There could final be some movement on the players front with the very reliable South Wales Echo is forecasting for today. First, it looks like Cardiff City boss Dave Jones has found a replacement for Roger Johnson in the shape of Mark Hudson.

It will cost the Bluebirds around £1m to sign Hudson from Charlton has the club put a priority on a new centre-half and he will be in talks with Chairman Peter Ridsdale and boss Dave Jones sometime today. His club Charlton have expected the offer for their skipper who they would have preferred him to stay but relegation to Division 1 last season has left them in a need to raise cash.

He began his career with Fulham, but failed to make a breakthrough and was limited to just three appearances and was loaned out to Oldham twice and once to Crystal Palace until the end of 2003/04 and in the summer transferred to Palace. He spent four seasons at Palace four seasons playing 120+ games scoring seven times.

He join Charlton last season he was out of contract at Palace and move to Charlton on a free transfer where he was installed as skipper but he could not stop the slide to relegation.

Cardiff are also giving a trial to Slovakian international Maros Klimpl who spent last season on loan to Motherwell from Danish club FC Midtjylland joining the SPL team in November playing 24 game in total scoring just 1 goal.

Klimpl has 19 caps for Slovakia and one international goal, he is very popular at the moment because Plymouth and Aberdeen are both interested in him he is likely to be a free agent, although he has yet to negotiate his release from Danish club FC Midtjylland. He will now have a chance to impress the Cardiff boss and the coaching staff and he will be hoping he will be handed a contract offer at the end of the trail.

Warren Feeney

Cardiff City striker who has never really been a Cardiff City strike could be on the move without even reporting for pre-season training with the City.

Warren Feeney could be on the move to Leeds United after Sky Sports News reported he is to undergo a medical at Leeds tomorrow. I never knew why the hell City boss Dave Jones brought him to Ninian Park, he came has a loan signing for just up two months at the end of 2006/07 season and played a few games, nothing spectacular someone must have saw something because he was soon back at the club.

Dave Jones sign him up that summer on a three year contract and played him for five minutes and he failed to find the net but then he only started one league game before hit the bench and no sooner he was here he was gone. He was loaned out to rivals Swansea City that was going to endear him to the Cardiff City fans. to top it off he hit a vain of form and was soon in the press talking of a move to Swansea

He played twelve games in all competitions and scored six goals and there was talk of a permanent move but he pick up a injury and he was sent back to Cardiff.In the summer with two years left on his contract he was off again, has he looked to be out of Dave Jones plans for the upcoming 2008/09 season? This time he was loaned out to Dundee United for the whole season and played in a total 25 goals with six goals he also played for Northern Ireland but Dundee United could not offer him a contract at the end of the season. I like he would be back for pre-season until this news broke about Leeds but there are a number of teams that have shown an interest in him, Huddersfield, Norwich and Charlton have all been linked to him,

New Signing????

There is nothing official, but the Wales on Sunday are reporting that Cardiff City have had a £300.000 bid for Motherwell defender Paul Quinn accepted, could he be Cardiff’s second signing. SPL club Hearts are also interested in Quinn but have only bid £100.000 leaving Cardiff way ahead in the race to sign him.

Motherwell are manager less now but expect to have former Stockport County boss Jim Gannon in post before facing Llanelli FC on Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League first qualifying round and not affect the Quinn’s move if the paper is right about a deal being done.

He won’t be short on company at the new Cardiff City Stadium is former team-mate Ross McCormack is on the books but for how long he will be a Bluebirds is up in the air as he has been a subject of transfer rumours. But he will have a number of countrymen in the squad, new summer signing David Marshall and Chris Burke, Kevin McNaughton, Gavin Rea all hail from ‘North of the Border’ has boss Dave Jones possible adds to his Tartan Army.

Quinn – who hit the headlines 12 months ago when he was the victim of an armed robbery whilst on holiday with his girlfriend in Florida, he was attacked at just before the end of last season in a nightclub suffered a broken jaw during an incident in his hometown.

Madeira tour off

Madeira Festival of Football tournament as been called off and some Cardiff fans could find themselves high and dry with holidays while Cardiff could be playing elsewhere. Cardiff was to play the island of Madeira two clubs Nacional and Maritimo in the four-team event along with Premiership club Blackburn. Cardiff tried to save the tournament and had talks with Blackburn about covering costs for the tournament but the Premier League club decided to extend their training camp in Austria.

There is no reason for why the organizers called off the tournament but it could be the credit crunch as something to do with it but it as mean the club as had to rush to arrange a new tour. Cardiff are to go to main land Portugal and play two pre-season matches against Vitoria Setubal and one of Benfica or Belenenses.
Cardiff Chairman Peter Ridsdale said: “The decision not to go ahead with the tournament was out of the blue for both Blackburn Rovers and ourselves. We have talked through a number of options and the decision is that the team will be going to Portugal.”

The Cardiff manager Dave Jones believes a tour is very important for building his team and players’ bonding the club has played games in Canada/USA and last season the Algarve Cup where they beat Celtic in the final in recent season.

Rumours circulate

They are a shed load of names linked or rumoured to be in the eye of Cardiff City boss Dave Jones, some old some new, Damien Delaney I wrote about below the rest are
Motherwell defender Paul Quinn has been linked for a few days now, Cardiff has made an offer according to reports for Scotland along with SPL Hearts. Motherwell are holding out for their valuation of the player.

