Hello guys Despite the title this is not a corporate bollocks style post I have been reading a few posts on here and thought I would say & ask the following......... It is good to see some suggesting mid table or slightly above, or even just staying up and being a good season. Personally I am thinking perhaps 9th or 10th now you have a decent manager in place. It appears that Bluebirds fans have lowered the expectations on their beloved team for the coming season, and a good thing too. Last season I think there was far too much pressure placed on the team. So what can happen is....less pressure from the stands & the players can hopefully play their 'natural' football and feel comfortable with what they are doing. Which of course is a great thing. But what is going to happen if you are in the top 6 after 2 months? Exactly where you have been for a few seasons and the expectation has increased each season. Is the expectancy level going to rise again? are you likely to heap pressure on the team again? How as fans can you manage your own & other fans expectations? Is it even remotely possible to do so?
I don't think after 2 months expectations would change. I think most of us would love to be around the playoff spots at the end of the season, but accept that top half is good enough this season. If at Christmas we were top 6 than I am sure the expectations would rise a little. It would be only natural. I disagree that there was too much pressure on the team last year. It was a top 2 team they could not deal with pressure. Newcastle didn't let the pressure off being favourites to win the league stop them winning. So it was not that the pressure was too much, but that too many players could not cope. Most have them have left.
Judging from the interview and what we are hearing from the club, we will be going for a top 6 finish. At the moment it's difficult to decide whether the team we will have looks like it can achieve this, due to the fact half our players from last season have left. Most important to fans, i would think, would be to see a team that are working together and giving 100%. The main moans about last season was the lack of effort at crucial games. If we are in the top 6 after 2 months then it will depend how we achieved that as to whether our expectations go up. We won't have the team we had last season, a team that on paper really should have been top 2. We have seen the error of players not working together as a team, coupled with loan players who really didn't care if we won or not. It will be a case of having more hope if we are in the top 6 come 2 months after the start. And its not as if we haven't been there and failed enough times now to know nothing is a given.
Some very good points by SBFF. I'd like to think we're aiming for a top-6 finish. We've managed that for the last 2 years under DJ. Do I think DJ would have delivered top-6 this year - Yes. Hence we've made a change at the top, ideally for the better, so onwards and upwards!
I think given what happened to us over the past 5 years and more specifically last season our high expectations have been replaced with cautious optimism and hope.
mid table mediocrity would be a bad season IMO. top 10 would be ok, but just that. i understand its almost a complete rebuilding job for MM, so it may be a tall order to expect him to hit the ground running, but swansea have managed comparatively excellent finishes under pablo sousa and rodgers in consecutive seasons, and they were both new managers to the club, so it can be done. heck, norwich got back to back promotions so its not unrealistic to have a fair degree of expectation of promotion. funds will be made available, so he cant use the completely exhausted DJ excuse of having no money to spend, it would be great to have bellamy back but i wouldnt put money on it.
Malky has a 3 year contract, the first year we can't expect too much. He is starting from scratch and it will take time to find his best team. We could end the season anywhere between 6th and 16th. I think that the expectations are that by the end of his contract we will be in the Prem. but again nothing is a given.
The more success we get, the more we want, its human nature, if we are batlling away at the top of the table, we might kid ourselves that we are overperforming and that we should be "realistic" but deep down inside a little voice will be saying "what if", we dare to dream, in spite of trying to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground, it's called being a fan. If people didn't hope against hope, 90% of the grounds in the country would be empty, and no one would buy a lottery ticket. I'd like to think I'll be sensible, but if we are in the top 8 at Christmas...........I bet I'll be thinking (along with everyone else )......"now if MM can only get in a MF a CB a LB or a striker or a whatever in the January window, we can make the playoffs at least" It's the nature of the beast
Baesed on the team line up today I'd be happy with survival in the league. I'd love to say promotion but that is possibly too much to ask as of today. My expectations will change after I know the full team nearer to the big kick off. 10 games in I will revise my expectations based on the performances up to that time. I hate the close season
Hits the nail on the head - the nature of the beast (us as football fans) and that is where the problem lays. Expectations will be raised if results are consistently good. How do you then go to a game and hold that expectation in and not let the frustrations on a poor performance out?
