Mackay chased the November blues away

Who said November was Cardiff’s Achilles' heel it may have been under former manager Dave Jones, but new boss Malky Mackay has well and truly kill that off the November blues.

Cardiff fans have looked on the arrivel of Novembers in the past with dread. This month can be soul destroying in the race for the end of season league position and the quest for automatic promotion. However, if it has to be the play-off I don't think you would find a Cardiff fan who would turn it down if that was all that was on offer. The belief in the Cardiff boss is so strong.

This November Cardiff have only dropped two measly points unlike the

• 2008/09 - Six games for only 5 points
• 2009/10 - Four games for only 1 point
• 2010/11 – Five games for only 4 points
• 2011/12 – Five games for 13 points plus on Cup victory

Lets hope November’s form carries on into December, January and so on until the end of the season.

Whom do you want in the Semi-Final?

Being disrespectful to Palace I expect Man Utd to join the other Manchester and Liverpool long with us in the draw tonight. I would like to overlook Liverpool and see one of the Manchester clubs, as our opponents in the semis of the Carling Cup my reason being both managers would probably play weaken teams.

The first leg is scheduled to be played the week commencing 9th Jan. The Saturday before (7th) is FA Cup time with the Third round kicking off so potluck who everyone will be playing. The following Saturday United are home to Bolton while City face a trip Wigan has for Cardiff they are away to Doncaster.

The league games before the second leg on the week commencing 23rd will see the both Manchester clubs have take tough games which will see United take on Arsenal away and City face Tottenham at home. They will be out in full strength for those games without a doubt Cardiff have a home game with Portsmouth that weekend. The following weekend its back to the Cup with the Fourth round of the FA Cup.

Ok it could be Liverpool in the draw and their two league games around the time of the semi-finals legs are Stoke and Bolton. Cardiff will face a possible eight games in January if they progress on to the fourth round of the FA Cup, plus four league games and of course the two semi-finals.

So onward to the Semi-Final

Oh yes Cardiff City going the pot for the semi- final draw which will take place tomorrow night after the Manchester United v Crystal Palace.  In with Cardiff goes Liverpool and Manchester City after tonight’s results. The semi-finals are played over two legs and the games will be televised, two will go to the BBC and the other two will be on Sky Sports.

Cardiff boss Malky Mackay made two changes to the squad from Saturday dropping keeper Marshall and McPhail to the bench in favour of Heaton and Kiss. Blackburn boss Steve Kean made numerous changes to the team that was battered on Saturday 3-1 to Stoke City.

Goals from Kenny Miller quite early into to the first half saw the home to go in at half time with a slender lead. A 1-0 lead is not good for the nerves so it was most welcome when not long into the second half when Antony Gerrard increased the lead calming the nerves of many a Cardiff fan.

The crowd was a disappointing 19,436, but now there will be a rush for tickets because whatever name comes out of the hat now the game will be a sell-out.

Could this game be the final nail in the coffin of Blackburn manager Steve Kean, fans will be shouting even louder for him to go with Cardiff fans chipping their five pence worth chanting ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’. Maybe the Indian Chicken millionaires who own Blackburn have another job in mind for Kean.

Lifted off the internet

Cardiff looking to go the next step

The last time a Cardiff City fan could say ‘Cardiff have a Carling (League) Cup game tonight’ was way back in November 1965 the last time the Bluebirds reach this kind of high in this competition. Fellow Division 2 club Ipswich Town the visitors then and game City won 2-1 a score line Cardiff fans would be happy to see repeated tonight against visiting Blackburn Rovers.

Mackay said, "I have looked at them three or four times and they have had some really poor decisions against them. 

"A few decisions the other way and they are out of that bottom three. 

"They play decent football and they have not been out of the Premier League for a number of years, they have a sizeable squad and have plenty of Premier League experience."

Blackburn may be bottom of the Premier League, but you can guarantee the Cardiff boss will not be underestimating tonight opposition. They have not won an away game this season in league or cup having played they previous Carling game at home also they have only won a single league game.

