With My Little Pick and Shovel - A Cardiff City Story

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheLuckDuck
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 606
  • Views Views 164K
MARCH
View attachment 130548
A League Cup final, the FA Cup and the Champions League! Such fun.

LEAGUE CUP FINAL
Cardiff City 1-0 Derby County
View attachment 130546
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Pritchard, Angerschmid, Carlos (Hellemons 61)
A hugely frustrating game that looked like it would stretch to 120 minutes until Levi Steer hand balled in the box to earn a second yellow for himself and a spot kick for us. Fortunately David Brown put it away and won us our fourth trophy of the season, my 19th in management!

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-0 Arsenal
View attachment 130545
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Martinez, Brown (Grant 66), Green, Pritchard (Felgate 66), Angerschmid, Hellemons
Another frustrating game where we spurned loads of chances and only managed to win by one, are nerves getting to us, or are the players' legs tired after a long season?

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Crystal Palace 1-5 Cardiff City
View attachment 130544
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Martinez (Felgate 71), Brown, Green, Oliver (Pritchard 71), Angerschmid, Carlos
What was that about tired legs? We blew Palace out of the water today, with Jose Carlos even missing a last minute penalty which would have earned him his hat-trick and made the scoreline an even more convincing 6-1

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Liverpool 2-1 Cardiff City
View attachment 130543
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Oliver (Pritchard 60), Angerschmid, Carlos
Liverpool scored both of their shots on target today as we succumbed to a hugely disappointing defeat at Anfield. We spurned chance after chance and were punished for it, with Balde Keita scoring the late winner

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 3-0 Watford
View attachment 130542
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 65), Martinez, Green, Oliver (Pritchard 65), Angerschmid, Carlos
Jose Carlos is on fire this month! He scored a hat-trick today, putting home a late penalty (the opposite of what happened last time he was in that position) to add insult to injury for Watford, who'd been played off the park and were lucky to lose only 3-0

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST KNOCKOUT ROUND SECOND LEG
Cardiff City 0-0 SL Benfica
Cardiff win 1-0 on aggregate
View attachment 130540
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Oliver (Pritchard 66), Angerschmid, Carlos
We dominated but were kept from losing by Alex Meret, who made some fantastic saves to stop Benfica from getting an undeserved victory. A bit nervy, but at least we're through

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Leicester City 0-2 Cardiff City
View attachment 130538
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Grant, Martinez, Green, Oliver, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
A solid victory away at Leicester to keep the points total ticking over. Greig Boyle marked his return to the team with a goal and Leicester keeper Jordan Pickford helped us out by scoring an own goal to make it 2-0

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL FIRST LEG
Juventus 1-1 Cardiff City
View attachment 130536
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 86), Martinez (Pennock 86), Green, Oliver (Pritchard 63), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
We seem to have developed an inability to finish our chances recently and this game was evidence of that. This tie should be out of sight but our poor finishing means that we return to Cardiff with the game in the balance. Frustrating.

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 130535
The Septuple is very much on

TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (50 GOALS)​
 
APRIL
View attachment 130518
So many competitions, so little time

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 2-0 Stoke City
View attachment 130517
Meret, Krejci (Koulopoulos 84), Bellamy, Tausendpfund, Cook, Grant (Brown 84), Felgate, Felix, Pennock, Parry, Carlos
Almost full rotation as we face Juventus soon, despite that we managed to earn a comfortable victory over Stoke with some fringe players getting game time and putting in good performances to boot

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL SECOND LEG
Cardiff City 3-0 Juventus
Cardiff win 4-1 on aggregate
View attachment 130516
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Oliver (Pennock 54), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
The rotation in the last game was worth it as we played Juventus off the park! A slow first half lead to a top quality second half as we smashed three goals past Juve, with the only negative being Oliver's injury which will keep him out of action until June, ruling him out of the rest of the season

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
West Ham United 1-5 Cardiff City
View attachment 130515
Meret, Krejci, Jair (Grant 80), Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez (Felgate 70), Green (Felix 70), Pritchard, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
A huge away victory over West Ham has left us 1 win away from the title. This game summed up everything good about our season as we dominated and stuck away our chances, putting a hapless West Ham side to the sword

