Rockpie's Cardiff City Story: From the Championship to Championships

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Cardiff City Announce New Manager
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Cardiff City have today confirmed reports that Malky Mackay had left his post with immediate effect sometime last week. Today a brief press conference was called at Cardiff City Stadium for the introduction of Tom Bradbury as the clubs new manager.

Director Michael Isaac made a statement on behalf of the board:

"Following the departure of Malky for personal reasons, we are delighted to appoint Tom as the Head Coach going forward. We believe that out of all interviewed candidates, Tom has the drive and ambition as well as the tactical prowess to lead the club to future success."

Despite being relatively unknown to English football, Bradbury has a growing reputation in Wales having worked as a coach with the Welsh U21 squad during the late Gary Speeds tenure with the National team. This, combined with the fact that Bradbury is a life-long supporter of the Bluebirds, seems to have been enough to satisfy the clubs board of directors, who conducted the interviews on behalf of the clubs Malaysian owners.

Bradbury has made only one comment so far:

"My intention is to completely reshape this club. For too many years we have been forced to sell talent to pay off debts. I have the full backing of the board that long-term success is the priority and, that in achieving this, financial stability will follow. Over the next few days I will be bringing in my own staff and I already have a few signings in mind."

Below, Cardiff icon Craig Bellamy is given the news after Britains quarter final loss to South Korea and it takes a few minutes for journalists to explain who Tom Bradbury is. Followed by Bellamy saying, "Oh him, yeah he's alright."

 

[craiglowerson1984]

Good start, looking forward to reading more

 

[@fplcentre]

Bradbury Brings In New Faces

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Following his recent arrival at Cardiff, Tom Bradbury has shown no hesitation in making his mark both on and off the pitch. A complete overhaul of the backroom staff has been undertaken as well as movement in the transfer market, both incoming and outgoing.

Here's how the new backroom staff look:

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"I'm extremely happy with the incoming staff," said Bradbury "it gives us a good level of specialization in training. Hopefully we can all work together well. So far the lads have been very enthusiastic and shown that they're more than willing to welcome any changes."

As well as the changes in the backroom staff, Bradbury has brought in 6 new players as he looks to add a bit more depth to what he's already described as a "very talented" squad.

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Talented young midfielder Tom Cairney joins from Hull in what is the biggest move Bradbury has made. £4.2m has been splashed to bring in the Scottish playmaker, although £0 has been paid upfront. Instead, the entire fee will be paid in installments over the next 2 years. Despite some media suggestions that the money could have been better spent, Bradbury has declared his absolute delight that Cairney has joined on a 5 year deal.

"I've always been an admirer of Tom and it's a very important part of my plans to bring him here," Bradbury explained in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live "We have Tom tied down on a long-term deal and he will become a key part of how we play in the years to come."

In the same interview, Bradbury also discussed his decision to bring in Nathan Delfouneso on a season-long loan from Aston Villa, with the option to buy at any time for £4m. Cardiff will pay Delfouneso £7,250 per week which is 50% of his weekly wage at Villa Park.

"Nathan's another great deal for us." enthused Bradbury "Although he's not got the experience, he's a very talented lad. And he's fast. That was the decisive factor for me. Looking at the defences in this division, Nathan could have a great year. The option to buy is good, but he'll have to impress for us to activate that option. If he can step up and grab us 20-25 [goals] this season, then we'll start to think more seriously about a permanent move."

A few players leave Cardiff this summer too, Tom Heaton is allowed to leave for his market price with Jamal Blackman arriving from Chelsea. Jon Parkin played no part in Bradbury's plans and could prove to be a great deal for Watford at 100k. And in what's perhaps the most surprising sale, Anthony Gerrard leaves for £625k despite being an important player in previous squads. Media speculation was that this was Bradbury making his mark on the team. He denies this, claiming that it was a mutual decision as Gerrard would not be getting as much first team football with the arrival of commanding central defender Birger Maertens on a free transfer.

 

[@fplcentre]

Bluebirds Buoyant as August Ends

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Well, Cardiff City have certainly impressed so far in the nPower Championship this season remaining unbeaten during the month of August. Four wins and a draw in the league, and relatively easy wins for their second string side in the first two rounds of the League Cup leaves fans hoping the form continues.