On the other hand, Cardiff are on an excellent unbeaten run of games leading to upbeat talk of progressing onward to the semi-finals. Cardiff manager Malky Mackay as stated he would play his best possible team out tonight so we are likely to be a different team on display. That will mean some of younger members of Mackay squad will have to take a back sit after serving the club well in previous rounds.

Mackay admitted, “When you reach the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup it’s not something you dismiss lightly. 

“It’s the first time we’ve been there in 46 years, so we will try to do everything we can to win that game. 

“We are playing against a team who have been in the Premier League for a long time. 

“We’re not talking about a yo-yo team here. They’ve been right up there and had massive investment in them. 

“The first couple of rounds is normally an area that because of the timing you play youngsters. 

“At Oxford, for example, we had a lot of youngsters involved, but the further you get in the competition then obviously it becomes more tasty. 

“There’s a lot more interest and it becomes one you really want to make sure you can go at as fast as you can. 

“We are confident, we have had a good run recently, and we have nothing to lose,” he said. 

“It will be a great occasion and I am sure the fans will turn out in numbers and get behind us.”

While Mackay is, ride the crust of the wave with the Bluebirds fans while his opposite number at Blackburn Steve Kean is under the cosh with the majority of their fan base. There has been protest outside Blackburn’s Ewood Park ground, inside the ground, in the skies and on phone-ins around the country and newsprint. However, the club owners Venky’s are backing their man and there has been talk of a new contract for Kean.

Fixtures

Carling Cup Quarter-Final Match Dates

Tuesday 29th November:

Arsenal v Manchester City - 8pm – Live on SKY.

Chelsea v Liverpool - 7.45pm.

Cardiff City v Blackburn Rovers - 7pm.

Wednesday 30th November:

Man Utd v Crystal Palace - 7.45pm – Live on SKY.

If Cardiff make it through to the Semi-Final the draw will take place at Old Trafford following the quarter-final tie between Manchester United and Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.

RIP Gary Speed

FAW statement said: "The Football Association of Wales are sad to announce the death of the national team manager Gary Speed. We extend our sympathies and condolences to the family. We ask that everyone respects the family's privacy at this very sad time."

Jarvis back with City

Cardiff City striker Nat Jarvis has returned to Cardiff after his loan to Newport County failed after they didn't submit the paper work on his extended deal in time. Cardiff were happy to see the young striker stay on loan with the Conference club but what County are calling a “communication breakdown” between them and the Conference League scuppered the deal.

Newport manager Justin Edinburgh told the local paper ‘The Argus’ on Thursday before the mix-up,

 “Nat is staying until January.

“He’s up there with the leading scorers for the club. He’s made a good impact and deserves his place in the starting line-up.”

The player was unhappy with the situation and used his Twitter account to vent his fury saying,

Newport County messed my loan up, it didn’t go through in time, really p****d off, was hitting form as well.”

He had previous twitted,

“Signed at #NewportCountyFC until the New Year!"

Jarvis who was enjoying playing regular with Newport will now find himself dropping down the pecking order at the Cardiff City Stadium with his chances for a start or even the bench unlikely. It is highly likely the County boss could try and resign him on loan in January has it would be beneficial to Cardiff to have the young striker playing regular football.

Another City tweets a possible loan deal

LOOKS like Northampton Town have missed taking Cardiff City youngest Ibrahim Farah on loan after he tweeted, ‘Looks like im going tamworth for a month!!’, but it was late removed so we will have to wait and see tomorrow

There is no official word from either club and it will be unlikely Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay will be happy with yet another one of his players using the social media to relay this kind of information.

He played a reserve game for the Division 2 club scoring two goals in a 2-2 draw against Tamworth and they play in Blue Square Premier league and are currently in a mid-table position.