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 6-0 AFC Bournemouth
View attachment 130514
Meret, Krejci, Koulopoulos, Grant, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Pritchard (Felix 59), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
It's three in a row! A huge victory over Bournemouth was the perfect way to secure the title, with 6 goals flying past the helpless Dave Butterworth in the Bournemouth goal, we've won the league at a canter this season, wrapping it up on the 14th of April is incredible, the only negative is Gareth Pritchard will be out for the rest of the season meaning Chris Pennock will have to fill in for the rest of the season

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 4-0 Nottingham Forest
View attachment 130511
Meret, Krejci, Tausendpfund, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Pennock, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
A capacity crowd of 42,000 turned up to watch us lift the title for the third successive year, a 4-0 victory was a great way to start the party as we battered Forest and played them off the park

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 4-2 Watford
View attachment 130509
Meret, Krejci, Tausendpfund, Koulopoulos (Bellamy 72), Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 72), Martinez, Green, Pennock, Angerschmid (Parry 3), G.Boyle
An annoying performance as Watford scored their only 2 shots on target and we failed to create much, going 2-1 down until Andre Green sparked the game into life by getting fouled, scoring the free-kick and getting the fouler sent off. This gave us space and before we knew it it was 4-2 to us. Marco Angerschmid will be out for a month

FA CUP SEMI FINAL
Leeds United 0-5 Cardiff City
View attachment 130506
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez (Felgate 67), Green, Pennock, Parry (Felix 67), G.Boyle (Carlos 85)
Goals, goals, goals! We absolutely humiliated Leeds at Wembley, rushing into a 4 goal lead within 21 minutes before spending the rest of the match on cruise control, with Greig Boyle completing his hat-trick on 73 minutes

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL FIRST LEG
Cardiff City 1-0 Manchester United
View attachment 130504
Meret, Krejci, Koulopoulos, Jair, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Felix, Pennock, Parry, Carlos
A makeshift frontline lead to us going to Old Trafford with a slender 1 goal lead rather than a larger on as we failed to put away our numerous chances, our injury problems could cost us this tie

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 130503
Trophy number 5 is in the bag, can we get the 2 that are left?

TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (62 GOALS)​
 
MAY
View attachment 130433
The final month of the league season and we have two trophies to play for

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City 0-3 Cardiff City
View attachment 130432
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 67), Martinez, Felix, Pennock (Felgate 11), Green (Parry 67), Carlos
Injuries? What injuries?! Our makeshift attack put Manchester City to the sword with Jose Carlos channelling his inner Greig Boyle with a terrific hat-trick,, putting chances away just like the Scottish superstar

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL SECOND LEG
Manchester United 0-2 Cardiff City
Cardiff win 3-0 on aggregate
View attachment 130431
Meret, Krejci, Koulopoulos, Jair, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Felix, Parry (Grant 72), G.Boyle
A tight game decided by the best player in the world. We took an early lead and our defence stood strong, with United doing anything to get the ball off of his, racking up 22 fouls as the desperately tried to get the ball back. 2 Champions League finals in two years!

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-0 Everton
View attachment 130430
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 75), Martinez, Green, Pennock, Parry, G.Boyle
A dominant performance where we couldn't break the deadlock until Andre Green's stunning free-kick 20 minutes from time, we need to learn how to take our chances again

FA CUP FINAL
Arsenal 0-0 Cardiff City
Cardiff win 4-3 on penalties
View attachment 130429
Meret, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 101), Martinez, Green, Pennock, Angerschmid (Felix 90), G.Boyle (Carlos 101)
An incredibly poor final with few shot on target and even fewer chances as neither side lived up to the occasion, it became more and more apparent as the game went on that this would end in penalties and it did. I hate penalties, we're not that good at them and it looked as though we were going to lose when we missed our first through Jose Carlos. Fortunately local boy Chris Pennock steadied the ship as we went on to win our third FA Cup in a row

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 130428
We won the league by a staggering 20 points in the end as we dominated the league from start to finish, next up, Porto in the Champions League final

TOP SCORER: (64 GOALS)​
 
2026 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
View attachment 1075181
FC PORTO V CARDIFF CITY
View attachment 1075177View attachment 130377

