Its nigh on impossible to predict the Championship ahead of a new season. You can expect the recently relegated Premier League teams to be there or there abouts, but there are no guarantees. The three coming up are likely to struggle, but you never know. The previous season can act as a guide, but as Huddersfield proved last year, a relegation battle can still follow a play-off challenge.
As for Cardiff, we’ve all learned to expect gradual decline. Despite your best (or worst) efforts, year on year cost cutting ensures that every passing season will be that bit more difficult than the last. Obviously, a complete implosion, featuring four different managers does not help, but Cardiff survived it, by the skin of their teeth. It did not bode well for this year and expectations were grave, but then something unexpected happened. Cardiff changed their spots.
Another new manager was a surprise, but very on brand. What no one expected was the club regaining their appetite and sharpening their focus. Maybe sailing so close to the wind rocked the board. Such a shambolic campaign may have embarrassed them, or maybe it was simply the culmination of a variety of factors.
Cardiff veered off in a completely different direction to acquire Erol Bulut, a relative unknown on these shores, but landing a manager of his calibre was evidently regarded as a badge of honour. The club have since set about assembling a squad of a requisite standard and, despite remaining under an embargo, have shown as much ambition as their restrictions will allow.
The return of Aaron Ramsey is lovely that it has given everyone a lift and that will be reflected in ticket sales, merchandise and attention. Cardiff have always been partial to this sort of attention-grabbing transfer and nearly landed Gareth Bale this time last year, but Ramsey has bonds with the club and a desire to return to the area that Bale evidently didn’t.
Plenty have questioned the sort of impact Ramsey will have and I share some of those views, but without being patronising, I’m just happy that he’s here. To see him in the Cardiff shirt again will be a beautiful moment and I’m sure there will plenty of others. Moments is probably what he’s here for in truth because sustained greatness, at his age, with his injury issues, in this division is a huge ask. His contribution will likely mirror that of Joe Allen at Swansea last season; not always available, but a class apart when he does feature. The touch of class that Cardiff have lacked for so long.
Karlan Grant is another big capture and a throwback to a different kind of Cardiff target from the past; the restoration project. Grant is a player that West Brom signed at his market peak and paid over the odds as a result, but the talent that warranted that £15m move remains. He may have lost his way recently, but he’s still only 25 and claims to be in great shape, so there is very little downside to the deal. He already has a bond with Callum Robinson and is the sort of big, rampaging striker that always fares well at Cardiff.
Bulut has indicated that he wants three more transfers in and that pace is a priority. He’ll get no arguments from me in that regard and I still hope that a deal can be made for Chidera Ejuke, who has been linked and is a very exciting talent. Looking at the squad objectively, they also still look a little light in central defence, but Dimitrios Goutas is a strong addition.
I’m looking forward to seeing the new recruits in action, but also some of the partnerships that are sure to develop. Jamilu Collins and Callum O’Dowda was presumably the intended combination on the left and we’ve had to wait 12 months to see it. With Grant likely ahead of them, that flank could become particularly productive. Robinson will surely benefit from Ramsey’s genius and the fitness, or not, of both will likely define Cardiff’s season.
It’s a new start, but Cardiff have had more of those than most in recent years. This one may yet prove a little different though. It’s built on stronger foundations, using better materials, with something resembling a shared vision. We’ve become accustomed to expecting the worst, but maybe this year, we can instead expect the unexpected.