Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Friday, July 22.
Fans want Sean Morrison to stay
More than two-thirds of Cardiff City fans want Sean Morrison to sign a new deal with the club, according to a survey taken by WalesOnline readers.
Last season's club captain saw his contract expire at the end of the campaign and is currently undergoing rehabilitation with the physio department as he recovers from surgery following an ACL rupture back in February.
Cardiff allowed eight senior players to leave on free transfers at the end of the season, keeping only Joe Ralls and affording Morrison the chance to rehab his knee. But, according to our survey, the majority of Bluebirds supporters do not want to see him leave.
From the thousands of supporters polled, 67.4 percent wanted to see Morrison handed kept by the club and handed a new deal when he is back to full fitness.
In the survey, which asked fans to answer a simple 'keep or sell' question about all of City's senior players, the most popular Bluebird was Rubin Colwill, with 96 percent of fans wanting the club to keep hold of him. Behind him was another academy product in Isaak Davies with 94.9 percent and then Perry Ng with 94.6.
Granted this survey was undertaken before pre-season matches kicked off, James Collins was the player fans wanted rid of the most, which of course happened when the striker moved to Derby County, while Gavin Whyte and Dillon Phillips were the only others to have more supporters vote to sell than keep.
Below are the results in full...
(Numbers represent the percentage of fans who voted 'Keep', excludes new signings this summer.)
- Rubin Colwill — 96
- Isaak Davies — 94.9
- Perry Ng — 94.6
- Joe Ralls — 93.8
- Mark McGuinness — 93.3
- Ryan Wintle — 92.5
- Joel Bagan — 91.1
- Curtis Nelson — 84
- Mark Harris — 72.8
- Tom Davies — 70.1
- Sean Morrison — 67.4
- Kieron Evans — 65.6
- Tom Sang — 60.8
- Max Watters — 57.8
- George Ratcliffe — 57.2
- Dillon Phillips — 46.9
- Gavin Whyte — 36
- James Collins — 32.6
Possibility Kipre could join permanently
There is a possibility West Brom loanee Cedric Kipre could sign for Cardiff City permanently next summer, according to Baggies correspondent Joe Chapman.
Kipre, 25, joined on a season-long loan deal and appears to be a nice fit for Steve Morison's style overhaul at Cardiff. Things haven't really worked out for him at West Brom so far, which you can read more about here, which has led him to seek a temporary move away from The Hawthorns.
Should he impress, might there be a possibility of him joining on a permanent basis in 12 months' time? Well, when asked if that could be the case, Chapman told WalesOnline: "Yes. If things work out for him. Equally, he could have a blinder and Albion - if they don’t go up - might need him back next season as they’ll have a couple of other centre halves out of contract this time next summer.
"Kipre has two years left at Albion and so 12 months from next year. He’ll be 26 then, too, so it’ll be a big summer for him. He needs to take his chance."
Bluebirds offer helping hand to club wrecked by vandals
Cardiff City are just one of the clubs to have offered a helping hand to Cefn Fforest AFC, who have had their storage unit with most of their equipment in burned by vandals.
Cefn Fforest, who play in the Gwent County League Division Two, wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening, alongside photos of their torched equipment: "Gutted this evening after all our hard work to rebuild the club over the past few years someone has set fire to our lock up leaving us with not even a football to our name, if anyone has any old equipment they’re getting rid of we would be extremely grateful."
The club received an enormous response from the football community with local clubs as well as FAW CEO Noel Mooney offering to lend a helping hand.
And so, too, have Cardiff, writing on Twitter: "We'll help you get going again, lads. Somebody will reach out to you next week."
If you'd like to help Cefn Fforest get back on their feet after the damage, you can donate to their GoFundMe page here.
Cardiff odds to reach Premier League revealed
Cardiff City are 11/1 to get promoted out of the Championship this season, according to the bookmakers.
The Bluebirds were embroiled in a relegation fight for some of last season and have subsequently overhauled their squad. They are a bit of an unknown quantity, all things considered.
So it is perhaps unsurprising to see them priced so long, with the likes of Hull City and Sunderland boasting shorter odds than them.
Here are the odds in full as things stand, a week out from the season...
- Norwich: 6/4
- Watford: 17/10
- West Brom: 11/4
- Sheff Utd, Middlesbrough, Burnley: 3/1
- Swansea: 11/2
- Stoke, Luton, Coventry: 7/1
- Preston: 15/2
- QPR, Millwall, Blackburn: 17/2
- Sunderland: 9/1
- Hull: 10/1
- Cardiff: 11/1
- Huddersfield: 13/1
- Bristol City, Wigan: 16/1
- Blackpool: 20/1
- Reading: 25/1
- Rotherham, Birmingham: 40/1
(Odds courtesy of Betfair, correct at time of publication)
Ravel Morrison joins Rooney at DC
Former Cardiff City loanee Ravel Morrison has linked up with Wayne Rooney at DC United in the MLS.
Morrison played seven times for the Bluebirds while on loan with the club from West Ham in 2014. The 29-year-old attacking midfielder's career, though, has never scaled the heights many thought it would.
Rooney took him in at Derby County, where he suffered relegation to League One, however Morrison will now be playing his football Stateside after his old Rams boss got the gig at DC United.
“Wayne worked closely with Ravel during his time as manager of Derby County,” Dave Kasper, D.C. United President of Soccer Operations, said.
“Ravel is an incredible talent and his ability to create and score goals is impressive. He has played at the highest levels during his career and his vision, creativity and ability on the ball will be a huge asset for us."
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