Tenuous link to Blake

Ipswich manager Paul Jewell is looking to add to his squad before the loan window shuts and there is a tiny rumour on the internet that he would like to get his hand on Welsh international and Cardiff player Darcy Blake. Blake might be the chosen one when it comes to Gary Speed the Welsh manager, but under Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay, he is struggling to get a game.

There is a cats hell chance that Blake will be going out on loan he will just have to wait for his chance to get back in the starting line-up. 

He has not started for Cardiff since the defeat at Hull City (Oct 1st) and came off the bench last night at Coventry has a time wasting sub with three minutes of normal time. In between those to fixtures, he has start three games for Wales.

That the moment he is keeping Aston Villa’s James Collins, but He has been talk of Blake having to look to his future now he has broken into the Welsh squad which could mean leaving Cardiff. Former Wales striker Iwan Roberts said Blake should consider a Cardiff City exit, has he is failing to win a regular place for the Bluebirds.

"If Darcy isn't going to get his chance at Cardiff it might be time for him to move on," said Roberts.

The local press has Blake looking for showdown talks with Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay.

Wales World Cup fixtures out

WALES' 2014 WORLD CUP FIXTURES

• 2012 7 September: Belgium (h)
• 11 September: Serbia (a)
• 12 October: Scotland (h)
• 16 October: Croatia (a)
• 2013 22 March: Scotland (a)
• 26 March: Croatia (h)
• 6 September: Macedonia (a)
• 10 September: Serbia (h)
• 11 October: Macedonia (h)
• 15 October: Belgium (a)

The fixtures are out for Wales's next campagin and all I can see is international breaks. I see Wales play Scotland on my Wedding Annieversary and on my Birthday.

Hit the road Jon



A rare outing for Parkin in this
seasons kit 

CARDIFF City striker Jon Parkin has hit the road again in the search for first team football. This time his travels will take him Huddersfield Town on a short-term deal announced on the official Cardiff website up until January23rd.

It was always on the cards that Parkin would be loaned out again. His future is looking more and more likely to be away from Cardiff

Since his surprise signing in January he started a hand full of games last season most of his other appearances were from the bench. This season he has been limited to two Carling Cup game one of which was against Huddersfield a game he scored in and a loan spell with Doncaster.

Good luck to the 'Beast'

Former Cardiff defender on the move

CHAIRMAN of football operation at Plymouth Peter Ridsdale has used his old Cardiff City connections to sign former Cardiff and these days Millwall defender Darren Purse on an emergency loan until January.

He will join another former Cardiff City player Warren Feeney a bit part player during his long association with the Bluebirds. I missed the fact that Purse spent time out on loan already this season to Yeovil Town with opportunities at Millwall to play unlikely to materialize. In fact, he has only made one appearance for the London club that was against Plymouth in the Carling Cup earlier in the season.

Plymouth’s caretaker boss Carl Fletcher will throw Purse right into the deep end come Saturday against fellow League Two strugglers Northampton Town.

In Malky we Trust

BLUEBIRDS’ boss Malky Mackay has now three of his small squad out on loan with Nat Jarvis is currently playing for Newport County, while Aaron Wildig has joined Shrewsbury Town on loan. Now Dekel Keinan has join Palace and  there is no news on Ibrahim Farah heading to Northampton which would make it four. Is there room for any more to go out on loan before anyone comes in the other way.

In Malky we trust

There are reports in the press that Mackay was unhappy that Keinan announcing the pending deal with Palace via his Twitter account before any official announced. The Cardiff boss has also made in clear no big name arrivals will join in January transfer window so that ends the speculation of Carlos Tevez coming out of retirement and joining the Bluebirds.

Reading between the lines of his big interview with the South Wales Echo he would rather buy than loan, but the loan options will not be closed. Mackay said he expects to have money to spend, but that will depend on the club’s billionaire backer, Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan. I hope we do go along the line of buying it is the best way of building a squad than have a team of loan players, two or three is a good number. So far Mackay has brought in one season long loan signing Filip Kiss, but with an option to make it a permanent deal and he drafted in Aston Villa keeper Elliot Parish has an emergency deal to cover keepers David Marshall and Tom Heaton.