ROAD TO THE FINAL
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]PORTO[/TD]
[TD]CARDIFF[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]GROUP FINISH[/TD]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]R16[/TD]
[TD]3-1 vs. Valencia[/TD]
[TD]1-0 vs. Benfica[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]QF[/TD]
[TD]5-2 vs. Tottenham[/TD]
[TD]4-1 vs. Juventus[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]SF[/TD]
[TD]1-1 (p) vs. Arsenal[/TD]
[TD]3-0 vs. Manchester United[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Both sides have endured pretty tough routes to the final, Porto will be hoping to win their first Champions League for 22 years while Cardiff will be hoping to retain their title

LINE UPS
View attachment 130375
Porto use two banks of 4 with one man in the hole while Cardiff go with their 4-2-3-1

KICK-OFF
10th Minute-Green, to Brown, round the corner for Angerschmid!! Hits the bar!
12th Minute-Leal, inside to Aboubakar, to van Ginkel, its a lovely ball out wide to Leal who comes inside, ***** it to the back post for VALENTE!! Into the side netting
44th Minute-Green stands over the free-kick, hits it.. SAVED BY MVOGO, its Nakagawa on the rebound.. SAVED!! NAKAGAWA AGAIN SURELY!! SAVED!!

HALF-TIME
FC Porto 0-0 Cardiff City
All square but Cardiff are on top

SECOND-HALF
58th Minute-Pennock, to Brown, back to Pennock, ball played out wide for Krejci, crossed to the back post.. ANGERSCHMID!!! GOAL!!!
65th Minute-Cardiff com forward with the ball, its lost in midfield and here come Porto!! Its Pinheiro, he has acres of space, he runs into it, he let's fly! Wide, what a waste
FULL-TIME
FC Porto 0-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff retain their Champions League title
View attachment 130376

View attachment 130374 View attachment 130373​
 
View attachment 130334
WORLD CUP SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
View attachment 130333

GOALKEEPERS
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]CAPS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rikki Morris[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]West Ham[/TD]
[TD]66[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Danny Ward[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]Blackburn[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ryan Roberts[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]Middlesbrough[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

View attachment 130332 View attachment 130331 View attachment 130330

DEFENDERS
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]CAPS (GOALS)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Robert Pugh[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]Nottingham Forest[/TD]
[TD]38 (1)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Danny Thompson[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]39 (1)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Kyle Davies[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]Leeds[/TD]
[TD]7 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Nathan Barlow[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]Norwich[/TD]
[TD]9 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Danny Bellamy[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]25 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tom Giggs[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]25 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Declan John[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]Sheffield Wednesday[/TD]
[TD]9 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

View attachment 130329 View attachment 130328 View attachment 130327 View attachment 130326 View attachment 130325 View attachment 130324 View attachment 130323

MIDFIELDERS
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]CAPS (GOALS)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jamie McCoubrey[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]Nottingham Forest[/TD]
[TD]26 (2)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mitchell Grant[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]63 (9)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Aaron Ramsey[/TD]
[TD]35[/TD]
[TD]Atalanta[/TD]
[TD]128 (11)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Gary Lloyd[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]Leeds[/TD]
[TD]31 (11)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Adam Felgate[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]34 (2)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dale Thomas[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]Stoke[/TD]
[TD]6 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Martin Bamford[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]Watford[/TD]
[TD]4 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jamie Parry[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]15 (3)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]John Richards[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]Swindon[/TD]
[TD]3 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Chris Pennock[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff[/TD]
[TD]19 (1)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

View attachment 130320 View attachment 130319 View attachment 130318 View attachment 130317 View attachment 130316 View attachment 130315 View attachment 130314 View attachment 130312 View attachment 130311 View attachment 130310

ATTACKERS
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]CAPS (GOALS)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tyler Roberts[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]Swansea[/TD]
[TD]57 (36)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sam Williams[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]Norwich[/TD]
[TD]7 (0)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jamie Thomas[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]Hull[/TD]
[TD]51 (31)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

View attachment 130302 View attachment 130300 View attachment 130299
​
 
WORLD CUP GROUP STAGE
View attachment 130159
Our first World Cup since 1958 sees us take on Belgium, South Korea and Cameroon in the group stage, let's see how we got on