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In particular, the two fantastic 4-0 home wins against Doncaster and then rivals Bristol City left the fans ecstatic with the teams attacking football. The Bluebirds played their opponents off the park in both games and during the last 10 minutes of the Bristol game, the Cardiff fans were heard chanting "We don't want this to finish!"

Bradbury conceded, however, that in the away games against Portsmouth and Middlesborough he may have underestimated his opponents with his squad going into half-time behind in both games. Some words of wisdom and tactical tweaks saw the Blue Army come away victorious though and Bradbury has turned his attentions to devising a tactic which can be equally devastating away from home.

The only points dropped so far came against West Ham at home in a 2-2 draw. In this one, Bradbury was shocked to see his side go 0-2 behind in the first half... at home! Forcing him to make tactical changes within the first 15 minutes. Cardiff then did extremely well to level the match and ended up unlucky not to get the 3 points. After the game, Bradbury had this to say:

"Of course, it's disappointing to go behind like that. Especially since both their goals were from sloppy mistakes at set pieces. But I thought we did well to get back level, and we were the better side over 90 minutes so there are plenty of positives to take from this. I mean, if we play like that in every game this year we're going to win most of our games. We just couldn't find that 3rd goal today."

The stats from that game certainly back up Bradbury's claims:

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The number of shots and chances that Cardiff created in comparison to the Hammers would certainly have left many heads sore from scratching as fans left the Cardiff City Stadium wondering exactly how their team failed to score more.

Despite this, it has certainly been a very impressive and encouraging start to Bradbury's regime in South Wales. No doubt everyone involved at the club will be happy with the start to the season.

August also saw Bradbury named the Championship Manager of the Month, Nathan Delfouneso claimed the Player of the Month award for the division and Tom Cairney scooped the Young Player of the Month. A great start for the new manager and his new signings.

 

[@fplcentre]

City Sent Home

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An extraordinary performance from Cardiff has seen them progress to the 4th round of the League Cup after a 2-1 home win against Man City. The Premier Division outfit didn't field a full strength side, but Cardiff still managed to keep players such as Dzeko, Danny, Balotelli, Barry and Milner contained for the majority of the match. The Bluebirds not only won the match but enjoyed more of the ball as they created more scoring chances than the visitors, meaning that this was anything but a smash and grab win.

 

[FlamengosFMHero]

Looks a good thread, how didn't you beat West Ham? You battered them! Good result vs City though

 

[@fplcentre]

Update

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Ok, well unfortunately I lost internet for a few days which means I've been unable to update this every game month as I planned, but I've carried on playing offline and made a lot of progress. So here's how my first season went and the key info from it. There were no further transfers during the January window in the first season due to there being no room in the budget so no need to mention anything there.

Also I've decided to stop the 3rd-person style and do it like this because it's easier to write.

Cardiff Win the League Cup

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After beating Man City in the 3rd round, we had 2 away trips to Premiership opposition in West Brom and Stoke. We won both games 1-0 with Delfouneso scoring both goals. The semi-final drew us against Aston Villa at home, which we won surprisingly comfortably 2-0. That meant we had made the final, a great achievement for a Championship side, and we were 1 game away from guaranteeing European football for next season. We would play Fulham, who were over-achieving in the Premiership at the time in 7th at the start of February and they'd just beat Arsenal in the semi-final. So we weren't expecting much.

Then this happened:

Even though this happened:

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We had managed to edge possession, but that's more to do with my tactics. Almost all of the highlights were in Fulham's favour. You can see from the number of chances they created compared to us, they probably should have won the match... but shot after shot from their midfield rocketed over the bar or went miles wide. We thankfully took a more clinical approach, with only 1 shot off target. We also showed solid determination to come back from behind twice and take it to extra time. That's when I introduced Townsend, on loan from Spurs.

Whittingham was knackered and needed to come off, and at the same time Fulham's RB was down to 62% condition with no subs left for them. I decided to go for broke, pushing my two widemen up to more attacking positions and bringing the fresh, pacey Andros on to left side. I set the passing focus to "down left hand side", and adjusted the player instructions to a more direct passing game.

