Put simply, Cardiff City are standing at the foothills of the most daunting mountain they have faced in some time.
The next days, weeks and months are of huge importance if the club is to achieve some semblance of stability and signs of meaningful progress, both on and off the pitch, after four years of perennial decline. Because it's only heading one way at the moment.
The positive thing is, after Sabri Lamouchi came in and saved the club last season, they still have a chance to put things right while having maintained their status as a Championship club. All of the huge decisions would have been decidedly harder if they had to be made in League One, that much is obvious.
It's getting to crunch point now, though, for a number of the key calls which need to be made. Below, we take a look at the big issues which need to be resolved in order for Cardiff to start climbing that ladder again.
Manager
Clearly, the need to appoint a new manager, and accompanying backroom staff, is priority number one on the club's to-do list. At time of writing, Tom Ramasut is the only member of the first-team coaching staff who will be reporting for work come July 1.
It has been more than a fortnight since Sabri Lamouchi was told he would not take the reins for the 2022/23 campaign as the new manager search enters its third week. Candidates have been spoken to both domestically and abroad.
Club sources have indicated that it has been a rare opportunity for them to take their time to thoroughly research and interview before appointing a new boss. Typically, these decisions are made within days during a season – and usually they are appointments made in the hope of arresting a slide down the table.
Having the opportunity to do that between seasons can be viewed as a positive, of sorts, in that regard, with a clear line having been drawn in the sand and a fresh beginning on he horizon. A clean slate.
There have been jarring leaps in manager styles, age and experience profiles in recent years. From Neil Warnock and Mick McCarthy, to Steve Morison and Mark Hudson, the plan has not been coherent. It is hoped that the next man entrusted with the keys to Cardiff City Stadium can unlock its true potential and be afforded time to build something great once again.
The coming days are crucial in the club's search for a manager. Once that is decided, then the backroom staff will subsequently fall into place. Whether Sol Bamba or Dean Whitehead, whose contracts expire at the end of June, stay on is still up in the air, with the latter's former boss, Valerien Ismael, having just taken the gig at Watford, with an entire backroom staff quota to fulfil. Clearly, the club would love fans' favourite Bamba to remain in place.
It would be a surprise if things weren't to move along at a pace in the coming days, though, with WalesOnline understanding a shortlist has been whittled down.
Transfers
Work is continuing behind the scenes in the recruitment department, but in an ideal world, of course, there would be some collaboration with a new manager.
Lists of ideal recruits are being drawn up, with scouting having been undertaken over the last months or even years in preparation for this summer. Other clubs are cracking on; Coventry City have just signed Jay Da Silva, Norwich City have recruited two players already, while Joe Bryan is expected to be announced by Bristol City any time soon. Although we are a fortnight away from the window opening officially, Cardiff are still left in some sort of limbo for the time being.
The Bluebirds had to rebuild their squad virtually from scratch last season after so many contracts came to an end. They made a decent fist of it, all things considered, but the lack of depth was always going to be a problem when the money was so tight. It was an unenviable task, in many ways.
But the loan system once again came up trumps for Cardiff. Cedric Kipre, Jaden Philogene and Sory Kaba all played massive parts in keeping City in the Championship, which followed the good work undertaken in the loan market the year before. It means now City are in a far stronger position to pitch to Premier League or top Championship clubs with regards to taking players on loan again – with clubs having seen the benefit of sending them to Cardiff, with almost guaranteed game time.
Cardiff will have to utilise that again, and then some, this summer if they are to improve on last year's squad. From last summer's free agent signings, well, Callum O'Dowda, Callum Robinson and Mahlon Romeo were standouts. Jamilu Collins looked a very good acquisition, but only finished three games, while Kion Etete has certainly got potential.
The jury is out on the rest, one would suggest, and that is where Cardiff will have to work incredibly hard to prop up the squad. Perry Ng and Mark McGuinness are good players at this level, the midfield must show far more than it did last term, albeit there are clearly capable players in there, while there is hope that Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies, with good pre-seasons and free from injury, can realise there potential next season and beyond.
Cardiff are working hard behind the scenes to draw up lists of players, including loan players as well as transfers from overseas, a market they are hoping to tap into again, but, ultimately, they need that manager in place and the matter is currently held in abeyance.
Vincent Tan, KV Kortrijk and the finances
The man at the top. The one who will have the final say over it all.
Suffice it to say, the club, ergo Tan, has had a lot to deal with in terms of litigation and financial hits in recent years. The financial drain, plus the money he personally pumped in during Covid despite his own businesses losing a lot of cash, has been marked in recent years.
The tragic and horrible Emiliano Sala saga continues to bubble away in the background, with Cardiff now set to take the legal fight to the civil courts, seeking to claim €100m plus interest in compensation for “losses incurred“. The hearing for that is set to take place on June 22. Cardiff are also claiming the first instalment of the transfer back, plus interest, in addition to “reputational damage“, taking the total sum to €110m – which could increase if Cardiff are told to pay the other transfer instalments.
That is a vast sum of money and is understandably taking up a lot of money and even more time. It's difficult to see how Cardiff can really move on until this is all resolved.
