After McCarthy’s who’s next? If we will be very lucky
THE 17,000 Cardiff fans present on Saturday knew exactly how this was going to play out.
Neil Warnock and Sol Bamba would both return to South Wales to finish off Mick McCarthy. It was going to be embarrassing for the club, the supporters and especially for McCarthy. So it proved.
What was to gain from prolonging the agony? Did we really need 90 minutes of chants comparing the two managers unfavourably? As Mehmet Dalman reportedly confirmed to a select group of supporters ahead of the game, McCarthy’s fate was already sealed, so why put him through all that?
Despite a historically bad run of form, he still deserved better than that.
In terms of the game itself, it was another hiding. Everything about it felt like a last throw of the dice. From the team selection, which omitted both captain Sean Morrison and talisman Kieffer Moore, to the formation and the various changes in shape and personnel throughout the match. By the end, it was effectively just a mass of players out there.
In a match like this, you couldn’t face a worse opponent than Warnock, who had his side well drilled and well versed. They eased through the game and Bamba, his on-field lieutenant, was exceptional.
There are two ways you can look at Bamba’s departure from Cardiff. The first is as a hard-nosed business decision. In that regard, releasing a 36-year-old player with a recent history of serious injuries is an easy call, especially when you have Mark McGuinness already lined up. A player 16 years his junior and rich in promise.
The other way to look at it is that this was a player beloved like no other, who had just recovered from a life-threatening illness. Someone supporters hoped would stick around after he called it a day and remain a positive influence.
Last season’s highlight was Bamba making it back on the pitch for the final game of the season. It was a beautiful moment and McCarthy deserves credit for facilitating it. The problem is that it was not billed as a farewell and the club has never quite mastered a suitable send off for their modern greats. They tend to just walk out the door and never come back.
Bamba finally got his send off and it was not exactly on Cardiff ’s terms. He provided a defensive masterclass to keep them at bay, winning every header and timing every interception perfectly, with those telescopic legs of his. How Cardiff’s defence could do with his organisation and gravitas just now.
Warnock celebrated with the Cardiff fans at the end, which was as bizarre as it was warm and fuzzy, and McCarthy had been relieved of his duties before I had even got back to my house. It was a brutal end to a bleak run of form, but came at least a week too late.
McCarthy had nowhere left to turn after the Swansea defeat. It felt like he had surrendered and giving him the next two games only prolonged the agony. The question now is where do we go from here and it looks like the club have no idea.
Steve Morison will take charge of the next three games, although I’m not sure why that set amount of games needed to be specified, or why he appears to have already been effectively ruled out of the running. What if he wins all three?
I’m also not sure why a replacement has not already been lined up. Cardiff have been heading in this direction for weeks now and it is not a situation that has crept up on them.
Chris Wilder is the bookies favourite and I think that if Cardiff can get him, they would be lucky to have him. This is a manager that was the Premier League Manager of the Year a couple of years back and he has four promotions under his belt. You do wonder what’s in it for him though.
With three potentially ruinous court cases hanging over them, there will be no money to spend in January or potentially in the summer.
Half the squad soon head out of contract and there is no sign that any of them are getting extended terms.
Wilder recently turned down Nottingham Forest due to financial concerns and their lowly league position, so how is Cardiff any different? As bleak as the current situation is though, Forest should actually offer some comfort. They eventually hired Steve Cooper and subsequently won their next five games, so it just shows the transformative effect a good manager can have.
The runners and riders linked with the post
by the bookies are the usual mix of ex-professionals looking for a break and the same old names that always do the rounds. For every Wilder, there is a Mark Hughes, Tony Pulis or Alan Pardew.
Last time round, they went for one of these grizzled veterans in McCarthy, as an antidote to the perceived youthful failings of Neil Harris.
Initially, it worked, as McCarthy eased Cardiff back on course with an incredible run of form, but it sadly didn’t last. Whether you blame the captain or the ship is up to the individual I guess.
It feels like Harris and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (whatever happened to him?) have put the club off young managers for life, so Wilder at 54 probably represents a happy medium. They have to get this one right though because the potential repercussions of a bad appointment are grave.
Hopefully they have learned the lesson of not appointing someone that supporters are against from the off because when the ship heads off course, there is very little goodwill to call upon.
The problem now is that the outlook is starting to look so bleak for Cardiff, it’s becoming a case of not who do we want, but instead of who would actually want us?