Thankfully it paid off. A great through ball from Cairney sent Miller chasing a ball down the right wing. He cut inside, played a dangerous ball across the face of goal with Townsend out-pacing his marker to latch onto it at the far post.

The remaining minutes played out with Fulham in an overload 4-2-4, getting 2 half chances to equalize again, but we held on.

 

[@fplcentre]

End of Season Update

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We remained solid in the league for the remaining games. At the start of January we had only drawn 2 games and lost 1, winning the rest. But during the frantic Championship schedule of January-March, while also playing in the League and FA Cups, we dropped more points drawing 5 more games and losing 6. Some of the draws were choices I had made, for example fielding weaker sides in the games surrounding our later League Cup matches. This led to away draws against sides like Doncaster, and losses to the likes of Birmingham. But we never lost control of the league. During this busy period I held 2 team meetings telling the squad how well they had done, and if they kept it up we'd definitely get promoted. This helped keep morale up despite our inconsistent form. The busy schedule also took its toll on the injury list too, at one point we had 4 out of 5 CBs out as well as Gunnarsson, but we somehow managed to patch a team together and ****** wins or draws. There were a lot of 1-1s and 1-0s. After a 4th round exit in the FA Cup, losing to Sunderland away 1-2, and the League Cup finale, we could get our focus back on the league. We won all of our games in April and this is how the table looked with all games played:

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Considering we had such a thin squad, especially in midfield, I don't think we could've asked for more and we can now look forward to Euro Cup football to go hand in hand with our first Premiership season.

The fans voted Tom Cairney as the Fans' Player of the Year, and he certainly had a season to remember during his first year at Cardiff. Although personally I would've voted for Delfouneso who had a fantastic loan spell for us and we will definitely be taking advantage of the option to buy him for £4.4m

Here are my personal top 3 performers of the season:

 

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Update


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So, now I'm in October of the 2012/2013 season. It's our first season in the Premiership and during the pre-season I decided to tell the board I could achieve a mid-table finish with a transfer budget of £20m and a wage budget of £400,000. However, I was in 2 minds whether to bring any new players in. Firstly, because my current squad had done so well last season I wanted to see what the same players could do this season and secondly because, despite our success, we only got £50,000 for winning the Championship and £100,000 for winning the League Cup. Our sponsorships for the previous season were also very low and Kenny Miller on his own was taking up a huge 10% of the total wage budget (which was at £250,000). This, combined with Tom Cairney's transfer fee being paid monthly, meant that during the first season we had managed to make an average loss of £1.2m per month!!!

I also had to think about the fact that players like Robert Earnshaw, Dekel Keinan and Joe Mason who were now of no use to me, had just received 50% salary increases due to the promotion. Thankfully, Keinan agreed to a mutual termination of his contract. Joe Mason is currently loan listed, but has rejected 3 offers from League 1 teams. And Robert Earnshaw... well... he is a legend at the club. The only legend, actually. And I know the fans would hate it if I sold him. So he'll play the role as absolute backup this season.

I couldn't sign nobody though. We had an extra competition this year in the Euro Cup, I had let Lee Naylor and Birger Maertens go on free transfers too. Our midfield was already very thin and now we only had 1 striker (Kenny Miller) contracted to the club who was good enough for the Premiership. We needed to spend £4.4m on Delfouneso, at the very least. I ended up spending the entire budget, totalling £28m on transfers. Here they are:

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As you can see, they're all young players with good potential except from van Nistelrooy who I just couldn't resist on a free, also considering he signed for £20k per week. I got a sales boost from the big name too.

Stadsgaard, Robin Yalcin, Lucas Roser and Samed Yesil are all 18 or under and have been placed in the reserves squad and on the loan list.I brought in Hanley for £5m because I'm confident that I can train him into a great centre back for years to come, and Caulker joins on loan for 12 months from Spurs as a wonderkid with an option to buy for £9m. We needed reinforcement at the back with Maertens leaving (because he wanted a £30k per week raise) and Mark Hudson and Ben Turner are not quite Premiership standard.

At left back I've brought in Matthew Briggs who was unsettled at Fulham. I would've preferred a cheaper deal for him, but at £5.25m again I'm sure he'll be a first-team player for the next few seasons.I feel Henri Lansbury is a steal at £2.6 as a rotation player. He gives us a lot more versatility and depth in midfield as we now have Whittingham, Cowie and Lansbury who can play anywhere in midfield while Gunnarsson and Cariney give us a solid core.

