STRUGGLES IN VAIN

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED, but in the end.......

We just weren't good enough. 

I suppose we always knew that it was going to be a struggle to maintain Premier League status, and so 2014 proved that to be very true. I really thought that the win against Norwich would give us the impetus to pick up a few more points, but this proved not to be the case. However, a number of other teams around us also continued to struggle, and with 3 games remaining in the Premier League season our fate was “still in our own hands”. Alas, it was not to be and so we return to the Championship for another crack at getting back to the big time of the Premier League.

RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:-

Swansea 3 Cardiff 0

Cardiff 0 Aston Villa 0

Cardiff 1 Wigan 2 (FA Cup)

Cardiff 0 Hull 4

Tottenham 1 Cardiff 0

Cardiff 3 Fulham 1

Everton 2 Cardiff 1

Cardiff 3 Liverpool 6

West Brom 3 Cardiff 3

Cardiff 0 Crystal Palace 3

Southampton 0 Cardiff 1

Cardiff 1 Stoke 1

Sunderland 4 Cardiff 0

Newcastle 3 Cardiff 0

Cardiff 1 Chelsea 2

The fixture list at the start of the season always looked as though we were going to have to depend on results in games after Christmas. It was always going to be a struggle to pick up points against the big money top 7 clubs, but we hoped that we may put up good performances against the rest of the division.

The key results proved to be the disastrous home defeats to Hull and Crystal Palace, the teams promoted with us last year and teams we hoped to beat. But we never came close. Even when we went to Sunderland it looked as though we might still have a chance, but we capitulated badly against a resurgent Sunderland side and at that point the fat lady started to warm up. She burst into song a week later following a defeat to a badly out of form Newcastle United.

Mats Daehli celebrates the unlikely equaliser at West Brom - one of the few bright moments at the end of the season.

SO - HOW WAS IT FOR ME?

Well, disappointing in the end. As my regular readers know, I do my best to stay out of the politics of the club, and I try not to play the "blame game". Therefore, I'll sum up my feelings by saying that simply "We weren't good enough".

There were only 7 wins all season, and 3 of those wins came against 2 of the teams who were relegated with us. This succinctly sums up what happened.

Mind you, there will always be that fantastic win against the eventual Champions Manchester City in our first home game! I'm definitely glad to say that "I was there" for that one.

AND NEXT SEASON?

Rather bizarrely, we are favourites to return to the Premier League at our first attempt. As the Championship is a notoriously difficult league to get out of, I think I'd rather not be favourites at this stage, before even the World Cup has taken place!

However, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was clearly more prepared than he would admit. 4 new signings before most players have gone on their summer holiday shows his positive intentions. Especially as 3 of those players are strikers. The signing of Javi Guerra from Valladolid was essentially sorted in January and so was not a real surprise. Guido Bergstaller, an Austrian attacking midfielder from Rapid Vienna had us all Googling frantically though! He looks good on Youtube!

The signing on a free transfer of Federico Macheda is also a typical Ole signing, as he is another of the promising young players he coached when with the youth team at Manchester United. Macheda seems to have been around a long time but is till only 22, and to score 10 goals in 18 games on loan at a struggling Birmingham last season is pretty impressive.

Perhaps the most important and surprising signing was Adam Le Fondre from Reading. ALF has been a proven goalscorer at all levels of football, including the Premier League, and picking up for less than a million pounds looks like good business.

Adam Le Fondre in scoring mood for Reading.

Undoubtedly we will lose a few players this closed season. Steve Caulker and Gary Medel are clearly suited to a much higher level of football and have release clauses in their contracts. It looks likely that Fraizer Campbell will also return to the Premier League, if only for one of the lower teams. Rumours start to fly around about David Marshall going after an excellent season in goal. However, with the World Cup about to start in 10 days time, I suspect that the transfer dealings at the Cardiff City Stadium will die down for a while.

SIGNING OFF.

Well, as we are no longer Premier League, there will be no more posts on this blog for now. However, normal service will now resume on my "Life of a Bluebird" blog. You can catch it on:-

lifeofabluebird.blogspot.com