The squad is a still bit on the thin side and the emergency loan window closes on November 24 so he must be happy with what he has got until January at less.

Jon Parkin who has already enjoyed a spell at Doncaster and defender Gabor Gyepes will both have to settle for loan deals if they want a chance of first team football and most likely if they do go, it will be until the end of the season. The Keinan deal could well end up going that way if he is a hit at the London club.

Who will come in? Well to be honest it has been quiet on the transfer talk. There was a number of players rumour to be link to the club at the beginning of the emergency loan period. Will boss Mackay plum for another player he has connections to like a former Watford player or another Scot to add to the squad.

Looking for a three point outcome tonight

Cardiff City are back in action tonight a face a lowly Coventry City who are keep off the bottom of the pile only by goal difference. A win or a draw we see the Welshman move up a place to third, the win would leave them a single point behind second place West Ham.

The City have in the past come undone when facing lower opposition while riding high in the league so let’s hope that is behind us and three points are taken tonight. Only one player reported to be out of contention for tonight striker Rudy Gestede, but chances are the Cardiff boss Malky Mackay will stick with the same line up has Saturday.

Two Coventry old boys should be facing their old team mates with Aron Gunnarsson and Ben Turner.My prediction for the game 3-1 to the Bluebirds I am thinking of this game extremely positively.

Keinan off to Palace

CARDIFF City defender Dekel Keinan has twitted he is going out on loan to Championship Crystal Palace for six weeks. He tweeted,

‘Yeh! On loan to crystal palace for 6 weeks. Can't wait for the first game!!!’

Since the arrival of boss Malky Mackay, his position in the Cardiff squad has dwindled with Mackey pluming for Anthony Gerrard in the starting line up. He has only managed two starts this season both in the League Cup is only league action was a few minutes at the end of the Southampton game. His chances to sit on the bench have even been limited.

Former manager Dave Jones signed Keinan from Blackpool in January for an undisclosed fee. He carved out a spot in the heart of Jones defence playing most of the second half of the season and was a regular in the Israeli international squad.

Farah to Northampton

Looks like the Cardiff boss Malky Mackay policy of loan out young squad members for experience will continue with academy product Ibrahim Farah heading for Northampton Town on a loan spell.

Farah outed himself the possible deal on Twitter when he tweeted ‘On the way to Northampton, hope 2day goes well!’ He played in Northampton reserves against Tamworth this afternoon and help his chances of cementing a deal by scoring two goals in a 2-2 draw.

It would caretaker manager David Lee first signing if the deal was to go through after taking over from Gary Johnson, sacked at weekend, following a weekend defeat at Luton Town.

The 19-year-old Cardiff academy product is well thought of by the staff at Cardiff City and made his debut earlier in the season in the Carling Cup fixture against Oxford United.

A Tom Heaton linked in the Rumour Mill

The Daily Mirror are link Cardiff keeper Tom Heaton with interest from Ipswich Town. They are rumoured to be watching the keeper along with suggests Brighton are interested in the Cardiff keeper.

Heaton has been playing a secondary role to David Marshall at Cardiff City and still has around 18 months on his contract. Would be unlikely that Cardiff boss Malky Mackay would be interested seeing Heaton go with only untried youngest Jordan Santigo, plus Elliot Parish on loan from Aston Villa on the books.

It was rumoured at the time of all the loan signing talk at Mackay was possible in the market for a goalkeeper. Parish joined Cardiff as cover for Marshall and Heaton with his loan stay due to end on the 10 November it is clear if the deal as been extended.

The internationals come home

LOOKS like the Cardiff City players who were on international duty having come through without picking up injuries. Cardiff only has to wait on midfielder Filip Kiss who plays for Slovakia in a European Under-21 Championship qualifier against France tomorrow night.