Luciano Narsingh might be a risk at £6.5m. He's young, very fast and has decent technical attributes. He will share the right winger duties with Lansbury and Cowie this season and I'm hoping he develops well. I've basically gone boom or bust for the future here.I

've already explained my Nistelrooy decision and Delfouneso is self-explanatory after last season. Luuk de Jong will be Kenny Miller's long-term replacement as Delfouneso's partner as a trequartista who can create the space and chances. Even though the media and de Jong see Cardiff as a stepping stone, I'm confident we'll grow enough to keep him. And even if he does want to leave, bringing him in a £3.6m (his minimum release fee, btw) means we have plenty of room to profit on him as he develops.

Update Continued

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Here are the results of the new season so far:

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Right now I'm at October 2012. We qualified reasonably easily for the Euro Cup group stage, so I've already achieved the minimum expectations there, although my personal aim is to progress to the next round. Obviously the more European games we win, the more prize money we receive. And financial stability is an underlying goal for me. I feel as though we're also playing well in the league despite suffering a few defeats. Our schedule for the start of the season hasn't been the easiest with the West Brom game being the only one I would've put down as 'winnable'. To get the draw against Chelsea and the win against Everton are bonus results for me. As you can see, we're definitely playing much better at home than away at the moment. We're currently 14th in the League with 2 games in hand over the teams around us, winning both would take us as high as 8th. We're also lying in 2nd place in Euro Cup Group L with Spartak Moscow, Besiktas and M. Tel-Aviv.

Finally, let's take a look at the finanical state of the club at the moment:

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As you can see, the catastrophic losses of last season saw us plummet into the red as far as £18.8m under. As much as I would've liked to avoid this I feel that it is a necessary evil in order to bring success and I have no doubts that our new sponsorships that total over £2m per season compared to £250k last year, as well as our prize money and TV money now that we're in the Premiership and Euro Cup, will turn all of this around by the start of next season. Despite spending £28m in August, we are only down by £2m for the season with monthly profits averaging so far at £1.2m.

Feedback on my first season and the decisions I've made so far are more than welcome. Sorry about the lack of activity over the last few days. My internet is all good again now so expect daily updates here. As this story progresses I'll try and give more info about my tactics, training schedules and player interactions such as team talks and team meetings.

 

[@fplcentre]

Also, feel free to request any screenshots you'd like to see or any info. This is my first story so any recommendations would be cool too.

 

[@fplcentre]

End of October

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Ok, from now on I'll go back to posting updates after every month passes.

Cardiff City 0 - 0 Besiktas
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I'm satisfied with getting a draw here. Neither team dominated, but we looked the more threatening going forward. We receive a little bit of prize money for the draw too, around £60k I think and it keeps us at 2nd in Group L.

Cardiff City 2 - 0 Man Utd
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Umm.... well, I have absolutely no idea how we survived the 1st half here. Before I say any more, look at these stats:

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Yeah, so 21 shots loses to 3 shots. At least we're keeping that clinical reputation. 15 of their shots came in the 1st half, by the way. At half time I made some changes to player intructions in the defence and subbed both wingers (Whittingham and Cowie started, Conway and Narsingh came on). I also switched to a more direct passing game and a narrower set up. We only got 3 chances, but we took 2 of them. Good enough for me.

Aston Villa 1 - 1 Cardiff City
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A more even game than the Utd match as you can see below. I'm glad we managed to ****** the draw at the end as I definitely felt we deserved something from this game. Unfortunately Tom Cairney picked up a knock and will be out for 3-4 weeks, it's a bit of a blow as he's been our most consistent performer this season... and last season actually. Over the last 3 games I've switched back to using the squad from last season. Van Nistelrooy, de Jong and Narsingh all dropped to the bench after poor performances. I think we're playing better now and I'll try to introduce de Jong and Narsingh gradually.

