Town v cardiff match thread - Printable Version +- Sports Babble - sports forum (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk) +-- Forum: Blogsport (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=280) +--- Forum: Pre-Match Reviews (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=281) +--- Thread: Town v cardiff match thread (/showthread.php?tid=5325)

Town v cardiff match thread - jjamez - 05-05-2017 Well the end is neigh my friends and what a season it has been. Last summer not many town fans, well sane ones, would have predicted this sort of season, the aim was to break into the top half, maybe even the top 10, well for me it was, but Wagner had a few different ideas, I must say I prefer his ideas to my own in this regard. The 46 game season concludes on Sunday as Huddersfield play host to the former premier league and league cup finalists Cardiff City. The Red dragons or Bluebirds, whichever their idiotic owner is having them go by now have been a bit indifferent this season, having started off poorly, but have consolidated and will be finishing midtable. The Bluebirds got off to a poor start, winning only 2 games up to the end of September. With some of the standout results being a 1-0 loss to Bristol Rovers in the league cup, a 3-0 defeat to Preston, whilst October didnt start much better with a 2-0 defeat to newly promoted Burton Albion.This start saw them dispose of Paul Trollope as manager, he was replaced by journeyman dinosaur manager Neil Warnock. Trollope has since found himself another job and has seen his new club reach the promised land, replacing Collin Calderwood as Chris Hughton's assistant manager. The results slowly but surely picked up, albeit inconsistantly, but by February the side was churning out better performances, beating Rotherham 5-0, whilst turning over the likes of Derby, Leeds and holding Fulham. April has largely summed their inconsistant season up, winning 2, losing 3 and drawing 2. Warnock wielded his transfer wand in the winter window, bringing in over the hill premier league players, looking mainly for their experience to help the side out. In some ways it worked as they have been safe for a fair while, but it could be claimed that some of the signings were pointless as they left not long after being signed. Amongst those that arrived at the cardiff city stadium include; Former Manchester United and England winger come full back Kieran Richardson. He joined on a short term contract before leaving at the end of his contract in december. He made only 6 appearances for the side. Also joining the club was Marouane Chamakh. The former Arsenal striker joined at the same time as Richardson and likewise left in december, having made only 2 sub appearances for the side. One of the more infamous signings was that of former Leeds United defender Sol Bamba. The two knew each other from their time at the Champions of Europe, but their was no love lost when the collided after Bamba had seen red (literally) during a game against Ipswich. The last time the two sides met was back in November when Warnocks side came out 3-2 victors. This came amidst the downturn of form Town suffered before Christmas, with the back four being chopped and changed more than Corbyns labour shadow cabinet. Junior Hoillet and Sean Morrison gave Cardiff a two goal lead, before Tommy Smith pulled one back. Rickie Lambert restored the two goal cushion before a Phil Billing goal gave Cardiff 20 minutes to hold on, which they did. Obviously. Now to say there are some that have played for both would be somewhat of an understatement. Not only is Neil Warnock manager (I dont really have to delve into his time at town do I?) but he his helped out by Kevin Blackwell, who was goalkeeper at Town under Neil, but also helped out with the other squads. Also helping Colin out is former Town striker and assistant manager Ronnie Jepson, he played over 100 games for town and was part of Stan Turnips backroom staff. He is first team coach at cardiff and seems to follow Warnock around like a bad smell. The three have worked together on numerous occasions, including the likes of Rotherham and Leeds. In the current squads alone there is are a lot of players that have represented both sides, starting with our official skipper. Hudson represented the Bluebirds during their time in the premier league and joined the terriers from cardiff two years ago. Hudson played 144 games for Cardiff, scoring 11 goals and became their captain from the off. He was replaced by Craig Bellamy, but regained captaincy later on. He scored the winning goal in the first game of the season when town returned to the championship. He joined town on a two year deal for an undisclosed fee and signed a new contract last year, with aim of moving into the coaching set up. Another player to have donned the captains armband at town was Lee Peltier in his second spell. He was one of Lee Clarks first (of very many) summer signings, he left for Sven Goran Ericksons Leicester city, before popping up at Nottingham Forest and Leeds, before rejoining Mark Robins Town on a free transfer. He was ironically replaced by Mark Hudson as captain before being sold on to Cardiff. It's not often that a club makes a profit on the same player twice! Another from the same era at town was Pilks, he joined town from Stockport on the same day that Lionel Ainsworth joined from Watford. The two had very different careers at town. One got moved on quickly, whilst the other scored a few, as Town came close to getting promoted through the play offs. Some would question whether the outcome of the game against Peterborough had Pilks not suffered that dreadful injury. He later moved on to Norwich, then in the premiership, where he scored a few high profile goals against the likes of former club Manchester United. He's made over 90 appearances for Cardiff, a feat he also achieved at Town. Current Cardiff full back Ashley 'Jazz' Richards also featured for Town. He joined on loan from Swansea under Mark Robins. He flattered