Then, of course, coming to the forefront is the seemingly imminent sale of KV Kortrijk. Reports in Belgium claim a deal between Tan and bosses at Burnley is close, with the Clarets even thought to have tabled a '£13m plus £1.7m in player material' bid for the Flemish outfit. The sale of that club is not insignificant, especially because Tan and City CEO Ken Choo are both heavily involved.
The truth is that Cardiff appear to be locked in with Tan, with no obvious way out. The debts owed to him are substantial. In the most recent accounts, which took it up to May 31, 2022, £73m was owed to him. Of the total due to Tan, £51.2m carries interest at 7 per cent as well as rights to convert into shares. The rest carries no interest and has no conversion rights.
And £25.8m was due to Tormen Finance, a company in which chairman Mehmet Dalman has a significant interest. The Tormen loan carries interest at nine percent. Those debts will have risen in the year since.
Tan has overseen a period of huge success at Cardiff, taking in two trips to the Premier League and a League Cup final which was lost only on penalties to Liverpool. But the current situation looks hard to get out of, without Tan having to write off eye-watering amounts of debt.
He has reiterated his commitment to Cardiff on a number of occasions, as recently as last November, even against his family's will. He speaks so passionately still about his desire to get to the Premier League and keep the club there, having learnt from previous mistakes. But without the cash, it's so difficult to see how they get there again without a one-in-a-million manager like Neil Warnock strolling in again.
Academy and training ground
Despite the above, Cardiff have made a commitment on two fronts in order to try and futureproof the club and help it achieve its ultimate aim of getting back into the Premier League – although admittedly that seems some way away at present.
The have committed to building a plush new academy complex in Llanrumney. The £7.5m project, the funding for which has been split between Cardiff Council, Cardiff University, Cardiff City and House of Sport, is flying along and looks set to be ready to house the academy next season.
But while the investment into the youth system is admirable, and the club having leaned more heavily on its academy products in recent years, there are concerns that having a team fighting near the bottom of the table does not lend itself to promoting youth. Steve Morison tried it once his team were safe, and played the likes of Oliver Denham, Eli King and Jai Semenyo against Liverpool in the FA Cup. But opportunities to blood youngsters are few and far between when the club is fighting for survival.
There is a hope that, with more stability and a deeper squad with more quality, it will allow Cardiff to get back to trying to promote their youngsters from within. Because it's a tricky time for the academy, who are seeing some of their best products, like Charlie Crew (Leeds) and Gabriele Biancheri (Man United), get poached by bigger clubs. If Cardiff can show them a pathway to the first team, it at least helps in the fight to keep hold of them.
But the investment into the facilities is hugely positive. There is a new training ground in the offing, too, according to the club's latest accounts. They want to build a new facility near to the club's current base. It is currently in the preliminary stages of development. Due to be held under a 150-year-lease, it is hoped that it will be finished in time for the 2025/26 season.
"These two projects are integral to the ongoing investment in the club's infrastructure and developments to secure the future of the club," Dalman said in March.
Player contracts
In the coming weeks, Gavin Whyte and Connor Wickham are expected to leave the club. Mark Harris and Tom Sang's futures are up in the air, while Joel Bagan and Eli King see their deals run out. We await the release of the retained list, but, ultimately, the new manager has the sign off. It is unlikely any major surprises will be dropped, though.
What is noteworthy at time of writing, though, is that Cardiff have only eight players in contract beyond next season. The time to start future planning and futureproofing is now. Having players on such short contracts can be destabilising, but it also means they can be bought for relatively meagre fees.
Big players for Cardiff, like Jamilu Collins, Perry Ng, Ryan Wintle, Joe Ralls, Mark McGuinness and Rubin Colwill all have just 12 months left to run on their deals. Ng and McGuinness, in particular, have attracted interest in recent months.
With the focus seemingly always on the immediate future, firefighting and not knowing where the club will be playing its football in 12 months' time, coupled with the financial constraints and chopped wages, it's a tricky time for negotiating contracts at Cardiff at the moment.
City do, though, need to identify their assets, tie them down to longer contracts and at least ensure decent money is coming in if they are eventually prised away.
Solving the lack of footballing nous
It's an argument which has become somewhat wearisome in recent years, but the need for more football acumen at board level really is needed now more than ever.
Given the number of battles being fought on all fronts to ensure the operation runs as smoothly as it can, a sole body to focus on the football and add a much-needed helping hand is sorely needed.
Sporting directors tend to be the route successful clubs go down now. They are mandated with making all the footballing decisions, from transfers to philosophy to selecting managers, with an aligned approach from the top of the tree right down to its roots.
The reluctance to appoint such a figure frustrates many, because it appears to be such an obvious oversight. The argument might be, would Tan even listen to such a figure? Or does he like to wield that ultimate power?
Despite all of the problems listed above, on Wednesday morning Cardiff announced 10,000 season tickets had already been sold for next season. Given that is on the back of two successive relegation battles and four sacked managers in two years, with some pretty poor football and a dire home record to boot, that is mightily impressive.
It shows that the clamour is there. Fans want the club to get it right, move in a positive direction and grow to realise its potential. It shouldn't be stuck in the doldrums, scrapping for its life every April and May.
There are big issues, but they are not unsolvable and that is the key. The coming days, weeks and months represent an opportunity to reset and set the club on a more successful track.
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