WORLD CUP GROUP C
South Korea 1-2 Wales
View attachment 130158
Morri, McCoubrey, Giggs, Bellamy, Thompson, Grant, Felgate (Richards 57), Lloyd, Pennock (Pugh 71), Parry, T.Roberts
It was important to start with a win with Belgium coming up next so I'm very pleased that we made light work of South Korea. The result was never really in doubt despite their wondergoal against the run of play. Tyler Roberts continues to hunt down Gareth Bale's record of 39 international goals

WORLD CUP GROUP C
Wales 2-1 Belgium
View attachment 130157
Morris, Pugh, Giggs (Richards 56), Davies, Thompson, McCoubrey, Grant, Felgate, Lloyd (Bamford 87), Parry, T.Roberts (J.Thomas 66)
I was fearful heading into this game as Belgium had just smashed Cameroon 8-0. It looked like I was right to be fearful as Belgium scored very early on, fortunately we rallied, with Tyler Roberts scoring the equaliser soon after Belgium's opener, we continued to push and a second seemed inevitable and we got it! Jamie Thomas latched onto John Richards' excellent pass to bag our winner

WORLD CUP GROUP C
Wales 2-0 Cameroon
View attachment 130154
Ward, McCoubrey (Pugh 60), Barlow, Bellamy, John, Grant (Pennock 60), Ramsey, Bamford, D.Thomas, Richards, Roberts (Williams 75)
A rotated side dispatched of Cameroon fairly easily to grab us top spot, ending our first World Cup group for 68 years with a 100% record. Sam Williams and Martin Bamford bagged their first international goals

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 130149
Top spot and a 100% record! Brilliant stuff!​
 
Last edited:
WORLD CUP KNOCKOUT STAGE
View attachment 130088
Our impressive performance in the group has granted us a spot in the Second Round of the FIFA World Cup! Let's see how far we can go

WORLD CUP SECOND ROUND
Uruguay 0-3 Wales
View attachment 130087
Morris, Pugh, Giggs, Davies, Thompson, Grant (McCoubrey 57), Pennock (D.Thomas 71), Felgate (Richards 57), Lloyd, Parry, J.Thomas
What. A. Performance! We came out all guns blazing against Uruguay and wanted the job done early and we did exactly that, with Gary Lloyd squandering an early chance only to make up for it seconds later. Uruguay were on the rocks as we continued to push and we went for the kill, scoring 2 in 3 minutes to put this beyond doubt and to put us in the World Cup Quarter Final!

WORLD CUP QUARTER FINAL
Germany 0-1 Wales
View attachment 130068
Morris, McCoubrey, Davies, Bellamy, Thompson, Grant, Felgate, Pennock (Richards 84), Lloyd (Bamford 61), Parry, T.Roberts (Williams 25)
Wow. Martin Bamford, take a bow! Martin Bamford, who only just made the squad, has put Wales into the World Cup Semi Final with an absolute peach of a strike! We limited Germany and hit them on the break very well despite the injury to talismanic striker Tyler Roberts. Sam Williams lacks Roberts' pace but his strength and hold up play were crucial as we held on to our slender lead and Germany started to throw players forward

WORLD CUP SEMI FINAL
Wales 2-1 Spain
View attachment 130064
Morris, Pugh, Giggs, Bellamy, John, McCoubrey, Grant (Pennock 77), Richards, Bamford, Lloyd, J.Thomas (Williams 67)
Martin Bamford. Just give him the Brecon Beacons! What a man! We defended resolutely and limited Spain to few chances, all of which were early on (apart from their goal, that is). We countered well and a mistake at the back from Jesus Vallejo allowed Bamford to break the deadlock. Another defensive mistake allowed Jamie Parry to make it 2 and Sam Williams missed two chances at the end which would have ended the tie and not forced me through the 4 minutes of agony at the end

