The pitch at Ewood Park on Sunday served as the perfect metaphor for Cardiff City’s recent form. It was soft, slow and unpredictable. Cardiff lost by the odd goal and without scoring in three games or a win in seven, Cardiff have dropped to 20th in the table, only two points off the bottom three.
It feels like Cardiff have hovered around 18th place for a few years now, so 20th is far from a culture shock. In the club’s most recent published accounts, Cardiff’s budget was the 11th highest in the division for 2020/21 and they have cut costs significantly in the two years since, so you could argue that 18th is probably about par. The problem is that sometimes you exceed expectations and sometimes you can drop below them and when your base is so low down the standings, it offers very little wriggle room.
League position is significant, but not the only measure of a club’s health. Unfortunately, Cardiff are also on their second manager of the season, under a transfer embargo, have falling attendances and an almost complete lack of interaction on any of the pressing concerns. When you bundle it all together, you understand why the general mood is so down at present.
It’s little fun, on or off the pitch, but the biggest concern is that there is not yet any light at the end of the tunnel. It’s very likely that things have not yet bottomed out and could get even worse before they show any signs of getting any better.
The board are trying to overturn their transfer ban. Should the ban remain, Mark Hudson has very little scope to bring in any of his own players and attempt to revive the squad with new faces. Having signed 17 new players in the summer, they shouldn’t really need to and they do have strength in depth throughout.
Despite limited success thus far, it’s a decent squad that was well assembled in difficult circumstances by Steve Morison. If you take the current back five, for example, you could argue that Ryan Allsop, Mahlon Romeo, Perry Ng, Cedric Kipre and Callum O’Dowda have all performed very well, despite Cardiff’s lowly position. Were you looking for the player of the year thus far, it would probably be one of these five, so it’s clear that Cardiff are currently less than the sum of their parts.
That offers some hope because there is clearly plenty of potential. Similarly, Cardiff have creative players, they’re just not creating much at present, so there is room for improvement. There are a wealth of options and most of them have been tried, which may be part of the problem. The lack of consistency in performance may be a reflection of the lack of much consistency in selection. Bonds and partnerships have not yet had chance to form.
There are a few combinations Cardiff have yet to try. O’Dowda has been moved to left back with some success, but his presence further forward has not yet been suitably replaced. Niels Nkounkou, who O’Dowda has ousted, could offer a solution. A powerful, quick, adept dribbler, his defensive frailties would not be such an issue on the wing. Also, the long-anticipated combination of Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies may get the opportunity to flourish now that both are free of injury.
What we’re all now left to wonder is how Hudson will fare in the coming weeks. He has had some rotten luck, but the nature of the job means that the buck stops with him and it remains to be seen how much insulation he still has. Despite only getting the job permanently about six weeks ago, could he survive dropping into the bottom three?
Hudson has Vincent Tan’s support, but we know that only extends so far. It is typically not a role where you can cut corners, but he is Cardiff’s second consecutive internal appointment and their third initially temporary hire. It screams short termism and will be unattractive to external interest, should Cardiff ever court it. The embargo adds further pressure on Hudson because a new manager is just about the only thing that Cardiff can spend on at the moment, should they wish to.
At times like this, Neil Warnock also looms large. The ultimate quick fix, but there would likely be as many detractors as supporters were he to return. Having spent three years phasing out his ageing squad of high earners and trying to evolve the playing style, it would be both unsurprising and on brand if Cardiff undermined those efforts and sent out that particular distress signal.
It would also be a relief though because you know that Warnock would strip everything back to its bare bones and make it simple again. Through the force of his personality, he would drag Cardiff clear of danger. You may be angry at the prospect of him returning, but whatever your thoughts may be on Warnock, what you should have stronger feelings on is that the club have ended up back in a situation, largely of their own making, where bringing him back feels like an attractive option, or the only possible solution to an escalating crisis.
We should all wish Hudson the best of luck because he’ll certainly need it and it would be great for Cardiff to succeed with someone of his integrity in charge, but it feels like the odds are increasingly stacked against him and that he'll become another in a long line of managerial casualties.
READ NEXT
Derby County boss gives categorical response to transfer interest in Cardiff City star