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Overall I think it's been a solid month. The obvious highlight being the win against Man Utd and some other decent performances to build on. We currently lie 11th in the league and are on course for our mid-table finish, even though it's early in the season I think we have shown that we'll definitely pick up enough points to avoid any relegation battle. Here's the league table at the end of October:

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We also made another good profit of £2.2m for the month and the board have made another £7.25m available for transfers, which I'll use to bring in some good youth prospects I think. Plenty of time to scout until the next window opens anyway, and you never know who'll be on the transfer list.

 

[FlamengosFMHero]

Doing Well, what positions are you looking to strengthen in?

 

[@fplcentre]

Well, here's a SS of my team report so you can all see where I'm strongest and weakest:

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As you can see, I'm weakest at RB and ML but McNaughton and Whittingham are decent players. Good enough for this season anyway. That's why I'm thinking of investing more in youth at the moment. A good young RB to be this year's backup would be nice.

 

[@fplcentre]

End of November Update

Sunderland 0 - 0 Cardiff City
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I thought we edged this one, to be honest, so I was kind of disappointed at full time. But then I remembered that this was the Sunderland team that beat Arsenal 5-0 the week before.

Besiktas 2 - 0 Cardiff City
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You know when you're playing FM, and you're completely dominating play thinking "Yes, it's all coming together"... then Besiktas score 2 goals in 4 minutes from corners and you feel like smashing your laptop with a big hammer?

Well, this was a bit like that.

Cardiff City 2 - 1 Reading
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Much better. Another home win. We're doing well at home. Why can't all games be at home? Anyway, 59% possession and 4 CCCs. Goals came from Kenny Miller in the 14th minute and Don Cowie in the 52nd. Reading pulled one back in the last few minutes but I was never worried.

Norwich 1 - 1 Cardiff City
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This was a game I think we should've won before the game, but was happy to draw at the end. Mainly due to Darcy Blake (starting in place of the injured Gunnarsson) getting sent off in the 12th minute and Norwich scoring from the resulting penalty. We equalized through Delfouneso 10 minutes later and held on with a few counter attacks launched here and there.

Overall, we can look at this in 2 ways... 1) We only won 1 game this month and failed to score in half our games; or 2) We're on a 5 game undefeated run in the league and still have a chance to qualify from our Euro Cup group with 2 home matches to play. I'm an optimist, so I'll go with the latter.

Here's how the league looks:

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We're still very much on course for the mid-table finish and with a bit of luck could maybe edge a top half finish which would be fantastic. Winning our 2 games in hand could take us as high as 7th!!!

Still, there's a long way to go.

 

[FlamengosFMHero]

Looking like you need a right back and a left winger, for Right Back id sign Raul, he's Brazilian at Athletico Paranaense, he is an absolute assist ***** for me. Left Winger wise, i'm unsure, thats all i can think of

 

[@fplcentre]

End of December Update

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What an amazing month!! I managed to complete a signing of a player that I'm extremely excited about (more on that later), we were unbeaten for the month with some great performances and have climbed to a fantastic position in league considering it's our first season in the Premiership. Bad news is that we're out of Europe despite finishing level on points and goal difference with Besiktas. Anyway, here are the results:

Cardiff 3 - 1 Bolton
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We took the lead with a placed finish from Delfouneso on 9 minutes, he then layed on an assist for Kenny Miller on 34 minutes and our final goal came from Miller again on 52 minutes as he broke through the defensive line and lobbed the stranded keeper. Bolton pulled one back with an own goal by David Marshall, who was spralled out on the floor as the ball came off the bar to hit him in the back and go in.

M. Tel-Aviv 1 - 4 Cardiff
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I rested a few players here and we still achieved a comfortable win with goals from Cairney, 2 from Conway and van Nistelrooy.

Fulham 1 - 1 Cardiff

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I'm disappointed, but satisfied at the same time here. We took the lead, played very well and really should have won... but it's another point and another game where we avoid defeat in the league.

Swansea 1 - 3 Cardiff

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No need to explain why I'm delighted with this result. Don Cowie donned the captain's armband with Aron Gunnarsson out due to picking up 5 yellow cards and he stepped up scoring our first 2 goals connecting at the far post from 2 Whittingham crosses. Luuk de Jong added our 3rd in the second half with an easy finish as he intercepted a weak back-pass. Swansea scored 2 minutes later. Solid derby win.