We will be promoted this year - FACT! No, this isn't the Tree's board, it's just my honest opinion and I've got hard cash on it. Don't know why, and have got no insider knowledge at all, but I reckon VT, TG and the Malky Man are going to go for it. Come Christmas, I expect us to well into the top 6 and will either stay there and go up through the playoffs, or push on with some additional cash from the money men to secure auto. OK, I might be out on my own here, but that's it for me.
ok, going back to the 2nd point in my opening remarks - how are you going to manage these expectations? I hope you are right, I really do. I would love to see Cardiff in the PL. A first for all of us.
Thai - I don't have to manage them mate, I'm used to having them dashed........ Let's just say that in my opinion, the only way is up! (unless you stay where you are or go down of course )
That's the spirit Sparky, but you might be the only person left in the ground at 4.30 on 21st April 2012 when you play Leeds Utd (runs and takes cover)
Thai....I think perhaps you are asking if Cardiff fans will demand the sacking of Malky if we do not get promoted. You may suggest that we turned on DJ. In reality, DJ had 6 years and was supported well by the fans. It has only been the last season that we started to really question him because it became apparent he was looking tired, stale, and frankly old-fashioned. Will we turn on Malky quickly? I really doubt it. If Malky has us in the top half I think it will be accepted this season. People may not be that happy about it, but he will definitely be given a couple of seasons before we would jump on him if we were not getting decent results. I am with Oldsparkey to some extent...I actually think we may end up as a better TEAM this season and be right in the playoff place race after a slow start. What would I consider a totally unworthy effort? Worse then 14th would be a pretty dismal in my eyes. How will I handle my personal expectation? The same as always...week by week...we learn to expect disappointment and we get on with it pretty quickly. What would force us to sack Malky? Relegation or the prospect thereof. Most clubs would be the same.
Not at all Siam but I am curious about how, after the last few seasons, Bluebirds are going to react if this season is not as good as it has been recently. This is what I am driving at - you have had 'relative' success but that success may come to end (for now) - are you ready for a mediocre season or possibly worse? To my mind, based on the guys I chat to on here, you seem to be fairly level headed about most aspects of your club & team and it's refreshing to see (is why I am happy to join in on here ) and I do not think anyone will be calling for his head at any stage of this coming season. It was right that DJ went. I do not think he could get you promoted, more is the pity.
at the moment its a tall order to get promoted, but as jenkins said, money will be invested, and after coming so close to promotion in the past 2 seasons, i find it highly unlikely that in the job interview they would have been impressed with the idea that they will invest heavily this summer to only get back top 8 or top 6 in return for that. we will see how much is invested this summer, but if the board spend big, then they will expect promotion i would have thought, or top 6 minimum. this managerial appointment shows they are in it for the long haul but still, i would be surprised if the malaysians would be happy with even a top 6 finish, given that for example, norwich, burnley and blackpool have all been promoted in recent seasons on far lower budgets than ours.
All my thoughts (expectations?) are based upon the fact that I DO NOT believe that Vincent Tan is in this to own a Championship club. Whereas maybe TG is a football enthusiast and wants to be involved in the English (sic) football scene, he also aware of the rewards and prestige associated with the Premier league. Vincent Tan certainly is, and will exploit it in his country accordingly. There is no time like the present. If Norwich can come through like that with an excellent manager like Lambert, then so can we.
I think its a valid point, and perhaps one that is missed by other fans, that the malaysian connection is mostly what this is about. A team in the premier, run by malaysians, will have a massive turnover in Malay and they will be in the driving seat for that and a bit more of Asia i would think. It is worth more to them than the reputed 90million, so it is something they would desire greatly from a business point of view. What they are finding out is that getting in the types we did last year and on loans, is not the way. It is unthinkable to me that they will not push again this year, but with a different approach. Money will be readily available if we are in the hunt, the prize in revenue to them is going to be a lot if they can get a premier side.