The players in the Scotland squad all played some part in the game away to Cyprus. Kenny Miller scored the opening goal in the 2-1 win for Scotland, subbed 63 minutes into the game for technical reason. Don Cowie played the full game with Craig Conway coming off the bench for the last 10 minutes.

With the Welsh squad again looked to Darcy Blake in defence who can’t get a game at the moment, since he last played for his club Cardiff he has made three appearance for Wales The Welsh boss has hailed the Cardiff player has the most consistent player over the last five games. Has for Rob Earnshaw he sit out the game on the bench.

Now, back to league football and a trip along the M4 to Reading Saturday with tickets for the travelling Bluebirds selling out quick. It being reported nearly 3,500 tickets have been snaped up so far.

The Road to Wembley (First Round Proper)

Oxford City for the Evo-Stik League Southern - Premier Division still has a chance to progress in the FA Cup after securing a replay. Isthmian Division One North Redbridge will now have to travel to Oxford a week Tuesday for the pleasure of facing an away fixture Crawley Town in the Second Round.

There is a connection between Cardiff City and Oxford City with their manager Mike Ford being a former Bluebirds player, signed by to club on two separate occasions.

Cardiff City boss Jimmy Goodfellow signed him from non-league side Devizes Town in 1984, but a few days later, there was another someone else in change at Ninian Park, Alan Durban. In his first stint with the club, he played just under 300 times for Cardiff scoring 13 times. Sold to Oxford United for a £150.000 before the 1988/89 season by Frank Burrows where he stayed for the next 10 years.

He was resigned by Cardiff upon his release from Oxford when Burrows came back for his second stinted with the Bluebirds. Helped Cardiff to promotion however, during the 1999-2000 season he developed a problem with a disc in his back and was forced to retire

Redbridge, are the lowest ranked side left in the competition, and they nearly won the game when went a potential last-minute winner was ruled out.

• (Reply) First Round Proper Tues 22 Nov Oxford City v Redbridge Att
• First Round Proper Sat 12 Nov 2011 Redbridge 0-0 Oxford City Att 465
• Fourth Round Qualifying Sat 29 Oct 2011 Weston Super Mare 2-3 Oxford City Att 351
• Third Round Qualifying Sat 15 Oct 2011 Eastleigh 1-3 Oxford City Att 325
• (Reply) Second Round Qualifying Sat 1 Oct 2011 Eastleigh 3-1 Cinderford Town Att 279
• First Round Qualifying Tues 20 Sept 2011 Cinderford Town 2-0 Merthyr Town Att N/A
• First Round Qualifying Sat 17 Sept 2011 Merthyr Town 1-1 Cinderford Town Att 309
• (Reply) Preliminary Round Sat, 3 Sept 2011 Merthyr Town 1-0 Longwell Green Sports Att 345 Extra Preliminary Round Wed, 24 August 2011 AFC Bitton 1- 2 Merthyr Town Att 248 Extra Preliminary Round Sat, 20 August 2011 Merthyr Town 2-2 AFC Bitton Att 323

Six away on international duties

Only six Cardiff City players are on international duty with five called up for what I would call meaningless friendlies.

Only Slovakia Under-21 international midfield Filip Kiss will be playing a competitive game when he takes to the field against France in a European Under-21 Championship qualifier next Tuesday.
The Bluebirds have two players in the Welsh squad, Darcy Blake and Robert Earnshaw both of whom have been warming up the bench for Malky Mackay. Blake has been on sparking form for the Welsh boss Gary Speed and will probably start while Earnshaw could be on the bench.
While the other three who are on duty with the Scottish squad. Kenny Miller, Don Cowie has been name as starting while Craig Conway is among the substitutes.

The roads to the Cup finals

The road to the Welsh and English cup finals has moved up a step closer to the finals in May of next year.