​
 
2026 WORLD CUP FINAL
View attachment 130062
USA V WALES
View attachment 130061 View attachment 130060

ROAD TO THE FINAL
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]USA[/TD]
[TD]WALES[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MD1[/TD]
[TD]Ecuador 4-0 (W)[/TD]
[TD]South Korea 2-1 (W)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MD2[/TD]
[TD]Iraq 2-1 (W)[/TD]
[TD]Belgium 2-1 (W)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MD3[/TD]
[TD]Spain 3-0 (L)[/TD]
[TD]Cameroon 2-0 (W)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]GROUP FINISH[/TD]
[TD]2nd[/TD]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]SR[/TD]
[TD]Brazil 0-0 (4-3 on pens)[/TD]
[TD]Uruguay 3-0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]QF[/TD]
[TD]Denmark 1-1 (5-3 on pens)[/TD]
[TD]Germany 1-0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]SF[/TD]
[TD]Argentina 2-2 (4-3 on pens)[/TD]
[TD]Spain 2-1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

LINE UPS
View attachment 130055
USA go for a conventional 4-4-2 whilst Wales go for their 4-5-1

KICK-OFF
44th Minute-Grant stands over the free-kick, whips it in towards the back post, brought down by Lloyd, he's one one one.. GREAT SAVE BY WHITESIDES!
HALF-TIME
USA 0-0 Wales
A very drab mach so far
SUBS: Jeremy Perales and Tim Ramirez replaces Varnah Clarke and Emerson Hyndman for USA. Wales remain unchanged
SECOND-HALF
55th Minute-Danny Young replaces Gideon Zelalem for USA
64th Minute-Jamie Thomas replaces Tyler Roberts for Wales
FULL-TIME
USA 0-0 Wales
A fairly drab final so far as we head into extra-time
EXTRA-TIME
HALF-TIME
USA 0-0 Wales
SUBS: Sam Williams replaces Jamie Parry for Wales
A game of few chances. This game looks like its going to penalties
SECOND-HALF
113th Minute-Aaron Ramsey replaces Mitchell Grant for Wales
121st Minute-Lloyd throws it long for Thomas, its headed clear by Burgess, Lloyd picks it up, he plays it infield to Ramsey, to Thomas, to Pennock, he's one on one... GOAL!!!! 1-0 WALES IN THE LAST MINUTE OF THE GAME!!!!
FULL-TIME
USA 0-1 Wales
Wales are World Champions!!

View attachment 130059

View attachment 130058 View attachment 130057 View attachment 130056​
 
View attachment 130051
LEGENDS LEAVE IN CARDIFF RE-SHUFFLE
View attachment 130050View attachment 130049
Two of Cardiff City's longest serving players have left the club as Hawkins attempts to refresh the squad following Cardiff's famous septuple last season

This squad revamp has seen two long serving players leave the club for big fees

First to leave was goalkeeper Alex Meret who has left the Bluebirds to join Paris Sanit-Germain for £33m

Meret, 29, joined the Bluebirds on a free transfer from Udinese back in 2018 and immediately became the club's number one, lifting numerous trophies and even taking the captaincy in recent years

The Italian international made 292 league appearances for Cardiff over an 8 year period, conceding just 281 goals and keeping 117 clean sheets in the league for Cardiff

He lifted 19 trophies with Cardiff, including 3 Premier Leagues and 2 Champions Leagues as well as 3 Premier League Golden Gloves

The second to leave was Spanish international Oliver, who's joined Roma for £20m

Oliver spent 9 years at Cardiff and was a hit with the fans, soon becoming a legend at the club

Joining in the club's maiden Premier League season for just £2.2m back in 2017/18, the 31 year old attacking midfielder went on to make 261 league appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring 23 league goals and bagging 56 assists in the process

Despite his legend status, the Spanish international is ageing and declining as a player, making just 16 league appearances last season as he struggled for fitness and many agree this was the right time to let him go, with Cardiff manager Matthew Hawkins having this to say on the matter:

"Obviously it was difficult to let these guys go as I've worked with them every day of the past 8 years, 9 in Oliver's case, but we sat down, talked about it and agreed that now was the ample time for them to move on"
​
 
View attachment 130021
PLAYERS FOR NOTHING
View attachment 130020
Cardiff City have announced the arrival of two players on free transfers after their contracts ended at their respective clubs

The first announced on the club's website was the signing of attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard, who's signed from Real Madrid on a 4 year deal