Manchester United 20 year-old centre-back Craig Cathcart who spent last season on loan with Championship rivals Plymouth the his boss Alex Ferguson could be will to loan is young player loan is young player out for the season again.
With Johnson at Birmingham along with another new signing Scott Dann, it could mean Liam Ridgwell might be surplus to requirements and available to Jones if he was interested in him.

In the South Wales Echo, they are saying Jones is interested in QPR’s Latvian international Kaspars Gorkss but he would not come cheap.
When it looked like Darren Purse was going to sign for Norwich the Cardiff boss was keen to move in for Charlton’s Mark Hudson but is club were unwilling to let him out because they were in a relegation battle.

MK Don’s out-of-contract defender Miguel Angel is a potential target.

Matt Mills could be way out of Cardiff reach with Nottingham Forest having tabled a £2m bid with was turned down.

New target???

Ipswich boss Roy Keane must of went to bed thing he had the transfer of QPR defender Damien Delaney (PLAYER’S STATS) in the bag after terms were agreed between the two clubs, but up steps Cardiff City to throw a spanner into the deal it’s being reported. A QPR insider said, “Delaney was on his way to Ipswich Town, it looked certain the deal would go ahead without a hitch.
“That’s on hold while talks progress with Cardiff City.”

Dave Jones the Cardiff City boss who now has some money after the sale of Roger Johnson has moved quickly if reports are true. If he were interested, he would have to pay a million+ to match Ipswich’s offer who are willing to pay £750,000 plus another £250,000 if Ipswich qualify for the Championship play-offs and another £100,000 would be paid after Delaney’s 50th appearance.

So what now

NOW a top class replacement is need and the kind of money we have it will not be easy and Chairman Peter Ridsdale knows the pressure is on him and manager Dave Jones. There will not be many £275.000 bargains out there and if there is, there will be lots of competition to sign him.

With some money, finally in the transfer kitty Dave Jones needs to get out there looking for new players to add to is only signing so far new goalkeeper David Marshall from Norwich. With the sale of Roger Johnson and having let Darren Purse go David Jones will have to hunt out two new centre-halves with only having Gabor Gyepes in the squad. The midfield also needs some work and new faces with Jones reported to be in the market for eight new out outfielders so it could mean another player could have to go out of Ledley and McCormack. It is urgent sometime is done about Joe Ledley, he only has one season left on his contract and could walk free next summer. Ledley has offered to re-open talks with the club about a new contract he had a £6m bid last summer from Stoke, now clubs will be trying to pick-up a summer bargain.

Pre-season is only a week or so way and it would be best if some of the new blood was training with their new team mates, also it would mean some of the players who are not wanted to find a new team.
Ridsdale said, “I don’t think it puts pressure on Dave. He will identify players and as a team, we will try to get the right players in.
“And if you were with me when Dave was in my office after the fee was agreed, you would see the pressure is firmly on my shoulders not his because he’s made it clear the sort of players he’d like to bring in. Now it is my job to do that.
“I wouldn’t even say that starts straight away because it started before this was agreed with Birmingham.
“And it is my job to find the players we want at the right price. We’ve done that successfully in the past and I’ve no reason to doubt we’ll do it again in the future.”

Chairman Peter Ridsdale has also reacted to rumours at West Brom could be interest in is manager with a hands-off warning over City manager Dave Jones. Ridsdale said that is boss is happy at Cardiff and anyway West Brom have not contact him for permission to talk to Jones and he did admit Jones nearly joined West Brom back in 2007.

Allow Jones is receiving strong backing from the chairman it is not so from some sections of the Cardiff City fan who have been calling for him to go with most believing a bad start or a low table position come the Christmas period will see a change in manager, but that’s for the future. The City boss said today, “I'm manager here at this moment in time and trying to do my best at Cardiff.
"You never say never because you don't know want is right the corner.
"Not that I might not go to another club, the club might get rid of me because they think I've taken this club as far as I can.
"While I'm here the club get everything that I've got I try my best.
"I'm not going to speak about anything because I'm employed by Cardiff City and I'm fully concentrated on this position."

Johnson gone OFFICIAL

4th July 2006 - 25th June 2009

"I am really pleased to be here, Birmingham are a massive club and I am looking forward to putting the shirt on to be honest," said Johnson.
"Premier League football is the dream at the start of any footballer's career so I am pleased I have been given that chance with Birmingham and I can't wait to get started.

"The aim is to stay in the Premier League with Birmingham and hopefully I will have a big part to play in that.
"I want to do well for the club. At both clubs I have been at I have got on well with the fans and hopefully that will continue here."

Roger Johnson

There could be official sometime today the transfer of Roger Johnson but some news has linked out and according to the reports, the payments are in three stages. The fee of £5m will not be all going in Cardiff City bank account because of a sell on fee with his old club Wycombe Wanderers for close to £750,000, meaning Cardiff with receive £4.250m for him if they do receive the full amount.

