Ahh the comforts of home... oh hang on, this is Cardiff City we're talking about here, home has been anything but comfortable in recent seasons, but surely, hopefully we're due a change in fortunes now? This weekend sees visitors to the CCS in the form of Sheffield Wednesday, a side still containing a couple of ex-recent Bluebirds in the shape of Will Vaulks and the ever popular Callum Paterson. If there is one small crumb of comfort to be had regarding this fixture it is that whilst we Bluebirds bemoan our mixture of bad luck and some poor individual errors resulting in just a solitary point from our first 3 games, the poor old Owls come to us in even worse shape having lost all 3 of their opening fixtures back in the Championship. This run is perhaps a little surprising given that Wednesday boast some very useful players including Dominic Iorfa, George Buyers, Lee Gregory and, our usual tormentor in chief Barry Bannan. Conceivably, the decision to jettison the popular (and successful) Darren Moore and replace him with ex-Watford gaffer Xisco Munoz may have something to do with it as the players get to grips with his playing philosophy, something us Cardiff fans have witnessed and gotten used to in a regular basis over the last few seasons. It's fair to say our "recent" record against the Owls is patchy at best, with our last encounter during the covid hit 2020-2021 season resulting in our boys taking a 5-0 thrashing by a struggling Wednesday side at Hillsborough – a game that was far closer than the score-line suggested with City being hit by several sucker punches, including an excellent volley from ex-Bluebird Paterson. That result left City 8th in the table and slowly losing touch with the play-offs – oh how we yearn for those days again. Past Meetings As previously mentioned, our recent results against the Owls have been a little on the disappointing side, with the most recent, really convincing win by a scoreline of 4-0 coming back in January 1972!! However, there have been a few wins at the CCS including the following; A topsy turvey encounter in 2010 – some cracking goals to admire but equally horrendous defending City racing onto a 2-0 HT lead only to be pegged back by Wednesday – look out for a rare Tony Watt appearance in 2015 City in red in 2014, Mozza scores 2. If only we had someone of Whitts quality now for dead-ball situations What Are The Odds On That? So then Vince, how are we looking this week? Bulut's Bulletin After seeing his team once again lose out at the death on valuable points last weekend, it'll be no surprise if Erol does decide to shuffle his pack a little for what many of us believe is a little bit of a "must win" game if we are to try and capitalise on the feel good factor that was starting to build. One definite change should be the well again after illness Perry Ng coming back in to replace the now suspended Mahlon Romeo. We also know for sure now that Romaine Sawyers will not likely feature again for the Bluebirds after being told he can seek pastures new. Sadly us Bluebirds only ever got fleeting glimpses of his undoubted capabilities, but with what appears to be a low work ethic he was always likely to fall out of favour with a much more demanding manager like Bulut. Josh Bowler will also miss out this week following the news that he has a calf/tendon issue. Thankfully it doesn't sound too serious and he will only have a very short spell on the sidelines, though this could present an opportunity for Ollie Tanner perhaps but more likely we'll see one of Callum Robinson or Yakou Meite step in instead. Outside of this, everyone else is apparently fit and available and personally I wouldn't be surprised to see one of Ralls or Wintle dropped in favour of Manolis Siopis who, when coming on on the weekend gave a good showing and added a measure of control at the base of the midfield. On Saturday and our opponents Erol said "Sheffield haven’t got a win and we have analysed them. They stay really deep in defence. They try to be compact, but we have trained on it to get in positions to score and then we have to finalise it. We have to create chances and we have to score. And individually we have to work on our skills to make fewer mistakes." Well I Never Am I the only one to wonder why Sheffield ‘Wednesday’? It urns out the founding members of the Wednesday cricket club found time off away from their day jobs in the middle of the week on a Wednesday. Subsequently, as the football team was founded, the club was known as ‘The Wednesday’ until 1929, then the football club changed its name officially to Sheffield Wednesday, and the rest, they say, is history. Although it is widely assumed that the club's nickname changed to The Owls in 1899 after the club's move to Owlerton, it was not until 1912, when Wednesday player George Robertson presented the club with an owl mascot, that the name took hold. A monkey mascot introduced some years earlier had not brought much luck - Guess it was like a monkey on their back eh?? If sources are true, their original nickname was…… the Blades – how confusing would that be nowadays with their cross city rivals?? Sharing The Love Really interesting one this week (at least I found it interesting) not least because 3 of the players on the list all played for City at the same time at one point!! Alan Warboys Warboys began his career at Doncaster Rovers, making his debut in April 1967 at the age of 17, before moving to Sheffield Wednesday in 1968. Following Wednesday's relegation in 1970, he joined Cardiff City for a fee of £42,000, as a replacement for John Toshack who had joined Liverpool. On his home debut for the club, Warboys scored twice against the team he had just left, Sheffield Wednesday and went on to finish the season having scored 13 goals in 17 league games, including scoring four times in one match during a 4–0 win over Carlisle United, as the club missed out on promotion by one place. After spending one more year at Cardiff, he returned to Yorkshire to join Sheffield United as part of a swap deal which saw Gil Reece and Dave Powell move the other way to Ninian Park. His time at Cardiff was arguably the most prolific period of his career. After retiring from football, Warboys settled in Doncaster, working as a lorry driver. He was also the landlord of the Ring 'o' bells in Swinton, South Yorkshire during the 1990's Jimmy Gill Gill began his career at hometown side Sheffield Wednesday in 1913. With the club suffering financial difficulties he was sold to Cardiff City in 1920 for £750 and was the