CLARKE ON THE UP BUT CARDIFF SINKING FAST

THIRTEEN months on and Steve Clarke admits he did not see it coming. He was talking about his sacking in December 2013, the bottom line of a late-night training-ground conversation after West Brom had been beaten in Cardiff. But the Reading manager’s words would have been equally applicable to Cardiff, a low-to-mid-table team in the Premier League then, but now in a dreadful, cost-cutting freefall. Kenwyne Jones opened the scoring for the hosts but they now have only a mediocre Championship campaign to consider after Oliver Norwood and Hal Robson-Kanu hit back with goals for Reading. Cardiff were so poor that their manager Russell Slade admitted that if he was a fan he would have walked out. Clarke, though, has no such desire. He was a year out of management after leaving West Brom but three wins in seven games since taking over a struggling club have them moving in the right direction. ‘I don’t think when I get back to the training ground that the chairman will be waiting for me,’ he said after this win. ‘But then I didn’t think I’d get sacked last time.’ With Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham all out, Clarke, a Cup-winner as a player and coach with Chelsea, added: ‘I think everyone will be thinking it has opened a little.’ Slade’s concerns are deeper. On Saturday, John Brayford was sold to Sheffield United and Kim Bo-kyung released. ‘One or two more’ will follow this week, according to Slade, who must cut the wage bill. He said he has been given no indication that he will lose Jones, the club’s top earner and goalscorer with 12 in all competitions. ‘If an enormous offer came in then that would be left with the owner and chief executive, said Slade. ‘I’d like him here. At this stage there is no kind of mandate to lose Kenwyne.’