Saturday 30th July – Cardiff City Stadium - Kick off 15:00 This Saturday sees the “early start” to the new season to allow for the World Cup (aka the FIFA kickback cup) to take place from mid-November to avoid the searing heat in that hotbed of football activity Qatar….. here’s to hoping that us early “birds” can benefit from the re-arranged start date to the season. After a massive overhaul in the Bluebirds squad during the summer, no-one knows quite what to expect from our new band of merry men, but one thing that has been promised by the manager is a change in style to a more progressive way of playing that can be adapted, added to and improved upon as time goes by. One can only hope that it also leads to progressively better results along the way when compared to last season! Norwich will be one of the early season favourites for an immediate return to the top flight, retaining a strong looking squad and with a seasoned, successful manager at the helm in the shape of Dean Smith, few would bet against them continuing their recent trend of being too good for the Championship but not quite cutting it at the top level. One wonders if Jordan Hugill may come back to show us what we are missing. Joe Ralls is likely a nailed on starter after being named Captain, and Ryan Allsop has been appointed first choice keeper to start the season, but outside of that all shirts could be up for grabs. One area of concern for Bluebirds fans is where the goals will come from. Max Watters appears to be the one to lead the line at present but Steve Morison may yet have a surprise or two in store for the starting line up. The Bluebirds have a few injuries with Ebou Adams somehow managing to tear his pec off the bone (must have been one hell of a challenge he put in!) and both Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies only just resuming training and so are not fit for consideration yet, otherwise it seems Morison’s army are “on their way” with a clean bill of health. Only time will tell if they are also “here to stay” or heading upwards by the end of season but I for one don’t want to be anywhere else but at the CCS on Saturday! Factoid: Former Bluebird favourite Peter Thorne was once voted Norwich’s worst ever signing after experiencing a torrid spell at Carrow Road. For me personally, I’ve never forgiven Norwich for clearly switching the Murphy twins after we thought we were signing Josh… we were definitely overcharged by about £10.9 million for the one we got, so this is payback time!! A decent crowd is expected… as per the gaffers wishes, let’s get on the edge of our seat for our very own version of sexy rock and roll football!!! Bloooooooobiiiiirrrrrrrrddddddddsssssss (Copyright Clingo 2022).
At my age it'd be a very short career! I need to learn how to add pics/make it prettier for any future ones... If there are any missing elements you chaps would like to see included I'm open to suggestions and guidance.
Great job Brizzle. Clearly the right person for the job. I was going to say a tough start for our new and relatively untested Bluebirds and no doubt it will be a tough test. On the other hand, our new approach may just upset the applecart. Not sure of the Canaries dealings, but if anything, they've strengthened from the side that relegated. However, they have a different man at the helm but he has some game at this level. Let's play our new football, take it to the opposition and see what happens. An excellent fillip if we get anything but not season defining if we don't. Hope all you lucky people that are going, have an outstanding afternoon.
Brilliant post Brizzle. I’m still in two minds on what to expect. Will our new eager, playing football in the ground team prove to be a revelation and play Norwich off the park or will the combination of inexperience and youth surrounded by a few mature heads prove to be insufficient against a team tipped to go back up the the Premier league. I’m going for the latter and have predicted a Canaries win but so will be delighted to be proven wrong. Haven’t been this exited since my team won the Cardiff Sunday League cup against all the odds. Can’t wait till tomorrow.
As tough a start as one could get. I’d take a point NQAT. Really looking forward to seeing the new look team and their different style at hopefully a decently attended CCS tomorrow
One more sleep (ok, maybe a sleep and a nap or two) and we'll get a first glimpse of the brave new world.
I am really looking forward to it. It'll definitely be a very tough opener but also a good gauge of what we can expect over the next few weeks as the team continues to knit together. Exciting times with no big names and hopefully no big egos (apart from the gaffer maybe ).
To get your new journalistic career underway BB pal, Masky popped along to take this video, hope it helps....break a leg eh? MASKY OF LLANDAFF
City are the longest odds of any of the 12 home sides to win their opening Championship game - even Rotherham are on shorter odds to beat the jacks up there. What does this tell us? Well it tells us I'm a mug and just put £50 on City @ 21/10 any scoreline. My prediction league forecast is a 3-1 result and could have got 12/1 on that - would that have been pushing it?
I don't share the confidence that we are going straight back up. I have hope of course but little confidence. Dean Smith, so far, has not really shown enough to suggest that it will be as easy a ride as it has been in the past two promotions. It barely seems worthwhile chasing the PL dream for the likes of us - we just know it will end in tears
I've used this before TC, but here goes again. In the words of Peter Frampton - "you can't erase my dreams, you can only wake me up".
But TC, you soon wipe away the tears and take the Championship by storm again. Surely it's good to have something to play for towards the end of each season. And from what I can see, yours is a club that does everything honestly.
Sure, it's brilliant to win more often than not and see the team's name at the top of the league but being the realist that I am, the moment promotion is certain, a wave of fear and dread overcomes me as I know what's on the horizon It was more fun prior to the creation of the PL, heck Norwich could even compete pretty well in those days. The gulf now is getting wider and wider each season, and going up is less fun each time It's almost like the novelty of being a yo-yo club is beginning to wear off in me