Odegaard, 27, had spent the majority of his career at the Bernabeu, spending all but 2 of his professional seasons at the Spanish giants, with those two seasons away from Spain being with Marseille, who he joined for£4.8m in 2017 only to leave to re-join Real Madrid for £9.25m two seasons and 75 league appearances later. He has won both the Champions League and La Liga with Real

Odegaard is also an important player on the international stage, having so far made 92 appearances for Norway, scoring 31 goals and helping Norway to qualify for Euro 2026
View attachment 130012

The second signing announced was that of Welsh international striker Stephen Al-Wadi from Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer

Al-Wadi, 22, spent 5 seasons at Spurs but never made a league appearance, instead appearing for Middlesbrough, Wigan Athletic, West Bromwich Albion, Dundee United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, for whom he scored 20 goals in 38 games last season

Al-Wadi, who was Wales' Confederations Cup winning squad, started his career at Swansea before leaving for New White Hart Lane for £1.8m in 2021, making 2 appearances for the Swans before leaving
View attachment 130009
​
 
9 LEAVE IN BLUEBIRDS SQUAD REVAMP
View attachment 129885

9 players have left the Cardiff City Stadium as Matthew Hawkins trims his squad

[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]PLAYER[/TD]
[TD]SOLD TO[/TD]
[TD]SOLD FOR[/TD]
[TD]PROFIT/LOSS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Alex Meret[/TD]
[TD]PSG[/TD]
[TD]£33m[/TD]
[TD]£33m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Andrea Gerbino Polo[/TD]
[TD]Real Madrid[/TD]
[TD]£29.5m[/TD]
[TD]£24.5m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jose Carlos[/TD]
[TD]Leeds[/TD]
[TD]£25m[/TD]
[TD]£24.5m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ashraf Ali[/TD]
[TD]Dortmund[/TD]
[TD]£20m[/TD]
[TD]£19.75m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Oliver[/TD]
[TD]Roma[/TD]
[TD]£20m[/TD]
[TD]£18m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mohamed Ali[/TD]
[TD]Schalke[/TD]
[TD]£10m[/TD]
[TD]£9.9m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Joseph Howard[/TD]
[TD]Lyon[/TD]
[TD]£8m[/TD]
[TD]£2m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Danny Thompson[/TD]
[TD]Crystal Palace[/TD]
[TD]£8m[/TD]
[TD]£2m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hakan Bay[/TD]
[TD]Wolves[/TD]
[TD]£3m[/TD]
[TD]£3m[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]TOTAL[/TD]
[TD]£136.5m[/TD]
[TD]£108.15m[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​
 
View attachment 129883
BLUEBIRDS BOLSTER SQUAD
View attachment 129882

Cardiff City have today announced the signing of three players as they replace some of their outgoing players

The most expensive player brought in was left back Robert Taylor, who's been signed from Manchester United for £20m

Taylor, 23, has been brought in to challenge Japanese defender Yusuke Nakagawa for the starting berth at left-back

England Under 21 international Taylor, who has been named in the full England squad, made 22 league appearances for Manchester United and has suffered high-profile defeats to Cardiff on more than one occasion

Taylor, who started his career at Hull, has spent a lot of time out on loan, spending 3 years at Ipswich and Derby
View attachment 129881

The second highest outlay was spent on Dutch winger Niels Groot, 21, who's signed from Borussia Dortmund

Groot has been a long-time target of Hawkins', with the Bluebirds having bids turned down when he was at Feyenoord and Bayern Munich before the Bluebirds landed their man for a fairly modest fee of £8.25m

Dutch international Groot has had a fairly stop-start career after leaving Feyenoord for Germany in 2022, signing for Bayern Munich for £1.7m the winger failed to make an impression at the Allianz Arena, making just 3 appearances before being sold to Borussia Dortmund just 2 years later where he made 13 appearances
View attachment 129880

The cheapest of the trio was also the oldest at the ripe old age of 26, that 26 year old being Aykut Deniz who has been brought in from Premier League rivals Stoke City

German international Deniz, who has 15 caps for Germany, has cost the Bluebirds £7.25m and has come in to offer something different to Alfredo Martinez and David Brown with his strength and physicality

