Cardiff City were left shocked as outspoken manager Neil Warnock left the club just a month after leading them to the Premier League
The 69 year old, considered a legend by some followers of the South Wales club, guided the Bluebirds to promotion last season with 90 points, finishing in 2nd place behind winners Wolves
The Yorkshireman felt he couldn't lead the club into a challenging Premier League season at his age, with the ex-Leeds boss entering his 7th decade in December
Cardiff were already favourites to go down before the news broke, and the challenge for them to stay up looks almost insurmountable now
Unknown manager Matthew Hawkins has taken over as manager of Cardiff City following the resignation of Neil Warnock
The 27 year old, who was part of Warnock's coaching staff, has taken the reigns following rumours that very few established managers wanted to take over at Cardiff City Stadium
Odds on the Bluebirds being relegated from the Premier League have shortened even more following the news, with them odds on to go down
Founded in 1899, Cardiff City are undoubtedly one of Wales' biggest clubs. Boasting a 33,280 all seater stadium, the biggest club stadium in Wales and the 19th biggest club stadium in the United Kingdom, the Bluebirds are in prime position to push on and grow
The only club to take the FA Cup out of England, Cardiff's golden era was the 1920s following their move to Ninian Park in 1910. Winning the FA Cup in 1927 and being runners up in 1925. They also missed out on what would have been their first top flight title to Huddersfield Town on goal average, with club record goalscorer Len Davies missing a penalty on the final day
The Blubeirds have had a chequered history since then, with the great depression hitting crowds they spent only 7 more seasons in the top flight in the 20th century, from 1952 to 1957 and 1960 to 1962
The decline was mitigated only by occasional European runs, including victories over Torpedo Moscow, and famously a home win against Real Madrid.
Despite this, Cardiff were in the 4th tier until as recently as 2001 but soon found themselves in the second tier, with a Andy Campbell goal in extra time of the 2003 Second Division play off final at the Millennium Stadium ending an 18 year absence
Much of the Bluebirds' time in existence has been marked by financial trouble, with the club days away from liquidation on numerous occasions throughout its existence, including in the 2008 season, where they lost the FA Cup final to Portsmouth 1-0
It wasn't until 2010 when the Bluebirds were taken over by a Malaysian consortium did they find financial stability in the face of love-hate figure Vincent Tan, under whom the Bluebirds underwent a controversial colour change from which the club barely recovered and ruined the 2013/14 promotion to the Premier League for many fans
The club reverted to blue in January 2015 but were close to relegation to League 1 until the arrival of Neil Warnock in October 2016, who guided the club to an unexpected promotion
The squad isn't great, but it isn't terrible, we have some decent players in most positions, but many of them wouldn't get into the starting 11 of most other Premier League clubs
Neil Etheridge and Alex Smithies are both good options in goal whilst Sean Morrison, Sol Bamba and Bruno Ecuele Manga are all solid options at centre back. Joe Bennett and Greg Cunningham are both good and Lee Peltier and Callum Paterson are solid on the other side. All in all the defence is pretty good.
Our midfield is fine but not spectacular. Loanees Harry Arter and Victor Camarasa are the pick of the bunch, however Aron Gunnarsson and Joe Ralls are both pretty good options while Leandro Bacuna is an ok backup option.
Out wide we have plenty of options, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett, Murphy and even Danny Ward are decent on the wings so we should be ok there whilst we have some more solid options up front in the shape of Bobby Decordova-Reid, Kenneth Zohore and Oumar Niasse
All in all, the squad isn't horrendous, but it does need work. Unfortunately I only have £5m to improve it with, I supplemented the budge by selling Kadeem Harris to Wigan for £1.5m, but only spent £2m on players, bringing in 17 year old Mattia Viviani from Brescia for £1.4m and Teboho Mokoena from Supersport United for £750,000
Important to get off to a good start with two winnable games this month
PREMIER LEAGUE Cardiff City 7-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Camarasa (Bacuna 61), Ralls, Arter, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett, Zohore (Decordova-Reid 61) Um, I don't really know what to say. This is the closest thing I've seen to a complete performance on FM this year, its all downhill from here
PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 5-1 Cardiff City
Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett (Cunningham 71), Camarasa, Ralls, Arter, Hoilett, Murphy. Decordova-Reid (Zohore 71) That's more like it!