Down payment of £2m
With another £2m in a year
And finally £1m of extras dependent on appearances and Premiership survival

So only £4m is guaranteed because Birmingham are predicted to be fighting it out at the bottom of the Premier League and could drop back into the Championship with City losing most of the other million. Cardiff Chaitman Ridsdale told the South Wales Echo, “We have a substantial part of the fee paid up front and now we need to work smartly to get players in as we did when we first signed Roger.
“Roger made it clear to us that he wanted to move to the Premiership and we said as long as we had the right valuation then that would be possible.
“Every player has a price. You only have to look at Ronaldo.
“Dave Jones has a hit list of players that he would like to come to the club and now we will be making our way through that list and see what can be done.”
Johnson who is discussing personal terms with Birmingham could be earn £20.000 a week which would see him join the million pounds a season football highs but still a long way from the Ronaldo and Beckman kind of money.

Good like to Roger at Birmingham it is really a pity he will not be a Bluebird next season.

Another Mortherwell player linked

It was Motherwell striker Dave Clarkson being linked with Cardiff last week and today it their right-back Paul Quinn who is on the transfer rumour treadmill today. He has impressed the City scouts according to the South Wales Echo and I am starting to get the feeling that the City scout only scouts Motherwell games.
Quinn is a product of Motherwell’s youth system, is captain, and has made more than 160 league appearances for Motherwell. In that time, he has only scored four goals, three of them in the league.

Johnson ... going, going ......gone

Roger Johnson is all but gone as a deal as been struck between Cardiff City and Birmingham City and it has been officially confirmed on the clubs website. Johnson can now talk to the Midlands club regarding personnel terms and have a medical.
The final fee has yet to be disclosed but Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale put a £5m valuation on the player and it is expected to be around the figure. Birmingham have been playing a bit of brinkmanship over the deal in the early days of their interest, as they wanted to pay any fee over four years. Cardiff have turned down two offer from the Midlands club one for being too low and the last one because of the payment plan before agree the new offer.
Johnson will be a big loss for the Bluebirds next season and it will be hard for manager Dave Jones to carry out the clubs policy of only sell if you have someone better line-up. Every fan knows the reason for the sale, it is the only Dave Jones can have any kind of a transfer budget and there is still Joe Ledley and Ross McCormack who subject to transfer rumours. Out of the three I would have preferred to have kept Johnson
Johnson have been at Ninian Park for three years since joining from Wycombe Wanderers for £275.000 (they get 15% of any fee) and has steady built a reputation has a solid defender which last summer lead to West Brom putting in a later bid of £4m for him. He as made136 appearances during his three seasons at Ninian Park, scoring 14 goals along the way, which has, make him fans favourite.

Liam Miller linked today

Another day and another target revealed because the South Wales Echo is linking Sunderland midfield player Liam Miller with the Bluebirds. It could be all paper talk again but Miller is out of contract and a free agent.
Cardiff City boss Dave Jones is looking for a midfield general to strength his midfield has he thought it was lacking last season. The Republic of Ireland international Miller kick off his career at Celtic and had a loan spell with Aarhus but in 2004 he joined Manchester United has Alex Ferguson was looking for someone who that possible take over from the aging Roy Keane. Is time at Old Trafford is not a happy one he played next to no games in the year and a half he was there and was loaned out to Leeds for most of his second season.
Manchester United let him sign for Sunderland on a free and he looked to have settle in and was playing regular football until he fell out with manager Roy Keane known to be a disciplining, but Millers report bad time-keeping saw him slap on the transfer-listed. Keane said at the time, “It has nothing to do with talent.
“It’s about time-keeping. If a player can’t be on time, then they don’t have a future at the club.”
He was then loaned out to QPR last season and was hope to join them but he was not offered terms. He is move than capable of playing at Championship level has he proved while at QPR and he would be a free signing and with money short at the moment I would be surprised if Dave Jones didn’t have a look. He did play against Cardiff last season but was taken off after 58 minutes, could have Jones seen something in him to warrant an offer to the player.

Roger talk again

We sold Roger Johnson to Birmingham last week according to some press sources but it would seem that story was dead in the water. This week the Midlands club are about to make an improved offer this week, so the press are saying again, but they made an improved offer the other week, all this is doing my head in big-time.
They wanted to pay £5m for Johnson if the report are right, fair enough the club might snap their hands off if it was all up front money. Everyone knows including Birmingham at Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale and manager Dave Jones need to sell to bring new blood for next season, no sales could mean a tough time at the Cardiff City Stadium this upcoming season. I personal would prefer Johnson to stay out of the three players who are subject to transfer rumours he has been a tower of strength in the heart of the defence. Johnson would like to make the jump to the Premier League and he received a later bid last summer, but was told my Dave Jones he was staying.
While Peter Ridsdale has set his stall out on full cash payment if a deal was to be done, back in Birmingham chief executive Karren Brady, thinks she is catalogue shopping and wanted to pay that over four years and much of it was dependent on the Midlands club retaining Premier League status. Ridsdale confirmed a few days ago that Birmingham has enquired about Johnson, but said: “Nothing has been agreed. We said no to their offer and Roger Johnson remains a Cardiff City player.”
The whole situation wrong in my book and it’s time the governing bodies in change of the game stop all these paying on the drip transfer deals, it should be cash up front for all transfer.