Deniz started his career at Augsburg, breaking into the first team in 2016 and making 75 league appearances before joining Borussia Monchengladbach for £4.1m in 2020, making 19 league appearances and securing a £7.75m pound move to Bayer Leverkusen, where he made 39 league appearances before being snapped up by Bavarian giants Bayern Munich for £15m

Deniz made just 11 league appearances for Bayern before being sold to Celta Vigo for £2.9m where he made 29 league appearances in 2023/24 which earned him a £19.25m move to Stoke where he spent two seasons
View attachment 129879
​
 
AUGUST
View attachment 129878
Injuries galore as we start the season, hopefully it doesn't continue that way

COMMUNITY SHIELD
Cardiff City 2-1 Manchester United
View attachment 129877
Kyle, Krejci (Tausendpfund 90), Koulpoulos, Jair, Cook, Grant (Pennock 84), Brown, Green, Odegaard, Angerschmid (Hellemons 80), G.Boyle
A fairly entertaining clash that looked like it was going to penalties until we got a late one awarded to us. Greig Boyle id his thing and slotted it home. Both David Krejci and Marco Angerschmid were forced off through injury

EUROPEAN SUPER CUP
Bayern Mnich 4-2 Cardiff City
View attachment 129869
Kyle, Koulopoulos, Jair, Tausendpfund, Cook, Brown (Grant 83), Felgate, Green, Odegaard (Pennock 45), Parry, G.Boyle
The Septuple is over before it even begun! We edged the game but Bayern were ruthless coming forward and our makeshift defence were shambolic with three changes to our usual defence being enforced due to injury. Martin Odegaard was forced off with an injury, but at least Greig Boyle is on form though

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Chelsea 1-1 Cardiff City
View attachment 129866
Kyle, Koulopoulos, Jair, Tausendpfund, Cook, Grant (Felagte 70), Brown, Felix, Pennock (Al-Wadi 83), Green (Parry 83), G.Boyle
A solid start as we draw 1-1 away at Stamford Bridge. A bit of a makeshift defence managed to keep Chelsea at bay who obviously smelt blood having seen our makeshift defence. Could have been worse.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-0 AFC Bournemouth
View attachment 129865
Kyle, Koulopoulos, Jair, Dale, Taylor, Brown, Felgate (Pritchard 67), Green, Pennock, Angerschmid (Felix 22), G.Boyle (Hellemons 80)
We dominated the game but just couldn't score which is encouraging as we dominate a mid-table team despite playing an incredibly weak side. Angerchsmid injured again.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Rotherham United 0-5 Cardiff City
View attachment 129864
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez (Grant 59), Felix, Pritchard (Pennock 59), Green, G.Boyle
That's more like it! We absolutely smash new boys Rotherham as the first teamers finally arrive. Boyle bagged two, Andre Green scored just before half-time and our centre back pairing managed to grab a goal each. Perfect

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 129863
1 trophy and a steady start in the league. Not bad.

TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (5 GOALS)​
 
SEPTEMBER
View attachment 129713
We had a steady start to the season last month, hopefully we can push on from that this month

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 4-1 Bristol City
View attachment 129712
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Odegaard (Pennock 62), Parry, G.Boyle
A dominant performance in a game that was over before half-time as we send our rivals back across the Severn bridge with their tails firmly between their legs. A goal just over 10 minutes in from Boyle was deserved and we pushed for more, forcing an own goal just 3 minutes later. They bagged a consolation late on.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Brentford 0-3 Cardiff City
View attachment 129720
Kyle, Krejci, Koulopoulos, Jair, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green, Pritchard, Groot, Hellemons (Block 58)
A slightly rotated side dominated Brentford at Lionel Road. 64% possession and 22 shots backed up by a comfortable 3-0 victory. We've played all three newly promoted sides in a row and racked up 12 goals, great stuff

LEAGUE CUP THIRD ROUND
Cardiff City 3-0 Fulham
View attachment 129718
Harrop, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown (Tausendpfund 56), Martinez (Felgate 56), Felix, Pennock, Parry, Al-Wadi
A comfortable victory and run-outs for fringe players like Gareth Harrop, Jamie Parry and Stephen Al-Wadi, the perfect cup tie for a Premier League side!

