Warnock’s men one game from matching the record
CARDIFF City may be cursing the international break as an unwanted bump in the road, but when they return to action against Fulham on September 9 the Bluebirds could match a club record that has stood for 17 years.
Not since the 2000/01 season has a Cardiff team won six league games on the spin.
It was a 2-0 victory over Macclesfield Town on December 23, 2000 that gave a Division Three Cardiff some Christmas cheer, a feat Neil Warnock’s side will hope to emulate at Craven Cottage in a fortnight’s time.
In the years since that December day there have been promotions, relegations, takeovers and everything in between.
But such is the Bluebirds’ inspiring early season form this time around — better than anything the strong teams under Dave Jones or Malky Mackay could muster — they could be on the brink of history.
Who knows, maybe the September 12 visit to Preston North End will see a magnificent seven in a row?
Even in 2012/13 when Mackay spearheaded a successful promotion charge to the Premier League, the Bluebirds best streak was four Championship victories in December and January which was rocked, ironically, by a 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Macclesfield that sparked a slight wobble in their league form.
In 2010/11 that great Cardiff side of Jay Bothroyd, Craig Bellamy, Michael Chopra and Peter Whittingham managed five consecutive wins in October. They stormed past Barnsley, Bristol City, Coventry, Leeds and Norwich in swashbuckling style, only to come unstuck with a 1-0 defeat at home to Swansea. Later in that season, of course, the same side reached the play-offs only to be beaten by Reading.
So far in this sublime season’s opening, Warnock’s 2017 vintage have matched the class of 2010/11. But they now have the chance to go past them, with the veteran boss hoping a better play-off or promotion bid can be mounted too.
Never in their 118-year history have Cardiff made such a strong start to the season.
The question, now, is: can they produce the best streak of victories in many a long year? Can they now match the Division Three promotionwinning 2000/01 side of Alan Cork?
Of course, as Warnock noted after the 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers, he won’t get carried away with promotion dreams or feats of history like supporters do.
He’ll spend the next fortnight meticulously preparing for the clash with Fulham, the West London side who ended Ipswich Town’s 100 per cent start to the campaign with a resounding 2-0 win at Portman Road last weekend.
Slavisa Jokanovic’s side are renowned for playing expansive, attractive football and will look to perform a similar demolition job on Cardiff’s flawless early season form.
Can the winning streak continue? Bluebirds fans will have to wait to find out, but there’s no reason why not judging on the current form of Warnock’s inspired side.