The season has ended for Cardiff City, but in all honesty, the hard work is only just beginning.
So many loose ends and uncertainties need tying up, with fans inevitably looking ahead in hope with the 2023/24 campaign just over the horizon yonder.
Perhaps topping the agenda list is the meeting between Sabri Lamouchi and Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan. As of Wednesday night, though, no such meeting had taken place.
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Both Lamouchi, who resides in the English capital, and Tan are in London. We understand Tan was coming to the UK anyway in co-ordination with the Malaysian delegates who jetted in for King Charles III's coronation last weekend. Malaysia's King and Queen, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and his wife Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, were pictured at the weekend during the festivities in London.
While Tan is, strictly speaking, in London on Malaysian duties, he felt it made sense to tie in a meeting with Lamouchi, who this season helped to keep his team in the Championship after months of relegation concern for a second consecutive year.
Chairman Mehmet Dalman was due to fly into London from Monaco on Wednesday, too, so, with all three of them in the same city, logic would dictate that a meeting cannot be too far away.
There are, of course, a number of key talking points which have to be thrashed out. Firstly, the details of Lamouchi's contract, including but not limited to salary, bonuses and length of the deal. Cardiff have operated on a slimmed-down salary in that regard over the last 18 months or so — promoting from within with the likes of Steve Morison and Mark Hudson — plus the legacy of paying off a number of managers just months into their contracts have taken their toll. Mick McCarthy, for example, was sacked just four months into a two-year deal.
As an aside; Cardiff City Women's team, after a magnificent, undefeated, double-winning campaign under manager Iain Darbyshire, were invited to the Malaysian High Commission in Belgravia, London, on Wednesday. Tan was present and met the squad, who were later treated to dinner at the plush Novikov restaurant in Mayfair.
It is a critical time now and one can expect things to move or change quickly over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours. And they need to, too, because decisions have to be made regarding the future of the club. Tan, we understand, leaves the UK on Sunday, so the coming days are crucial with regards to first-team matters.
In risk of stating the obvious, if a deal cannot be struck with Tan, then a new first-team manager will have to be found and preparations for next season get kicked down the road even further. Time that City can ill afford to waste.
We also understand that the academy retained list is likely to be published by the end of the week, or potentially early next week at the latest, with all players having already been told their fate.
The senior list should not follow too long after. Although, clearly, appointing a manager must come before that. Gavin Whyte has already announced his own departure, but others are left in limbo while no manager is in place for next season.
Cardiff like all players to be told of decisions pertaining to their futures face to face, if possible, and we understand that has not taken place with all players just yet. Dillon Phillips, for example, has been on loan at KV Oostende in Belgium this season and is yet to report back to Cardiff, with his contract set to expire in June.
With some concerns over the gloves this season, what price would you get on Phillips being offered a new deal? Slim chance, perhaps, but stranger things have happened.
The point is, all of this cannot take place concretely without a manager. Lamouchi has spoken about the desire to offer Mark Harris, Joel Bagan and Eli King all new deals, with Whyte and Tom Sang set to depart. Connor Wickham's future was still up in the air ahead of the final game of the season, too. Whether Lamouchi has made his mind up or indeed a new manager coming in has any strong feelings towards Wickham — or any of the other players the Frenchman wanted to offer new deals to — is another call which has to be made in the not-so-distant future.
And what about selling players? Granted, Cardiff do not have too many sellable assets, per se, but is not completely outlandish to consider that some players might be of interest to Championship clubs. The likes of Mark McGuinness or Perry Ng are certainly assets and it would not be surprising if rival teams were interested in poaching them, while Isaak Davies was courted last summer.
The sooner the manager's situation is sorted, the clearer the plan moving forward becomes.
In terms of transfers, we understand Lamouchi has already been planning for next season as if he were Cardiff manager. Indeed, we are told a number of signings are already in the pipeline, some of whom, if the deals are pulled off, are said to be exciting.
Whether Tan has scope to loosen the purse strings enough on the wages will likely play a big part in attracting that extra bit of quality. Lamouchi has already said he is looking on the continent and tapping into his contacts in Europe, believing that better value for money can be found there as opposed to UK-based acquisitions. Although signing players from these shores has certainly not been ruled out to us.
But the added quality, experience or high-ceiling players will still come at a price. Last summer saw a huge reduction in wages from the likes of the squad which saw promotion to and relegation from the Premier League. The wages now bear no resemblance to that and that is certainly a more sustainable way to run a football club, we can all agree.
But on the other hand, not properly funding a squad with the requisite quality to challenge at the right end of the table also has its risks and drawbacks. Being a hair's breadth away from relegation this time around really hammered home just how much of a financial impact that would have on the club, far more so than adding more quality to the squad with a little more funding.
Pre-season plans have been spoken about for the last couple of weeks, too. Having a proper pre-season, ideally with a manager who knows them, is crucial to a successful start to a campaign. If Lamouchi is given the green light and a deal can be agreed, then expect plans for the pre-season trip to ramp up very quickly.
The composition of the backroom team at the moment looks very settled. Whether Lamouchi would have other plans if tied down to a longer deal is still unknown. The Frenchman let goalkeeper coach Graham Stack leave within days of joining the club and he has not yet replaced him with a permanent appointment in that department, with academy coach James Wood stepping up to fill that role for the last portion of the season. That might need to be revisited over the summer.
In the coming days, with Tan set to head home on Sunday, there will be more clarity. It's still rather disconcerting for City supporters at the moment and that is understandable. All too rarely in the recent past has this club had a sustained period of continuity and progress and that has to be the ultimate aim in the coming months and, potentially, years which lie ahead.
It's amazing what a sound structure, aligned plan and faith in a manager can do, just look at Gary Rowett at Millwall or Mark Robins at Coventry City, for example. Too long have the Bluebirds been without that yearly progression, but supporters will hope that the coming days will represent the start of that.
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