Last weekend, it was the ‘Road to Llanelli’ with the Welsh Cup final in the mind of some fans around Wales, not to many. This blog is now on the trail with Bridgend Town and Builth Wells and the first game up was a Friday night home fixture with footballing giants of Tata Steel for Bridgend. The home team won, but looking on the club website there was no result you would be hard pressed to find any other information. There was also no match report or attendance figures, which is a bit of bugbear with me, it was just the same with the Steel website. Victory for the Welsh League Division One club saw them draw Carmarthen Town of the Welsh Premier League out of the hat.

I picked two teams on the outset of the competition one from the Northern section and the other from the Southern and Builth Wells are the other team. They made the trip to just outside Cardiff were they took on Taffs Well. It was just has hard to find information on Taff Wells website at the time of looking (Wednesday) win over Builth Wells. The last result updated was back in May 2011, not very helpful the Builth Wells was a bit more up to date have yet publish anything on the weekends Welsh Cup game. They now have a trip to Buckley Town and a quick Google search told me they play in the Cymru Alliance League so a long trip up north for Taffs Well.

Next Games

Round Three - Carmarthen Town v Bridgend Town

Round Three - Buckley Town v Taffs Well

The route so far

• Round Two Fri Nov 4 Bridgend Town 5-2 Tata Steel Att N/A
• Round Two Sat Nov 5 Builth Wells v Taffs Well Att N/A
• Round One Sat Oct 1 2011 Dinas Powys 0-2 Builth Wells Att N/A
• Round One Sat 1 Oct Bridgend 2-0 Splott Albion Att N/A

Southern Section

2nd Qualifying Round Sat, 3 Sept 2011 Splott Albion 1-0 AFC Llwydcoed Att N/A

1st Qualifying Round Sat, 26 Aug 2011 Trethomas Bluebirds 0-1 Splott Albion (AET) Att N/A

Northern Section

2nd Qualifying Round Sat, 3 Sept 2011 Brickfield Rangers 1-4 Builth Wells Att N/A

First Qualifying Round Sat, 26 Aug 2011 Builth Wells 3-2 Llanberis Att N/A

Over the border, the fight was on to enter the First round (proper) of the FA Cup when the lower league teams enter the competition with the non-leaguers hope for a good payday.

Out of the Qualifying rounds, the blog ended up t following Oxford City who progress on to the First Round Proper after a hard fought win over Weston Super Mare. In the next round (tomorrow) it will be an all non-league clash with Oxford travelling to Redbridge

The route so far

• First Round Proper Sat 12 Nov 2011 Redbridge v Oxford City Att
• Fourth Round Qualifying Sat 29 Oct 2011 Weston Super Mare 2-3 Oxford City Att 351
• Third Round Qualifying Sat 15 Oct 2011 Eastleigh 1-3 Oxford City Att 325
• Second Round Qualifying Sat 1 Oct 2011 Eastleigh 3-1 Cinderford Town Att 279 (Reply)
• First Round Qualifying Tues 20 Sept 2011 Cinderford Town 2-0 Merthyr Town Att N/A
• First Round Qualifying Sat 17 Sept 2011 Merthyr Town 1-1 Cinderford Town Att 309 
• Preliminary Round Sat, 3 Sept 2011 Merthyr Town 1-0 Longwell Green Sports Att 345 (Reply)
• Extra Preliminary Round Wed, 24 August 2011 AFC Bitton 1- 2 Merthyr Town Att 248
• Extra Preliminary Round Sat, 20 August 2011 Merthyr Town 2-2 AFC Bitton Att 323

There will Welsh interest that this stage of the competition with Newport County and Wrexham joining the route and like everyone else eyeing the Third Round and a tie with one of the big boys of the Premiership.

Wildig loaned out

Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay has allowed young midfielder Aaron Wildig joined Shrewsbury Town on a month-long loan deal. Cardiff has granted permission for him to be available for the Division 3 teams FA Cup fixture Saturday.

They face a trip to Spytty Park home of Newport County in F.A. Cup 1st Round tie where Wildig could face team mate Nat Jarvis who is currently on loan at Newport The game will be televised live on ESPN from 12.30pm.