Cardiff 1 - 1 Spartak Moscow

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I was gutted here. Not because we played badly. Not because we drew. Not because Moscow took the lead after just 2 minutes. No. I was gutted because with 88 minutes gone, Besiktas were 1 - 0 down to M. Tel-Aviv and we were level having equalized through Conway on 65 minutes. If things stayed as they were, we were going through. Then Besiktas score in the 91st minute and we're sent packing. Next year, Besiktas... you'll see.

Cardiff 2 - 1 Brighton

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Aron Gunnarsson's first game back from his ban... and he hacks down a player in box giving away a penalty and getting sent off in the 23rd minute. I thought, "Here we go..." Brighton score. Then, we surprisingly remained on top despite being a player down but we were still behind at half time. I calmly told the lads they had been unlucky because nobody's rating was below 6.8 and a few responded positively. Cowie equalized on 54 minutes and Hanley got the winner from a corner on 72 minutes. Job done.

Cardiff 2 - 1 Stoke

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Just 2 days later we managed another turnaround as Stoke took the lead too. Peter crouch pounced on a mistake by Caulker on 28 minutes to slot into an open goal. Luuk de Jong came on at half time for the exhausted Delfouneso, who was carrying a knock, and grabbed us an equaliser before Narsingh tucked home the winner just 5 minutes later.

Cardiff 3 - 1 Q.P.R.

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Very comfortable win here. We were 3 - 0 up at half time, and I made 3 changes because it was our 3rd game in 7 days and we also have Chelsea at home in 2 days as well. Very busy schedule. Miller got 2 and Caulker got is 1st Cardiff goal from a corner.

As you can see, a very good month as far as results go. And the league looks even better, here it is:

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We also have 2 new arrivals at Cardiff City Stadium. The guy I'm very excited about is Kolbeinn Sigborsson, an Icelandic striker who joins from Ajax with all the attributes required to be successful in the Premiership as well as a perfect fit for my tactics. He will be the man to partner Delfouneso for the next few years as we have Miller and van Nistelrooy both being let go at the end of this season. Miller has been good, but at 33 he's only going to get less and less game time, and Nistelrooy has been disappointing to say the least since joining during the summer. I paid £10m for Sigborsson, with £2.5m up front and £7.5 over 18 months. He has been on fire for Ajax this season and I have no doubts about him being a success for us too. Here's a screenshot of his profile:

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With pretty much all of my budget used up on Sigborsson, I scouted a few players on the transfer list and one caught my attention. Sergi Roberto joins from Barcelona, the central midfielder has the potential to be a great playmaker and at 20 years old he still has plenty of time to develop. And coming in at a very justifiable price of £825k, we'll at least get a decent profit on him if he moves on in a season or 2. Here's his profile:

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Although some may think that I would have been better off bringing in another defender, if you check the league table again you'll see our defensive record is on terms with the best in the league. I'm happy that we can play out the rest of the season in the same fashion, while Sigborsson will hopefully provide a boost in the goals scored column.

 

[@fplcentre]

Player of the Month


Don Cowie

Clear winner of the first PotM that I've done, mainly because I've forgotten before... and almost did now. With an average rating of 7.51 over the last 5 and some vital goals to keep our form going, he's been a vital part of our success so far despite not being our best choice at right winger.

Runner-Up

Luuk de Jong

Despite being surrounded by players with similar ratings, coming in at 7.21 for the past 5 games, I've chosen de Jong over Cairney and Whittingham due to the fact that it's taken him a while to get going, but it seems as though he's finally hitting his stride. He'll keep his place alongside new signing Sigborsson with Delfouneso out for up to 6 weeks having pulled up in training. If he keeps his form, it might be hard for fan favourite Delfy to get straight back into the side.
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[SammyJH94]

Just read the story mate and im really enjoying it! really impressed you managed to get Luuk De Jong as he is a solid player! ill be following mate KIU !

If you've got some time please check out my new story!

