Cardiff City: A Change In Balance
Despite Cardiff City's many failures in recent years, there have also been a fair few highs.
Getting to an FA Cup final in 2008, playing at Wembley 3 times in as many years, these are things that even big clubs like Liverpool haven't managed to achieve in recent times. Despite these things, it's easy for the Cardiff faithful to concentrate on the negatives.
Since Cardiff have moved from the terraces to a new, more modern stadium, the growing feeling that we're ready for Premiership football in the Welsh capital has only increased. However watching your bitter rivals achieve what you couldn't is hard to take, and the man in charge of restoring pride is doing exceptionally well. Malky Mackay has seen a whole host of big names leave the club before he became manager, and has created almost a whole new team, with just a shoe string budget.
Regardless of this, there's a growing belief about this team that has seen them rise to third in the table. Many people will argue that the Bluebirds are punching above their own weight so far this season, but it's no coincidence that the squad's determination to keep fighting has resulted in success. The first match of the season saw Cardiff take all 3 points at promotion favourites West Ham, and since then they haven't looked back. Their drive and motivation was personified in the Carling Cup, where in 3 successive rounds they won the game after extra time or penalties. Even the dreaded November, the month where everything has fallen apart so many times, was no obstacle for Mackay's men. They picked up 13 points from a possible 15, leaving themselves in a flattering position in the league table.
Tuesday night saw them dump Premiership side Blackburn out of the Carling Cup, after a comfortable 2-0 win, resulting in Cardiff reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 1966. With giants Man City and Liverpool left in the competition, the draw has been kind to Cardiff who will now face fellow Championship team Crystal Palace over two legs, for a place at Wembley, and in the form Cardiff are currently showing, nobody would put it past them to prevail to the new Wembley for a fourth time.
Confidence is flying high around the club, and despite not having the host of names at the club that we're used to seeing, there's something there that gives belief. There's a drive, a sense of purpose, and it's given the fans a sense of excitement. With Swansea holding their own in the Premier League at the moment, is there a chance that maybe next season, we could see the South Wales derby played at a higher level than ever before?
1 Comment – Post a comment
Tom_Bevan
Commented 53 months ago - 13th December 2011 - 23:38pm
I would like to think that we'll go up this year.. but then again I've thought this for the past 4 years. Hopefully the new manager will sort out the farce that has been our previous post March performance