Since turning pro in 2009 is will be his second loan spell out he spent January until the end of the season with SPL club Hamilton who were relegated. He has to-date made seven starts for the Bluebirds and 14 from the bench for one goal. He is yet to feature for Malky Mackey.

A name linked with City

THE old rumour mill is linking Cardiff City with Peterborough goalkeeper Joe Lewis according to the Sunday People newspaper. The Former England under-21 keeper is out of contract in the summer with Ipswich also reported to be monitoring the situation with the player.

It has been very quiet on the rumour front regarding new blood for Cardiff boss Malky Mackay squad. There has been some reports of knock backs on Mackay on targets he was chasing and unless something major happens between now and the opening of the January transfer window it looks like the City boss will stick with want he has got for the time being.

That the moment there are only two loan players at Cardiff goalkeeper Elliot Parish from Aston Villa and Midfielder Filip Kiss Slovenian club S. Bratislava, but unlike previous Dave Jones, Mackay is reluctant to go too far down the loan route. There were too many loan signings last season I hope he goes for signings that are more permanent in January with the option of loan deals.

The Cardiff City boss said this week,

"What I'm trying to do is build here and build people that are going to be here and make Cardiff a better club over the next couple of years and make the club stronger.  

"And have youth coming through; there is a production line coming through that no matter what first-team players you've got, you've got this underbelly of youngsters as well. 

"We're here to win games... not only focus on that but have... young players coming through that end up taking their place in a natural progression as opposed to forcing a 17-year-old into a team because he has to play every week. 

"Adapt and blend that player into the first-team environment so that when he does go in, he stays in. 

"[That is] something I'm well used to in terms of my previous club [Watford] where we probably had to throw them in far too early, knowing that in a couple of years' time it'll have benefits but at that point you get huge peaks and troughs.  

If you've got that as well as a nucleus of experienced or good Championship players, then you've got a proper club and that's certainly what I'm trying to do here."

You can’t build a team with loan signing in my book and like most fans I expect some movement in the January transfer window with a few new faces added to the squad. The Malaysians owners have stated their willingness to back Mackay with his plans, so we will see.

Nat Jarvis plums for Antigua and Barbuda

Nathaniel Jarvis is set to join up with Antigua and Barbuda, who he qualifies to play for because of his grandfather. He made the announcement of his intention to play international for the Caribbean island via his Facebook status earlier today. The Cardiff City youngest is on loan with Newport County after having his initial one month loan extended

He was asked back in September to join their squad, but he declined the offer owing to limited time to make travel arrangement for the games against Curacao and U.S. Virgin Islands. They have two World Cup Qualifiers home and away against Haiti who are two points behind Antigua and Barbuda who top of the table looking to qualifier for the third round. If they do finish top they will come up against the USA, Jamaica and Guatemala.

Jarvis could clash with Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay if they qualifier for the Olympics via Pre-Olympic Tournament qualification after Mackay said he wouldn’t want any of this players involved in the Olympics.

Former City player moves up to management

FORMER Cardiff City player Darren Williams, has entered management with Whitby Town

He is how player manager with the Northern Premier League club a club he joined in the summer. He linked up with former Cardiff teammate striker Andy Campbell on joining Town. No Bluebird fan will Campbell for that play-off final against QPR.

His connection to the Bluebirds goes back to the end September 2004, when he joined on a month-long loan with a view to a permanent deal. He made his debut in Cardiff’s 1-0 away defeat at Burnley that season and was ever present in the team during his loan spell.

Cardiff and Sunderland agreed to extension his loan deal for a further two months. He was very much a first team player and was offered a permanent at the end of the second loan period. He made move to Ninian Park permanent in December 2004 on a free transfer but then is appearances just dried up playing just five further games until the end of season.

That the end of the season he moved on to Hartlepool United after he was offered a new contract by Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence, but when he was replaced by Dave Jones, the offer was withdrawn manager. He made 22 league appearances with no goals while with Cardiff.