Whats going to happen to Feeney

The forgotten one will back at the Vale for Pre-season training and will be looking to his future which could be anywhere but Cardiff City for striker Warren Feeney.
He joined Cardiff back in June 07 after a short loan spell at the club from Luton but after signing he was never seemed to be in manager Dave Jones thoughts for a first team spot so much so he only made two starts, one in the League the other in the Cup, and came off the a few times. By the end of august he was loaned to Swansea who he was a hit for scoring five goals only for him to become injured just has Swansea were about to make on offer for him. Once fit he was farmed off again this time north of the border Scottish Premier League team Dundee United where he had a good loan period and was in the Northern Ireland international squad.
He has a year left on his contract with the Bluebirds, and will have to see were his future lies with Cardiff or another team. He has a number of options open to him and if Dave Jones was to let him go, he could quickly find himself back in employment. Cardiff he will make up his mind over the next few weeks and told skysports.com: "I'm at my peak now and the next move for me will be my last big move.
"The deal won't be about the money it will be about the security.
"We are due back next week for pre-season, at the moment I'm not sure of the gaffer's plans for me but my agent tells me of interest in Scotland and England.
"If a deal is offered from Cardiff or elsewhere and gives me the kind of security I'm looking for then that will do me.
"I can then concentrate on doing my utmost for whichever club it is and also try to get Northern Ireland to next year's World Cup"

Ched Evans a Bluebird ..... We will have to wait and see

Another day and another player being linked to the mighty Bluebirds and it is an old target to boot, Welsh international striker Ched Evans is today’s rumour in the local paper.
It’s not the first time Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale and manager Dave Jones have been linked to the player, they tried to bring him in last season has a season long loan but Manchester City boss Mark Hughes would not let him go. That the time Peter Ridsdale said about a possible deal, “Evans is a player we’re keen on. We’ve offered Manchester City two options – a loan and a permanent deal.
“He’s a Welsh lad as well and we feel he could be an asset to us.”
With his club, Manchester City back in the hunt for new signings Evans is dropping further and further down the list so Hughes will listen to offers to make room in his squad for the summer signings. Championship rivals Sheffield United have put a £1.5m on the table but it will need to be double that according to press reports.
Cardiff with need to set a new club transfer record to land him but we are told we need to sell to buy and there is the payment for Michael Chropa who was loan to the City with a deal to buy him in July. His club Sunderland are reported to want close to the £5m fee they paid for him when we sold him two seasons ago. Jones is looking for one more striker has technically he only has Ross McCormack and Jay Bothroyd on his books at Cardiff City Stadium until Chropa signs, and McCormack as been linked with a move out has a number of clubs in the Premiership have shown an interest signing him.

No offer for Roger Johnson

With Cardiff City Chairman Peter Ridsdale and manager Dave Jones back from their holidays and with pre-season weeks away, the phones between the club and transfer targets should be red hot. Dave Jones has said he will be looking of eight new faces at least but could need to sell one of Roger Johnson, Joe Ledley and Ross McCormack to help fund new blood.
Johnson has been the only one of the three at has had any kind of an offer, if no transfer money is forthcoming Jones could well be forced into the free transfer market, not the best of way to mount an attack on promotion to the Premier League next season. If you look in the sports pages, there is a lot of transfer activity but most of it involves foreign players while loaning out young player for a season loan. That is not going to help Cardiff need to sell it could mean Ridsdale and Jones taking a punt on sell before, risky but last season the bid the bids for Johnson and Ledley came in on the last day few days of the transfer window.
Cardiff are looking for upfront payment and would have problem sold Johnson to Birmingham for the reported £5m if the payment was not spread over four season but when Aaron Ramsey joined Arsenal, Cardiff took a small cut in the transfer deal to get a upfront payment.
Allow the papers have been report a deal has been stuck with Birmingham, Cardiff are saying they have heard nothing from Birmingham for a week or so. Birmingham is still in the market for one or two centre-back and Birmingham’s manager McLeish is a keen fan.

ANOTHER player linked with City

Has Cardiff City boss got a fetish for all things Scottish, do he soon as he getting home don a kilt and Sporran and run around is house getting rather hot and bothered, or could his scouting system consisted of one coach in Scotland? Why, because the South Wales Echo is linking him with another Scottish player
First I can’t get use to reading the Echo before I have had my breakfast and turning to the back the headline was ‘Out of the Blues’, f**k that it should be black-out like the MP’s expensive but ‘Bluebirds interesting in Clarkson’ is better.
Ok it is a rumour but what else is there to write about I know this thing about letting your rivals see who you are chasing could backfire and you could all of a sudden lose your target to another team, but it is boring for a fan playing the waiting game. Back to the player, Cardiff City are monitoring Motherwell’s striker Dave Clarkson and have been keeping a close eye according to the Scottish club. That the start of last season Motherwell was again the target when Dave Jones brought Ross McCormack down to South Wales and he proceeded to become the clubs top scorer.
A source, it is nearly always a source told the Echo, “Cardiff representatives have been here several times last season and Clarkson is a very talented player, who, like McCormack, is a handful in the Scottish Premier League and could easily make the adjustment in the Championship.
“He scored on his international debut and he has kept his place in the squad, he certainly has an eye for goal and is very well respected in the SPL.”
Once again, we will have to wait and see if this player is part of Dave Jones plans. He is a Scottish International playing two games in 2008 with one goal at Motherwell where he has played regularly since 2002 he has played a total of 288 starts with 63 off the bench in all games and scored 63 times. Not the best of returns but the last two seasons is most prolific scoring 13 and 14 this season.

