Cardiff City fans are already getting very excited ahead of the new Championship campaign.
Pre-season has started and that could only mean one thing - the new season is just around the corner.
Neil Warnock has added his seventh signing and “the final piece to his puzzle”, in Lee Tomlin. He has also stated that unless any one of his first team players leaves, he won’t be tempted into dabbling into the transfer market any further.
The Cardiff boss has shown that he is determined to keep his top players, turning down significant bids for captain Sean Morrison and top goal scorer Kenneth Zohore.
Having said all that, apart from a few departures of fringe players, possibly including the likes of Craig Noone and Stuart O’Keefe, this is the squad that will embark on the challenge of getting out of the Championship next season.
But do Cardiff fans have a legitimate reasons to be excited or should they withhold their judgement until we see the team in action at in a competitive competition?
‘In Warnock We Trust’
Without a doubt, the number one reason for Cardiff fans to be optimistic is the Gaffer. Warnock is renowned for his second season heroics, with the majority of his promotions coming in his second campaign with clubs.
This is his first pre-season with the Bluebirds and he has promised to put the players through their paces. He will work them hard and they will play for the manager. There is no better manager in the Championship when it comes to motivation and his track record proves it.
Shrewd Business
Seven signings and only around a reported £5 million spent seems a bit underwhelming on paper when compared with other teams, however the business of the ‘wheeler and dealer’ Warnock has bolstered and improved the squad significantly.
Players like Neil Etheridge, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Loic Damour may all be relatively unknown, but Warnock rates them highly and all of them will be fighting for a first team place.
Lee Camp, Danny Ward and Lee Tomlin have all got experienced Championship pedigree, the first two of which worked with Warnock at Rotherham and excelled in a weak side destined for League One last season.
We won’t see Scotland international Callum Paterson until the season kicks off but his time in his homeland is anything to go by, he will be a popular player amongst the Cardiff faithful. Once he’s fit he will provide good competition for the right back position.
Strength, Depth and Competition
Neil Warnock has only added seven players in the transfers which, for a Championship club isn’t a lot but the squad already looks much stringer than it did twelve months ago.
This is because Warnock has signed versatile players and also identified problem positions and has not been tempted by players becoming available that Cardiff might not need.
Perhaps the strongest position is right back where Cardiff have three players that would get into most Championship sides.
Warnock said last season there wasn’t a player available better for under £10 million than Lee Peltier, but he will be involved in a fierce battle for the full-back spot with fan favourite and Welsh international Jazz Richards and new addition Callum Paterson.
Striking options are also strong with top goal scorer Kenneth Zohore remaining in fine form over the summer for Denmark’s under 21 side.
New signing Danny Ward scored twelve goals in poor Rotherham side with very little creativity.
Idriss Saadi, who spent last season on loan at Belgium sister club K.V. Kortrijk, was good enough in pre-season training to earn a chance to impress the Bluebirds boss.
He looks to have taken it to after scoring two goals in the first half of Cardiff’s 2-7 victory over Tavistock.
Frederic Gounongbe will also be given the chance to impress and youngster Rhys Healy will be back around Christmas time after suffering an ACL rupture just as he broke into the first team.
Competition can only be a good thing as players are encouraged and motivated to fight for their shirt and to maintain it once they get it.
Giving Youth a Chance
If precedent is anything to go by, then Neil Warnock will be looking to give several young Bluebirds an opportunity to make their mark on the first team.
Having given professional contracts, and in some cases new contracts, to Rhys Abbruzzesse, Connor Young, Cameron Coxe and Mark Harris already, as well as giving a league debut to the latter player, Warnock has shown he’s wiling to give youth a chance.
James Waite, Lloyd Humphries and Ibrahim Meite also featured for the Bluebirds in their first pre-season game against Taffs Well, meaning that if there’s a gap in the squad Warnock can rely on the clubs restructured academy to fill it, instead of entering the transfer market.
No Promotion, No Problem
Obviously promotion is the main aim of the club, players and the manager, but if Cardiff do miss out they won’t be left in a bad state.
It’s not uncommon for Championship players to invest heavily in getting promotion but Cardiff haven’t done that.
This means that the Bluebirds would be able to go again next season unlike Aston Villa who have to sell before they buy anyone because they are in a bad financial place.
This, as a result of their heavy spending to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
But having said all that, it’s not quite as simple as fans would like it to be. There are several high hurdles that Cardiff will have to clamber over in order to return to the Premier League any time soon.
Money is Being Used Like It’s No Object
So far Bristol City, Fulham, Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough, Wolves and Hull have all spent or have been linked with spending more than Cardiff have spent so far, on just one individual player. Cardiff can only dream of having that kind of spending power at the moment.
This puts Cardiff at a financial disadvantage straight from the get-go but the pressure will be on the big spenders to get results, whereas Cardiff don’t have much to lose.
The Hopeless Optimism of the Trollope Era
The bad taste left by Paul Trollope’s hopeless reign is still very much potent. There are some positives to take, like the signing of Joe Bennett on a free transfer and making Kenneth Zohore’s loan permanent, but Rickie Lambert, Emyr Huws and Frederic Gounongbe all flopped.
But Cardiff fans will want to forget that it was only 12 months ago that we were optimistic that Paul Trollope was the right man to get the Bluebirds promoted.
The introduction of the five-at-the-back tactics that Wales used at EURO 2016 made fans think that we could replicate the heroics of the Welsh National Team, of which Paul Trollope was assistant manager.
The club is now in a much better state but signs are pointing to Neil Warnock using a five-at-the-back formation for, at least, a small bit of the season. He also used for the last game of the season when Cardiff beat Huddersfield 3-0.
Neil Warnock is obviously a much better manager than Trollope but we all thought that five-at-the-back was the answer to all of the Bluebirds’ problems last season. It wasn’t.
January Could Be Cardiff’s Downfall
Let’s say, hypothetically, by January Cardiff are just outside the play-offs. There would be nothing to stop Cardiff’s rival from spending big money to get their best players. Every player has a price - even Kenneth Zohore! - and if a club meet that price it is hard to say no.
Neil Warnock was given £6 million to spend in the summer transfer window and has reportedly spent £5 million that.
It’s not clear that Cardiff will have any money to strength to take them to the next level if they are just outside the play-offs. Meanwhile, teams inside the top six will be spending ludicrous amounts of money to cement their place.