconfined, Ole's team works!

All together now. Big breath. Inhale, hold it, hold it and exhale …

Phew

Relief.

Solskjaer has got his team and it works. He is out to land a couple more players, there will be more tinkering and he likes to rotate. We get that. But his team, playing in his style, can hold possession, control a game and score goals.

Nice one Ole, we were getting worried.

And a huge pat on the huge back of Kenwyne Jones. 3 goals in two games is a dream start - and he could have scored more!

Kenwyne looking pleased with himself ... a bit like Cardiff City fans!

Results like this won't always happen for us. There will be more testing teams than Huddersfield bombing down the M4 to the Cardiff City Stadium and we will have matches where it doesn’t always go right. 

But now we can see it. The dream land is promotion and this is the path to take.  

      

His acquisitions look good, his style works. He can play Cardiff at a holding game like at Blackburn and eke out a precious away point millions of miles from home.

The fans were positive, the negative chanting being drowned by the feel good factor. Long may it continue.

We looked dangerous when we had the ball and we closed down when we lost it. cannot ask for more.

Reasons not to be mindlessly optimistic: The history of Cardiff City(!), the fact that Huddersfield had a lot of possession, more shots and more corners and there is a long way to go but …

BUT …

But bloody hell, after a season of misery, we live in the land of hope again. I like it here.

Unconvincing Cardiff’s unconvincing victory over unconvincing Coventry

Cardiff 2 Coventry 1

So what did you make of unconvincing Cardiff’s unconvincing victory over unconvincing Coventry?

Unconvinced?

Well let’s look on the positive side first.

Connolly is the real deal at centre half. Quality. Deahli is the real deal, but we knew that. That guy will win matches for us. Gunnarsson is a revelation playing behind the strikers rather than in the coal face of mid field. Burgstaller, Barnum-Bobb and Harris are promising.

Over all the gap in quality between Cardiff and Coventry is as wide as the Bristol Channel and it would take more than a barrage to bring them closer.  Good to see the pressing game, just to show the Blackburn performance was not a flash in the pan.

Yet Coventry only woke up in the last twenty minutes. We had so much possession but so little result that it worries me. It all worries me. 

This was a team that was going to win by scoring buckets of goals but these first two games don’t promise that. More like a Mourinho Chelsea side winning by the slenderest of margins.

Don’t get me wrong if Solskjaer wants to batten down the hatches to get us back into the premiership, a la Malky, then great. 

We are two games into the season and we haven’t lost, there is promise and Solskjaer has our backing. But we will need more to convince us than squandering possession over an Ordinary league One side or a lack lustre draw in Blackburn.

City, Blackburn and Kim Kardashian, all without a winger in sight

Ok. 1 all is ok. Makes it feel better that it is against Blackburn away.

Good defending and excellent closing down from Cardiff, two aspects of the game City forgot in the last few months of the previous season. So extra points for that.

But …

And it is a big but. A Kim Kardashian sized butt.

Gratuitous picture to show you the size of the BUT

But there still doesn’t seem to be a plan. And as hard as you look there aren’t any wingers. Honestly. I kept counting the wingers in a Cardiff City shirt and there isn’t one. At least not with Noone in the treatment room. We have more forwards than the average rugby team yet none are natural wide men. Why (oh why, oh why) didn’t Cardiff buy a winger in amongst all those front men? Without a winger our play is narrow and predictable.

We scored from a set play and in all honestly that was about the only way we created danger.

Yes our forwards had to defend and a pat on the back for Alfie and matts Daehli for their defending.

The trouble is that without a game plan going forward we lose the ball way too easily. Possession was gifted to the industrious Blackburn players. Their tackling was good but they might have saved themselves the trouble and simply wait for a Cardiff player to give them the ball.

For those of us who feared Cardiff would commit too much going forward and concede too much in their own nets this match shows that Ole and his team have done their homework.

This was always going to be the sort of season Alton Towers should package and charge thrill seekers to endure and so it proves true.

Signed,

Worried of Cardiff.