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...hogg-story-new-journey-ahead.html#post1577263

 

[@fplcentre]

End of January 2013

* First winless month for Bluebirds
* Sigborsson ignites a fire on debut
* Cardiff sign exciting Southampton prospect
* Mason & McPhail join Dons on loan
* City legend Earnshaw released on request

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Another month passes and, unfortunately, I can't say it's been the best one. We've suffered our first winless month in the league since I took charge. However, for a team that's just been promoted I'd say we're doing extremely well and looking at the ridiculously difficult schedule we were given for January, I'm not too disappointed with how things went. So, without further delay, here's the results and league table:

Cardiff 0 - 0 Chelsea

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Happy with the home draw here. Possession went 55% - 45% in our favour and both teams made a similar amount of chances. The closest we came was a free kick from Cairney which rattled the bar just before half time.

Barrow 0 - 2 Cardiff

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A comfortable win away from home with a second string side fielded sees us progress to the 4th round of the F.A. Cup here. Ruud van Nistelrooy and Luciano Narsingh get the goals, both in the first half.

Man City 2 - 2 Cardiff

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I was very happy with this performance. We completely outplayed a Man City side that looked uncomfortable in possession and nervous in defence. We took the lead twice with Luuk de Jong scoring the opener after just 2 minutes and then Don Cowie on 28 minutes. We led right up to the 78th minute when Balotelli got the equaliser on a counter from a free kick.

Tottenham 2 - 2 Cardiff

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Our 3rd draw in a row against top opposition, away from home too. Sigborsson makes his debut and grabs both our goals with a very confident display. Tottenham went 2 - 0 up in the first half and we made a comeback after the break.

Cardiff 0 - 1 Tottenham

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This was the game in hand we had due to our Euro Cup participation, and after getting the draw against them away from home just 3 days before I was hoping we could push on in front of our own fans and get the win here. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. We played atrociously and were lucky not to have lost by more. It has to be taken into account, though, that Steven Caulker was unavailable for both games against Spurs due to a clause in his loan deal.

Cardiff 1 - 1 Arsenal

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We really should have won this game. We had more of the ball, created more chances and were solid in defence against an Arsenal side missing Van Perise due to injury (no surprises there then). We took the lead after Per Mertesacker turned a Narsingh cross into his own goal but were pegged back straight from kick off with Grant Hanley doing the same thing down our end.

West Brom 3 - 2 Cardiff

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Another game we should've won, although I think the blame here lies with me. After going behind in the first half, we score 2 in 4 minutes with goals from Delfouneso who makes a triumphant return from the bench. Then, with just 15 minutes remaining I decided to hold out for the 2 - 1 win and altered our tactics only for West Brom to equalize and then take the lead with 2 stupid backpasses from Aron Gunnarsson which were intercepted by Chris Wood.

Nevertheless, with more than half of the season gone we're looking very good. Playing well and picking up points. I'm a little disappointed that our undefeated run is over, and now we're actually on a run of 6 games without a win in the league, but overall I can't be too unhappy with our performance so far. Here's the league at the end of January:

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In other news, Joe Mason and Stephen McPhail have both joined MK Dons on loan with both players not featuring in my first team plans at all this season. They are both transfer listed and loan listed by request as they are desperate for first team football, but the only team interested were our recently acquired feeder team.

Robert Earnshaw also handed in a request for the mutual termination of his contract so that he could seek first team football elsewhere. The request was granted and I'm sure everyone wishes him luck for the last few years of his career.

The only player joining the squad since Sigborsson and Roberto arrived is a 17 year old regen from Southampton. Steve Brookbanks is tipped to be a leading Premiership central defender in the future and we've snapped him up for a compensation fee of £1.4m. He'll sit in our first team squad while being available for reserve fixtures, but my plan is to give him 5-10 appearances before the season is out. Here's a his profile:

Player of the Month

David Marshall - 7.50

Some great saves over the past month kept us in games against some difficult opposition and he was probably the difference between getting those draws and suffering defeats.


Runner - Up

Tom Cairney - 7.22

With most of our goals this month coming from set pieces, Cairney benefited as he is our corner and free kick taker. He finishes the month having picked up 4 assists plus a dominant performance in central midfield against Arsenal.


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Remember, any feedback is welcome. Questions and requests too. Hope you're enjoying this story.

 

[@fplcentre]

Injuries hit City hard

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Well, I suppose it was coming. Not everything can go so well for so long in the world of FM. Kenny Miller (our top overall scorer so far) and Peter Whittingham (our top assister) are both out for 2-3 months after what seems to be the same training session on the same day.

Dammit.​