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 3-0 Newcastle United
View attachment 129717
Harrop, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez (Felgate 63), Felix, Pennock, Parry, Al-Wadi
We took a risk by fielding the same side as we did against Fulham in the League Cup but we were rewarded for itt by bagging three against the Magpies, even missing a penalty! Gareth Harrop kept a clean sheet on his Premier League debut!

LEAGUE TABLE
Forgot to take a screenshot, sorry, we currently sit in second

TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (7 GOALS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WALES
View attachment 129711
This international break features one game and A LOT of debuts

EUROPEAN LEAGUE DIVISION B
Wales 1-0 Poland
View attachment 129710
Morris, Pugh, Rogers, Davies, Cook, Harrington (Grant 50), Pennock, Felgate, Lloyd (Jones 67), Parry, Wynne (J.Thomas 72)
A decent performance and deserved victory even if the goal came pretty late! This match was essentially an exercise in capping players as 5 players made their debuts. All 5 of the debutants were eligible for both England and Wales so we made the (right) decision for them, picking them and getting them to declare for Wales. The five were: David Rogers, Gareth Cook, Christian Harrington, Rob Wynne and John Jones

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 129709
Top after 1 game and a lot of declared youngsters! I like it​
 
Been thinking of leaving Cardiff at some point and taking over at a Conference club and continuing the story from there, what do people think about that?
 
OCTOBER
View attachment 129670
Its been goals galore so far this season, will that continue this month?

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Southampton 0-4 Cardiff City
View attachment 129659
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green (Pennock 56), Odegaard, Angerschmid (Pritchard 83), G.Boyle (Block 56)
Pangiotis Koulopoulos outshone Greig Boyle today by bagging a brace as we beat Southampton 4-0. Greig Boyle added his goal while Gareth Pritchard put the cherry on the cake with 4 minutes left

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-1 Arsenal
View attachment 129658
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Taylor, Brown, Martinez, Green (Felix 71), Odegaard (Pennock 71), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
Our first league defeat of the season came at home to an Arsenal side who REALLY didn't deserve the three points. Despite that, they managed to do the only thing we couldn't, which is stick the ball in the back of the net

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester United 1-2 Cardiff City
View attachment 129657
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez (Pennock 78), Green, Odegaard (Pritchard 61), Angerschmid (Felix 64), G.Boyle
Smash. And. Grab! We did what so many teams have done to us over the years and soaked up pressure before hitting the opposition on the break late on. Andy Kyle got a 9.1 Match Rating and was magnificent, keeping out United's star striker Moises on almost every occasion

LEAGUE CUP FOURTH ROUND
Cardiff City 2-0 Rotherham United
View attachment 129656
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Bellamy, Cook, Grant, Felgate, Green, Pennock, Parry, G.Boyle
A solid victory with many of our fringe players getting game time as we progress through to the League Cup Quarter Final where we will play Leicester

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 5-0 Liverpool
View attachment 129655
Kyle, Krejci, Jair, Koulopoulos, Nakagawa, Brown, Martinez, Green (Felix 69), Odegaard (Pennock 69), Angerschmid, G.Boyle (Hellemons 55)
A top quality performance with David Brown bagging a hat-trick! 5 goals against Liverpool is good by my estimation and I'm very pleased with how we did

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 129654
A great start to the season so far as we sit top of the league table

TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (12 GOALS)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WALES
View attachment 129653
1 away game in the European International League this time and more.. DEBUTS!

EUROPEAN LEAGUE DIVISION B
Sweden 1-1 Wales
View attachment 129652
Morris, Pugh, Giggs, Davies, Cook (France 90), McCoubrey, Grant, Felgate (Smith 90), Bamford, Parry, J.Thomas (Owen 90)
We probably should have won this game and deserved to but it took a last minute equaliser for us to return from Sweden with just the one point, nevermind all three. To be honest, I don't really care about this competition, its just a nice way to blood in some youngsters. Three debutants, those three being: Geraint France, Ryan Smith and Carl Owen

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 129651
4 points from two pretty tough games. Not bad​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

FMBase

Beta

Resources

Back
Top