Johnson rumours

There are rumours doing the rounds that Birmingham are about are have signed Cardiff City centre-back Roger Johnson. There is nothing official from the clubs, and there is unlikely to be either until the deal in the bank and the player has completed his personal terms and had a medical.
According to press and Chairman Peter Ridsdale Johnson is the only player who has had a firm offer on the table with the two previous offers kicking to touch by the club. The first offer was said to be for only £3.5m and was rejected straight away and a later offer was knocked back because the £5m for did not enough up-front cash and was spread over a number of season.
Birmingham have signed Scott Dann from Coventry City and it looked like interest in the Cardiff defender was dropping away but reports today in some newspaper are bringing the whole issue back to the forefront.
One of Birmingham owners David Sullivan said at they were still taking to Cardiff and on transfer, in general “During the last four weeks or so, I’ve never worked as hard as I have done since I’ve been in football.
“Negotiations have been incredibly stressful. Just when you think you’ve got someone, it changes. Another club might come in and hijack it, like Wolves did with the Coventry City player (Scott Dann) – and we then had to hijack it back.
“The demands of clubs, and players and agents – especially those out of contract or free – are ridiculous.
“But if you keep saying ‘no’, then you don’t have a team. So what do you do?”
If true, the loss of Johnson will be a massive blow to Cardiff City he has been tower of strength in defence after signing from Wycombe Wanderers in July 2006 for £275.000. Allow at the time Darren Purse and Glenn Loovens were the preferred central defence partnership bit both received red cards within a few weeks giving Johnson a chance to break into the first team. Over the years, he has forged strong partnerships firstly with Purse and later with Netherlands born Loovens and when Loovens left for Celtic Purse was back in the picture but it was short lived as manager Dave Jones turned to new signing Gabor Gyepes for most of last season. We will have to wait and see for something official.

Fixtures out .......... Yes

It is my favourite day of the summer ... the fixtures for next season are out today. Back in my younger days, I would pouring over the South Wales Echo has soon as it could get my hands on it to plan my season, mainly for the away trips, which was necessary and ones I could miss if my funds were short.
My favourite fixture day has always been Boxing Day home, normal the biggest crowd of the season because of the tradition to go to a sports fixture of a Boxing Day, football being the biggest event. I have always be surprise who you would see at that fixture normally football haters for the rest of the season expect for the big Cup game when they have been a fan for life.
Cardiff City will kick-off the new season in their new stadium with a home game against newly promoted Scunthorpe, not a high profile start to the new season but a good starting point with the first away game being a trip to the seaside and Blackpool.
Other games (Home) that catch the eye, end of August the first derby game with Bristol City crossing the bridge, City are home to Newcastle 12th September the away end should be full for that game. Cardiff are home on Boxing Day, YES.... but it is Plymouth again, it seems we always play them at this time of the year home or away. In February West Brom visit the Cardiff City stadium, March Middlesbrough and Sheffield United visit South Wales and hopefully we will be fighting it out at the top of the table. April the big one in some fans eyes, on the 2nd Swansea home along with Reading a week later. It is hard to see what the police can do with the Swansea game has City play away at Nottingham Forest on the Monday. They normal move the game to breakfast time kick-off on a Sunday.
Away game the first real big on is Reading mid September in October there is a trip to Sheffield United and a trip west to Jackland at the beginning of Nov, this fixture is subject to police messing around with the fixture like always. Some of the rest are 8th December a Tuesday night game a West Brom, Middlesbrough the following Saturday those two games will be no pushover. Bristol City is another Tuesday night game in January and the longest trip of the season to Newcastle is February 6th on a Saturday, a lot of fans reckoned the game would be a night kick-off be just to make sure Cardiff fans know how to trip it is Ipswich away the following Saturday, joke or what.
The last game of the season is away to Derby let’s hope our promotion is all sorted by then, and the last home game of the season could hail the return of the Purse, Darren Purse.

FULL LIST

Jones a target?????

Once again, there is very little news involving Cardiff City its times like this you wish for some crazies rumour just to spark up the day. There is only one story today involving manager Dave Jones could he be on the move?
The local press and some national paper are linking him with West Brom, it is not really breaking news there has been chat on the message boards for over a week on this subject with some Bluebirds fans wishing it would happen. West Brom are losing their boss to Celtic and are in search for a new on and Jones is on the list according to reports.
It not the first time West Brom have the linked with Jones he was supposed to be in the running for the job along with Celtic bound Tony Mowbray back in 2006. The Baggies are favourites for promotion next season in one of the two automatic spots and have the parachute money from the Premier League to help them along.
West Brom must be the ultimate yo-yo team flipping between the Championship and Premier League and since winning promotion 2001/02, they were relegated the every next season. In 2003/04 season back to the Premier League and the fans were beside themselves the following season when they finished 17th and stayed up, but it was followed up with them crashing out of the Premiership in 2005/06. It was then two seasons in the Championship before winning promotion again 2007/08 and they are now back in Championship.
Jones could be reluctant to move because he believes he still has a job to do he has had major input to the new training ground at the Vale and he is looking forward to playing at the new stadium. Jones will be under major pressure next season to take Cardiff all the way to the Premiership after the end of the season capitulation at saw the club drop form the possible automatic spot to missing out on a play-off spot on the last game of the season by one goal. There have been calls from some section of the Cardiff fan-base to sack Jones and bring in someone new for the new season and before Jones spends the little funds at are available for transfers.
I would be surprised if Jones would jump ship to another Championship club but he knows he must hit the road running at the start of the new season or he find it tough going with the fans. Chairman Peter Ridsdale has told fans here would not be afraid to sack Jones if it was not going right with a rumour Christmas the all important time.