PREMIER LEAGUE Crystal Palace 1-3 Cardiff City
Smithies, Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Camarasa, Ralls, Arter (Bacuna 79), Hoilett, Murphy, Decordova-Reid (Zohore 79) Game over before half time, lovely stuff
LEAGUE CUP SECOND ROUND Cardiff City 3-0 Sunderland
Etheridge, Richards, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Viviani (Arter 67), Paterson, Ralls, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett, Niasse (Davies 67) The perfect cup tie, progression and minutes for squad players. 16 year old Isaak Davies came off the bench to become our youngest ever goalscorer
A brilliant start last month, hopefully it continues
PREMIER LEAGUE Cardiff City 1-5 Liverpool
Smithies, Richards, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett (Cunningham 37), Camarasa, Ralls, Arter, Mendez-Laing, Murphy (Hoilett 76), Decordova-Reid (Zohore 60) This was to be expected
PREMIER LEAGUE Cardiff City 2-0 Newcastle United
Smithies, Peltier (Richards 65), Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Camarasa, Ralls, Arter, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett, Zohore (Decordova-Reid 65) A perfect response to an absolute hiding from Liverpool
PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 2-2 Cardiff City
Etheridge, Paterson, Manga, Morrison, Bennett, Camarasa (Gunnarsson 72), Ralls, Arter, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett (Murphy 85), Zohore (Decordova-Reid 63) Disappointing not to come away with all 3 points
LEAGUE CUP THIRD ROUND Cardiff City 1-2 Sheffield United
Smithies, Paterson, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Gunnarsson, Ralls, Arter (Bacuna 74), Mendez-Laing (Murphy 62), Hoilett, Niasse (Davies 74) Disappointing.
LEAGUE TABLE
We just need to keep this up
PREMIER LEAGUE AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Cardiff City
Etheridge, Paterson (Richards 83), Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Camarasa, Bacuna (Gunnarsson 62), Ralls, Mendez-Laing (Murphy 62), Hoilett, Zohore Big Ken showing what he can do
Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett (Cunningham 82), Camarasa, Ralls, Arter (Gunnarsson 67), Mendez-Laing, Hoilett (Murphy 67), Zohore Deserved at least a point
Despite starting December with a 3-1 win over strugglers Wolves, Cardiff City have endured a dreadful December with the win followed by 3 draws and 3 defeats
A 1-0 defeat at Manchester City was followed by a home draw with Southampton before a shocking 4-2 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage despite the Bluebirds taking a 2-0 lead through Kenneth Zohore and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
The Bluebirds then followed a draw at Brighton with a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Watford before ending 2018 with a 2-2 draw with Burnley
This has left the Bluebirds 10th in the Premier League heading into 2019
Matthew Hawkins has declared that loanee Konstantinos Mavropanos will be Cardiff's only first team signing this month as he attempts to keep the Bluebirds in the Premier League
This news will not delight Cardiff City fans, who have seen their side slump 3 league defeats out of 4 this month, losing to Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle whilst beating Crystal Palace
They have also progressed to the FA Cup fifth round following wins over Rotherham United and West Ham
Mavropanos will join the array of Scottish talent who moved to the Bluebirds this month, with 4 Scots making South Wales their home
They are Ethan Erharon (St Mirren - £42,000), Innes Cameron (Kilmarnock - £70,000), Dean Campbell (Aberdeen - £30,000) and Jack Harper (Malaga - Free transfer)
Champions League chasers Spurs were dealt a late heartbreak as Cardiff City snatched a draw through Spanish midfielder Victor Caarasa's first goal for the club
Camarasa smuggled the goal past a despairing Hugo Lloris in the 93rd minute to bag a 1-1 draw for the out of form Bluebirds, who've won one in their last 5 league games, winning 2-1 against 10 man Huddersfield
Two 2-1 losses to Arsenal in the league and cup sandwiched a 1-0 home defeat to Bournemouth for the Welsh side
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[/FONT][FONT="]15 year old Ryan Kaid became our youngest ever player whilst James Waite (who'd been on loan at Hereford until January) made his professional debut. In short, we're running out of players[/FONT]
Etheridge, Paterson, Morrison, Connolly, Cunningham, Gunnarsson, Ralls (Baldock 66), Arter (Kaid 76), Mendez-Laing, Murphy, Zohore A very solid victory over the former champions
PREMIER LEAGUE Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Cardiff City
Etheridge, Paterson, Manga, Mavropanos, Cunningham, Gunnarsson (Viviani 83), Ralls, Arter (Baldock 59), Mendez-Laing, Hoilett (Murphy 71), Zohore Somehow a side containing Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Diogo Jota are bottom, and Sam Allardyce is manager
PREMIER LEAGUE Cardiff City 2-0 Manchester City