to decieve at town and only made 9 appearances for the club. He also had a spell at Fulham before moving to Cardiff in 2016 where he has made 25 appearances for the club. Giant defender Sean Morrison came to town on loan from Reading twice. His first spell yielded no appearances, but his second spell saw him make 19 appearances for the club, which included the play off final in which he scored his penalty. There was rumoured interest in a permanant deal from both parties however a deal with Reading couldnt be reached. He joined Cardiff in 2014 and has had a topsy turvy time at the club. With one period seeing him have disagreements with the club over his conduct. He has since sorted that aspect out, and has since become the club captain, scoring the opening goal in the reverse fixture. Again another loanee (bit of a trend here) this time in the form of Emyr Huws. The midfielder joined town on loan from Wigan last season following their relegation. The former man city graduate featured over 30 times for Town last season, showing an eye for a speclutive goal. He moved on from Wigan after burning most of his bridges there. He joined Cardiff in the summer but made only 3 appearances before being loaned out to Ipswich for the season. Going back to the players of more permanent disposition. Permanent Gobsh8. See Anthony Gerrard. He made over 50 appearances for the Bluebirds, including the League Cup Final, where he came up against his cousin Steven. He consequently missed the deciding penalty. That was to be one of his last appearances for the club. He moved to Huddersfield for an undisclosed fee. He made 81 appearances for the club, as well as featuring as captaining in the absence of Peter Clarke. Despite the big I AM for a period of time, he was a brighter spark in the difficult times. However, it soon got out of hand and injuries and the attitude soon counted against him. He left town to join Shrewsbury, before moving onto Oldham. One final player from me. Lets finish on a high   We look towards a club 'legend' in the form of Alan Alan Lee. The irish 'Striker' was as prolific at Cardiff as he was at Town, scoring 10 goals in 86 for Cardiff and 9 in 80 for Town. Despite his on field ability, he seemed to be a decent guy off it, willing to do the community stuff ect. At one point Michael Hefele was compared to him, in the sense that they were both going to be comical legends of the club. Will Hef be that or will it be for other reasons, its yet to be confirmed, but so far so good. Lee rejoined Ipswich as an academy coach with his playing registration retained, however he has now officially retired into the coaching set up. Moving back to Sundays game. A lot has been made of towns team selection last week against Birmingham. It has come under scrutiny from various persons in football. Tony Mowbray, Mark Warburton, Nigel Clough and some of those on Talksport have said it was a bad move and lacked the 'integrity' that English football has. Although some have said they understand the reasons for Wagners move, only that it isnt the done thing in League football. On the other hand, Harry Redknapp, Matt Murray and some of the other Skysports pundits have said that Town had earned the right to do what they did as they have other things to look ahead to. As things stand, the EFL are looking into it, with the likelyhood being that town will be given a suspended fine and a slap on the wrist much like Mick McCarthy's Wolves when they fielded a weakened team against Man United. In regards to team news, Wagner has said in the prematch press conference that Phill Billing is out for 6-8 weeks and as such has seen his season end. He joins Palmer and Stankovic in that regard, whilst Kachunga has started training with the fitness coaches this week and should be back for the playoffs. Otherwise he has a full SQUAD to pick from. Expect at least 4 changes for the game, with Brown, Scannell and possibly Bunn all getting game time, whilst Mooy or Booty will come in for Billing. As for Cardiff, Warnock is expected to field some of the fringe players as most managers do when they have nothing to play for. I wonder if he will be told off by the EFL for doing so? Whilst Gunnarsson and Mangala are expected to be rested ahead of their international duty. As for players to look out for, other than the ones that have played for both clubs, this Cardiff side still has some very good players, despite them aging a little bit now in football terms. Rickie Lambert is a player that was once rumoured to have been of interest to town during his Bristol Rovers career. Dean Hoyle ruled out his signing due to his age, but Southampton took the risk on him. He scored 106 goals in 207 games for the Saints before moving on to Liverpool. He scored 2 in 25 for the Scousers before moving on to West Brom and then Cardiff. He has also made 11 appearances for England, scoring 3 goals. Another tormentor of Town in the past is Peter Whittingham. The attacking midfielder is perhaps set to make his last appearance for Cardiff this weekend with his contract due to expire this summer, with a new contract yet to be offered. He has made over 400 appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring over 80 goas for the side. He is known for his set pieces be it his delivery from corners or his free kicks. At 32 he could be a great signing for a club who may be looking for an attacking midfielder... Some thoughts. The Terriers have reached the second-tier play-offs for the first time, making them the eighth side to reach the play-offs in all three divisions (Blackpool, Bolton, Bradford, Burnley, Cardiff, Preston, Swansea). On the day of this game, Huddersfield will have spent 268 days of this Championship season occupying the top six, more than any other side - Cardiff, meanwhile, are one of four sides to have not spent a single day in the top six (along with Preston, Rotherham and Wigan) I was going to do a season review, but it isnt over yet! hopefully there is another 24 days left of this season!   So, the end?