Full Carling City fixtures 1st Round

Accrington Stanley v Walsall
Huddersfield Town v Stockport County
Rotherham United v Derby County
Tranmere Rovers v Grimsby Town
Sheffield Wednesday v Rochdale
Bury v West Bromwich Albion
Notts County v Doncaster Rovers
Lincoln City v Barnsley
Scunthorpe United v Chesterfield
Coventry City v Hartlepool United
Darlington v Leeds United
Preston North End v Morecambe
Crewe Alexandra v Blackpool
Carlisle United v Oldham Athletic
Nottingham Forest v Bradford City
Macclesfield Town v Leicester City
Sheffield United v Port Vale
Cardiff City v Dagenham & Redbridge
Wycombe Wanderers v Peterborough United
Southampton v Northampton Town
Barnet v Watford
Hereford United v Charlton Athletic
Bristol Rovers v Aldershot Town
Millwall v AFC Bournemouth
Gillingham v Plymouth Argyle
Colchester United v Leyton Orient
Reading v Burton Albion
Exeter City v Queens Park Rangers
Cheltenham Town v Southend United
Brentford v Bristol City
Yeovil Town v Norwich City
Crystal Palace v Torquay United
Milton Keynes Dons v Swindon Town
Swansea City v Brighton & Hove Albion
Shrewsbury Town v Ipswich Town

Carling Cup

The Carling Cup or the poor man’s cup was drawn this morning and who have the mighty Cardiff City got, Dagenham and Redbridge at home. I would call it the Reserves Cup because few club above halfway the top ten of the Championship and the Premiership put the League before the cup and it depend on the competition.

A home draw is always better in the cup especially, when it is in the early rounds, but no one would turn down Manchester United away in later rounds but the big four join in the third round.

It will be the first time City and Dagenham and Redbridge have played each other the game should be a 7:45pm kick-off on Tuesday August 11th, the normal evening for a Cup game. However, there is an obstacle to the fixture Wales have an under-21s game on Wednesday according to the FAW website and a full international with Hungary and a full international friendly away to Montenegro. The game will be called off more than likely, if the game did go ahead, it could be the first competitive game depending on the league fixtures.

The Dagenham and Redbridge manager, John Still, Dagenham said before the draw, "I want the best draw for the club. Ideally we would like a top side but I am sure whoever we get will it will be a great game."

The Football League | News | Carling Cup News | Carling Cup News | [VIDEO] CARLING CUP ROUND 1 DRAW

The Football League | News | Carling Cup News | Carling Cup News | [VIDEO] CARLING CUP ROUND 1 DRAW

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What's happening with Chopra

It has gone very quiet on the Michael Chopra front since the end of the season, is he signing or not. Loan to the City twice last season, the second time was with an option to buy him at the end of the season an option the board were more than happy to take up.

Cardiff City sold him to Sunderland in July 07 for £5m, he was never a hit and soon found himself on the bench or in the stands. He was back on loan at Ninian Park for two months in Nov 08 and was back in Jan 09 for the rest of the season. Since then Sunderland have a new manager who is looking to off load player so he can bring in his own players. According to the press, first out will be Chopra for slightly less than the £5m they paid for him back in 07, but this there money for such a big transfer fee.

Chairman Peter Ridsdale said at the end of last season that any money raised in the transfer market would be handed to manager Dave Jones to strengthen the squad. All players have a price but the only offer has been on Roger Johnson one to low and the other for £5m with payments spread out, the club wants a straight up payment.

New season starts next week, only joking

The fixtures are out on Wednesday and the day before we will find out whom we will be playing in the first round of the Carling Cup. It will be announced at 9:30am Tuesday with Cardiff being one of the seeded teams they will play one of the un-seeded teams in the Southern section (see pic - click to inlarge).

Other teams will join in the second round, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and thirteen Premiership who are not in Europe with the final seven Premier League teams enter in the third round. The first round games will be played week commencing August 10th and matches are one leg and will be completed on the night.

Wednesday is the big one the League fixtures are out for the 2009 / 2010 season at 10am the internet with be going to be busy and a number of sites could crash. There are going to be some juicy ones to look forward to with the biggest being Newcastle United relegated last season, up for sale and no manager for next season and players out of contract not knowing what was going on, yes they are still be biggest. Others Middlesbrough, Queens Park Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Reading will be teams to beat next season. Can we forget our friends from the west, Swansea it is all square after two-league game last season both games were a draw, but they did have the Carling Cup game.

Sunday boring bloody Sunday

I truly hate the football summer break especially club football, in other words, my team Cardiff City. This summer is especially quiet on the transfer talk anyway I know most of the rumours that do the rounds lead know where be its fun for a fan if the club bosses do not like it.

Our rivals seem to be doing a lot of buying, selling and tying up players while at the Cardiff City Stadium it’s all silent, the for the keeper who sign for the club weeks ago.