club's top scorer in its first year in the Football League. He would go on to consistently challenge for the award along with strike partner Len Davies during his five years at the club. While at the club he also played in the 1925 FA Cup Final, which they went on to lose 1–0 to Sheffield United. The following season, he left to join Frank Buckley's Blackpool. Seyi Olifinjana I wanted to include this guy as he is one of the few loan players that really made an impression. Joining in 2010 on loan from Hull, Olofinjana was reunited with Dave Jones, who had originally brought him into English football when manager of Wolves. The midfielder featured regularly as the team reached the promotion play-off games in our defeat to Reading. Despite such a strong season he returned to Hull for the following year. The next 3 players are all centre backs and were all at Cardiff at the same time for a period! Glenn Loovens After spending the 2005–06 season on loan to they Bluebirds Loovens was signed on a permanent deal for a reported fee of £250,000. He originally formed a defensive partnership with club captain Darren Purse but the 2007–08 season saw Purse lose his place in the side to Roger Johnson and the pair went on to form a vital base for the team to build on, including playing alongside each other in all six matches during the club's run to the 2008 FA Cup Final. Loovens actually found the back of the net in the final against Portsmouth but it was disallowed for an earlier infringement (correctly so sadly). Loovens left for Celtic in August 2008 for a deal reputedly to be worth around £2.1 million. Roger Johnson After 183 appearances and 22 goals for Wycombe Johnson joined Cardiff City in July 2006 for a fee of £275,000 reportedly seeing off a £100,000 bid from our little cousins in the process. Johnson had a strong first year at Cardiff, and after spending the first six months as a regular substitute, began to form a strong partnership with Glenn Loovens which saw them keep club captain Darren Purse out of the side. Johnson of course scored the second goal of our memorable 2–0 away victory over Premier League Middlesbrough in the 2007–08 FA Cup quarter final, and with his header in the Severnside Derby match against Bristol City in March 2008 he racked up his seventh goal of that season, he was awarded the club's Player of the Year award that year and also the following season, despite missing a few games to injury after a dreadful throat injury caused by Crystal Palace player Claude Davis. After 2 exceptionally strong seasons on the trot Johnson was sold to Birmingham City in 2009 for a reported £5 million. Darren Purse In July 2005, Purse moved to Cardiff City in a deal worth just under £1 million. Five players (Alan Lee, Rhys Weston, Tony Warner, Chris Barker and Neil Alexander) accepted "substantial reductions in their wages" to allow the club to meet Purse's wage demands. He was appointed team captain, and forged a reputation for hard work and consistency as the foundation of the Cardiff defence, forming an effective partnership with Glenn Loovens. "I love being here. I enjoy turning up for training every day, playing for a great manager and the team that I'm playing for and team-mates are fantastic. We've got a new stadium coming and things are looking up." Purse, speaking in September 2006, was hoping to play for Cardiff in the Premier League, but sadly it was not to be. In August 2007, he received an injury to his knee cartilage and it was expected that he would be unavailable for up to four weeks, but he contracted an infection during an operation on the injured knee that delayed his return for a much longer period. He made his return to first team football in October, and went on to score a headed goal in the 2–1 League Cup defeat by Liverpool at Anfield on 31 October. The 2007–08 season turned into a disappointment for Purse as he was forced out of the side by Roger Johnson. Purse did not feature in City's FA Cup run to the final at Wembley, and was an unused substitute in our 1–0 to Portsmouth. At the end of the 2008–09 season, and with the Bluebirds missing out on the play-offs on goal difference, Purse was not offered an extension to his contract and left the club. So, will we get some joy against Wednesday on Saturday? Can the Bluebirds avoid a barny with the Owls and ruffle their feathers by collecting all 3 points?? Can we sate our appetite and suck seed with our quest (for points)??? All I know is I'm backing Bulut and his boys from a bar in Malaga somewhere come 3pm!!! Bloooooooooooobirds.
Brill Brizz as always Let's get in their faces from the kick off. Time to make a statement with a convincing win. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
Excellent research on the Sharing the Love section A rare absence tomorrow for me as on hols up north - will try to watch but fingers crossed we’ll at last start our season with all 3 points to kick start the season.
Possibly Xmas 2025 perhaps... and only then if I've been allowed to take on an apprentice to do the match day threads to allow me to concentrate on a book - I'll have to check with the gaffer though.... Sparkey - Please may I have some time off in the next 2 years to write a book sir?????
Wendies fan - Tango, big fat guy who loves showing off his physique by removing his shirt. Is he still around? Or just round. Last time I saw him he was doing selfies and signing autographs for young Cardiff fans. Bit worrying that......
OK guys here we go............ It's the Silver Bulut gunning for the Xisco Kid........................ please log in to view this image
It's clear from Brizzo's epic matchday thread OP that you're lucky to get better than even odds for a city win today, but............ City to win with a 1 goal handicap (ie by at least a 2 goal margin) is on offer at 10/3 - and for you real optimists, a 2 goal handicap gets you 17/2. I'm not that brave - 30 quid gone on @10/3 for the 1 goal handicap win.
Still not convinced by Ugbo, despite his goals. The attacking 3 look as if they could do some damage. Looking forward to seeing how Siopis goes.
Agreed. Ugbo would have had to actively get out of the way to have missed his goals. He's not done so well with slightly more difficult attempts. Glad to see O'Dowda where he should be. Makes my 5-0 prediction a possibility?
Good spot Sparkey. Given how many you can have on the bench, you'd have thought you'd have 1 back 4 player in there, even if you had cover else where. I suppose O'Dowda could drop back, but why would you with 9 on the bench.
