‘YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU!’
NATHAN BLAKE’S RALLYING CALL TO CARDIFF CITY FANS
CARDIFF City have won three on the trot and look to make it four by beating Fulham this weekend and talk of a most unlikely push for the play-offs is gathering in momentum.
Yet it almost wouldn’t be Cardiff without the odd issue to cloud matters! There are still fears from some fans – rightly or wrongly – that Neil Warnock may be gone at the end of the season because of a lack of transfer funds.
And why does this weekend’s game, Cardiff’s biggest at home for many, many months, clash with the Six Nations rugby?
Here is my take on the main talking points...
NEIL WARNOCK RULES THE DRESSING ROOM ROOST
At last Cardiff City have what I would describe as a proper Championship manager who has full control of the dressing room.
And isn’t the evidence of that crystal clear each time we watch Warnock’s team play these days?
The players probably won’t like me for pointing this out, but I personally felt they previously seemed to have too much of a say in things.
You get big characters inside a football dressing room. I’ve been inside them myself where managers are concerned about upsetting certain individuals, for fear they may down tools. Their mates in the side follow suit and suddenly you’re toast.
We saw this down the road at Swansea with Bob Bradley. The Swansea players were clearly not happy with the manager or his methods and made their feelings perfectly clear with their own performance level.
Paul Clement has come in and, sacked by Derby or not, he has implemented a training regime and management style the team have suddenly responded to. Hey ho, results are suddenly completely different.
It happens. My personal view is that things haven’t looked right in that Cardiff dressing room since Malky Mackay left.
Ole Gunar Solskjaer didn’t grasp the magnitude of the job properly. I always felt Paul Trollope wanted the players’ ‘love’. Russell Slade needed them on board.
After a while, I felt some of Slade’s post-match comments became repetitive. Some fans were saying they saw the game differently. If the manager didn’t, how were things going to change for the better?
Well, I actually think Slade probably did see it, but perhaps was a little wary of too much criticism in public because he needed the players on board.
Warnock, however, has a bigger reputation as a manager than any of them. It’s his way or the highway and he won’t care who he upsets on the way.
He is the manager and the players either respond, or they’re out.
You know, sometimes players require that kind of strong leadership. A manager is like a captain leading soldiers.
If he barks an order, then you obey it for the good of the team. If he asks you to jump, your first response should be how high?
I can just see in the body language, and in the way they are playing, that the Cardiff players are responding properly to their manager. He is the kingpin. The players are galvanised, the fans are galvanised because they see the players doing what they want from them.
And it goes round in a circle. Hence the truly excellent wins over Derby, Leeds, Rotherham... and hopefully Fulham this weekend, too.
BUT WILL WARNOCK STAY?
I am concerned in the back of my mind that Warnock could yet leave at the end of the season if he doesn’t get the transfer funds he wants to turn the team into genuine promotion contenders.
I hope I’m wrong, of course. But Warnock is of an age, and a character, where he won’t hang around if he thinks the exercise is futile.
He knows what is required for the Bluebirds to be a top two side... and that means money being released by Vincent Tan.
Why would Tan give money to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Russell Slade, even Paul Trollope, yet not to a manager who has seven promotions to his name and wants an eighth with Cardiff City?
The answer, I keep being told, are the Financial Fair Play rules hindering Cardiff.
Well here’s a revolutionary idea for the board. Find a solution.
Don’t talk about it, resolve it, because that’s what you are paid to do.
If it means releasing players in the summer to trim the wage bill, then so be it. Much better for money to go on players Warnock genuinely wants in his team, as opposed to men who he doesn’t necessarily believe are up to it. Warnock wanted January funds, but handled the situation brilliantly. He didn’t moan, yet has gone on to demonstrate what a good manager he is. However, that can only go so far. It’s like building a house. You need a floor, walls and a roof. You can mix and match the interior as you see fit, play around a little, experiment even, but you do need the foundations. Silly analogy, I know, but it’s the same with Warnock’s Cardiff team. There are key planks to the side he still requires and they are going to cost money to get. I do fear he might leave if he doesn’t get that money. So over you, members of the board.
ARE THE PLAY-OFFS ON?
I threw in a little teaser in last week’s column when I stated Cardiff’s senior players should start thinking of the play-offs.
Some of the comments I made have set the cat amongst the pigeons because I note an awful lot of others are beginning to say the same thing following the 5-0 thumping of Rotherham.
You have to have dreams in football, something to aim for... and in Cardiff’s case it is sixth place in the table come May.
Will they get in there? Probably not. The opportunity is slim, at best.
But while it is slim, they have to go for it.
The way I look at it is this. Sheffield Wednesday are sixth, 13 points clear of Cardiff, having failed to increase that gap because they lost at home to Brentford in midweek.
Norwich are seven points behind the Owls and will be looking to haul them in, confident of doing so, too. Cardiff are six points off Norwich. That’s nothing. Two wins. So Cardiff
I fear Warnock may leave if he doesn’t get that money. So over to you, members of the board... Nathan Blake