In today’s papers it looks like a tumbleweed rolling through a ghost town looking for stories on the City. Darren Purse is harping on about wanting to stay with the City but he was told he was not part of managers Dave Jones’ plans. I went on to say he has no hard feelings over his transfer out to Sheffield Wednesday and looking forward to facing the Bluebirds next season. It is nice to have a player so passion to want to stay.

None of our big three money makers Ledley, McCormack and Johnson make the papers this Sunday must be a bit worry for the Cardiff City banker manager who probably wants’ a nice fat sale .

On the rumours of players linked with the Bluebirds, Nigel Quashie who is set to quit West Ham is summer was mentioned in the Sunday People. The 30 year-old midfielder can leave cheaply according to the report after spent last season on loan at Birmingham and Wolves, Sheffield Utd are also interested.

I had a bit of a shock

Went out shopping in Canton this morning and as I was wandering around I noted that the 1927 cafe was selling the new Annis Abraham book and Gwyn’s The rise and fall of the Valley Rams so I decided to nip in and buy them.

Finish off the shopping getting the morning papers and headed for home where I would normally start of by having a read of the Echo to see if there was any news or stories about the City. However, today I thought I would kick off with a bit of a read of Gwyn’s book and see how it goes. Being so close to Sam Hammam could clouded my enjoyment of the book.

I must be one of the few Cardiff City fans who hated Sam Hammam from day one, has far as I was concerned he was a club killer and I knew that one day he would lead us to the edge of the abyss. I could never forgive the suggestion he made about bringing his then club Wimbledon to Dublin has he shopped for a new home and Cardiff got a mentioned. When I looked at the acknowledgments in the book and saw ‘Sam Hammam, he made us believe, and a friend forever’, the book started to look like it could be more of a love-in to him. Nevertheless, it was a great read ‘Fan-Dabi-Dozi’ and I would recommend it to anyone.

I put the book down for awhile and decided to have a read of the Echo it was fold in half but my eye was caught be a headline ‘Sam’s back’ my mouth just dropped has I unfolded the paper to be greeted by the smiling face of Sam Hammam waving at me. He can’t be back at Cardiff City was running through my head in the split seconds it took to turn to the back page, those seconds were like a life time. The main headline on the Sports page was not helpfully ‘PLAY IN AGAIN?’ was he back, it can’t be, the secondary headline soothed my heart, ‘Sam Hammam offering advice to potential Merthyr FC buyers’.

It was a story to do with his friend and former confidant Annis Abraham attmets to take over at Merthyr Tydfil with the help of Steve Day, thank god. The take over as hit a stumbling block at the moment with a disagreement between Abraham’s consortium and Merthyr fans. Merthyr are in court tomorrow.

Hammam is 2000 miles away in Lebanon, to close for my liking and giving advice to the Cardiff City fan Abraham are is advice
Give it your full attention
look at the finances
cherished the club
He told the Echo, “If he meets those three criteria, then yes, he can do it.
“We spoke about it 10 days ago. Annis wanted to get my advice because I have been doing what he wants to do for the last 35 years.
“I told him what was needed. If more advice is needed in the future, I would help out.
“Even though I’m a Bluebird through and through, I would still help him.”

Ex-player Gunter up for grabs

Ex-Cardiff City player Chris Gunter is in the press today with talk of a move. Newcastle boss Alan Shearer is interested in the young player the Bluebirds sold the Tottenham back in Jan 08 for fee of £2m or £3M. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp can go for the right price of around £3m and other clubs are watching from the side, Middlesbrough and West Brom.

At Tottenham, he has not set the fans alight and has mainly player in games that the manager is resting his first team players, meaning he played many Cup and European games. Gunter was loan out to Nottingham Forest towards the end of last season and was happy to get some first team football and he wanted to join them full time but there is no way they could afford him.

Not sure if there was a sell-on clause in the Cardiff/Spurs deal

Birmingham in with a new offer

Birmingham who made a £3.5m offer for Cardiff City’s star defender Roger Johnson a few weeks ago, have come back with a ‘take it or leave it’ offer for the player. The new offer if reported correctly is for £5m but the full amount is only payable depending on games played and staying in the Premiership. If Cardiff were interested in, a deal they prefer straight up payments. Chairman Peter Ridsdale could a small cut in the Ramsay Arsenal deal to be paid up front.

Chairman Peter Ridsdale confirmed that Birmingham has been in touch but with the offer falling below Cardiff’s valuation there were told no deal. So far since the end of the last game of the season the only firm offer for a City player has been for Johnson, not Joe Ledley who fans thought it would be.

Cardiff has needed to sell a player in the summer in the past to help fund the new season. but Ridsdale stated that was not the case now with the new stadium coming into play and he also said any funds from the sale of players has been promise to manager Dave Jones to strength his squad.

Wake uo BBC Wales

I have a message to BBC Wales it would be nice and they should look into the possibility of showing the Celtic and Valencia friendlies live on TV. They spend lots of our license fee on Rugby each year, it’s about time they cover some football other a Wales games. They could also show other game involving other Welsh clubs at home if the fixture is interesting. Football is poorly cover on Welsh (English) TV and there seems to be better coverage on S4C (Welsh) can it be that hard for someone at the BBC pick up the phone and have a chat with someone at Cardiff City.

They is a chance the Celtic game could be show on Setanta Sports they showed the Algarve Challenge Cup game last summer, but it a subscription channel and it would be cheaper to go to the game than take out a Subscription with them and anyway it’s a bitch to unsubscribe. On Terrestrial TV Fiver are fond of showing pre-season games we will have to wait and see it any of the games are picked-up.

Another Rumour

Another day and another player rumoured to be linked with the Bluebirds he is midfielder Andrew Surman from Southampton.

The papers claim that a fee of £1m would be needed to secure the player, but there are bargains to be had at Southampton as they could not pay the players wages last month. In the end, they sold Nathan Dyer to our rivals from the west, Swansea who got the player at a knock down price.

They will be hard pushed to demand a £1m fee with all their troubles, they are in administration, dropped into Division 1 and having to start the new season on -10 points, and have to sell to pay the wages, they need a group/consortium to buy the club soon.

More rumours

In a few of today’s newspapers Cardiff City have been licked with Norwich City midfielder Sammy Clingan and Coventry City are also interested according to the reports. The Northern Ireland international is on the market for £1m Belfast born Clingan has made 30 (+7 sub) appearances for Chesterfield and 89 (+7 sub) for Nottingham Forest before he moved to Carrow Road. He has played 43 times for Norwich and scored six goals.

The Bluebirds are also linked with Millwall winger David Martin for about the same fee, but the South Wales Echo yesterday were running a story that they could not afforded him. He joined Crystal Palace for non-league Dartford and playing 3 (+12 sub) for Palace after a season plagued with injury. He moved on to Millwall for £50,000 but place add a hefty 50% sell-on clause, he has made 52 (+12 sub) appearances and scoring six times.

Bid in for Johnson

The local newspaper the South Wales Echo is reporting an ‘Exclusive’ that Cardiff City have had a bid in for defender Roger Johnson of £3.5m, from newly promoted Birmingham City.

The bid has been rejected according to the paper and a source at Birmingham as reportedly told the Echo, “We put in a bid for £3.5m two weeks ago for Johnson who we rate highly.
“But we were told he is not for sale at any price. It’s a starting bid but we have had little encouragement coming back from Cardiff.
“We were told that the price was well below what they rated the player.
“The danger is that we have other players to check out at other clubs in the coming days.
“They might be more positive in their feedback in giving someone the chance to play Premier League football.”

It has been well documented the Midlands club has been interested in the City defender and there was talk of a double bid for him and Ross McCormack of £10m. Recently the rumours in the press have been linking them with the City striker who has been talking about playing higher levels of football.

Johnson joined the City three years ago for a fee of £275.000 for Wycombe Wanderers and Cardiff turned down offer last summer for him. He is a firm favourite with the fans and the club and out of the three main assets at the club, McCormack and Ledley being the other two; I would be the most missed next season in the eyes of most fans.

Cardiff City and Joe Ledley

After the story that Joe Ledley had not received an offer of a new contract was splashed over a number of Sunday newspaper, Chairman Peter Ridsdale responded today by saying, “Myself and Dave Jones sat down with Joe Ledley three days after our final game at Sheffield Wednesday and said that we wanted to discuss a contract with him,” added Ridsdale.
“Joe said then he did not want to enter into discussions and see what offers were there for him.
“So has he seen a contract? No. Has he been offered a contract? No. But he knows there is a contract for him to look at.
“If there is no interest in Joe from other clubs we will come back and have a look at it. There is a contract there to be discussed.
“I am in discussion with Joe’s agent once a week to see where we are.
“It’s not as it if dialogue has ceased. But, as I’ve said in the past, we will not let a prime asset go into the last year of his contract.”

Ledley has a busy time this summer the possibitly of a transfer or contract talks with only a season left on his contract the club a deal needs ro be sorted, and a important Wales games all on the cards. He captained Wales against Estonia in last Friday’s 1-0 friendly win and he could do again. It was the first time he had captained Wales and this Saturday Wales travel to Azerbaijan to play a World Cup 2010, Group 4 Qualifying Round.

Cardiff City chairman responds to News of the World story

He rejected the claims in the paper saying his consultancy firm has gone bust and told the Westren Mail, “WH Sports Group limited was a vehicle for consultancy fees from Cardiff City Football Club prior to me going on the club’s payroll in October 2007.
“The only reason that the company existed is that I would not work for Sam Hammam when he was at the club and I was paid consultation fees.
“But when Sam left Ninian Park I said I would prefer to be on the payroll and the fees stopped.
“This was a way to ensure total transparency at the football club.
“As a consequence all fee income ceased and therefore WH Sports Group had no other income and no reason or means to continue to trade.
“The only material creditor was HMRC (Inland Revenue).
“The company was closed down and all creditors will be paid.
“Through my professional advisers the amount liable to HMRC is being discussed and agreed and will be discharged by me personally.
“The innuendo of a failed business is not only misleading but bears no relation to the circumstances surrounding either the company’s original reason for existing or its reasons for being liquidated.
“It is not a failed consultancy, it was closed because Sam had left Cardiff City.
“They have given me 100 per cent support in this matter because they feel it is a non-story,” he added.
“It’s frustrating that nobody gave the courtesy of a reply to this story before it was printed.
“The fact that nobody asked me any questions suggests that they thought my answers would have got in the way of a good story.”

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