Photo by Jon Candy
On the whole, this season has been one of triumph for my beloved Bluebirds.
This may seem a curious or even perverse thing to say given the fact that we finished 11th in the Championship with more and more fans staying away and the football dire at times, especially at home; given the fact that we're still run by a dictatorial billionaire who cares so much for the club that he only watched us once all season.
Also, we have a manager who the majority of fans (myself included) never wanted in the the first place and who has largely failed to convince.
Yet.....we began the season in a state of utter shambles after being tipped for the top.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, having failed to keep us in the Premier, had collected players over the summer like a kid with footie stickers.
There were no partnerships, no pattern and some players showed no hunger for the battle ahead.
He sold our one leader, Mark Hudson, to Huddersfield and we were left without a viable option for captain.
He amassed lots of strikers, but none had any pace to threaten defences.
He kept changing formation every game and playing people out of position. We were rapidly plummeting!
Above all, the despised red shirts and dragon badges ( nicked from Wales and Wrexham) gave fans a focus for their fury and frustration.
Demos, boycotts and the regular chanting of 'We're Cardiff City / We'll always be blue' only heightened the sense of a fractured club and even ex-players like Fraizer Campbell admitted that a return to blue was essential.
Commercially it was a disaster for owner Vincent Tan, as his new red stand was almost empty and nobody bought the red merchandise ( only retro blue was selling).
To be fair to Solskjaer's replacement Russell Slade, he soon realised the predicament and declared that the situation was affecting the team's performances.
Thanks to pressure from supporters' groups (especially Bluebirds Unite) Tan gave in , though he used his dear old mother as an excuse.
This was a vital turning-point for me and many fans : our sense of belonging and history restored despite the owner's distance from us and the club.
Slade may not be the most inspiring manager, but it has been a difficult transition and he is right to argue that we could have gone into free-fall and followed the paths of Portsmouth and Coventry into the lower leagues.
He was much criticised for bringing in players who were merely work-horses, yet a number do not fit that description : left-back Malone is actually better going forward, striker Doyle has the hallmark of a natural goalscorer and the Everton pair, Kennedy and McAleny have been full of skill and enthusiasm. If only we could sign the latter permanently over summer.
For the manager the problem has been centre midfield, where he has continued to pick Whittingham and Gunnarsson despite their drop in form.
Better teams always seemed to possess one player who controlled the game from that number 10 position : Norwich's Hoolahan and Brentford's Pritchard stood out.
Nobody picked these players up and Slade had no tactical response during the games.
This, more than anything else, is what fed my doubts about him ; plus his fanatical adherence to 4-4-2, like previous manager Dave Jones.
Then, when Kenwyne Jones went to Brentford on loan and Revell got injured , he was forced to change.
Doyle and McAleny proved a success and afterwards, Mason replaced the injured Evertonian.
This was the kind of combo Bournemouth had used to such great affect all season; with Wilson up front and either Kermogant or Pittman playing deeper.
As the season came to an end we not only won games, but began to play with a little style ( while missing fans moaned on the messageboards).
Our return to rightful blue and traditional badge ( okay, with incongruous Chinese dragon attached) and our manager's eventual flexibility are both cause to celebrate.
Given the utter chaos left by OGS, maybe Slade hasn't been given the credit he deserves.
There are still many fans who won't renew their season tickets.
Their reasons are varied I'm sure, but I believe many have been too spoilt over recent years : every season we've been involved in something meaningful, if only relegation from the top tier.
For success to return, this summer is crucial.
We must retain our few class players such as keeper Marshall and player of the season Manga.
We must sign at least three quality players who are going to be first choice for the team : if only one were to be Alex Pritchard of Spurs, best player in the Championship last season.
Rumours have already started flying, like the swallows over the River Taff.
One of the latest involves ex-player Joe Ledley who has bought a house in the city. Yet why would he join us from Crystal Palace, where he's picked regularly?
It can get ridiculous, but I'm addicted to all the online gossip and messageboard 'stories'.
It's what you do when there's no footie : imagine all the great players we are suddenly not signing!
THE RUMOUR SEASON
Now the football's finished
the rumour season begins :
they'll be flying like martins
till we start all over again.
Will we be signing Dirk Kuyt
this time round, as his daughter
is in Howell's school alongside
those of Messi and Iniesta?
We could just about afford
Gareth Bale's big toe-nail.
Lower leaguers and loanees,
players from France and Africa....
the journos and messageboards
will be dropping names and fees
like coins into a well.
On You Tube they'll all look brill.
We'll have to sign a striker
for a few million, so seasons sell;
as long as his name's not Cornelius, Maynard, Velikonja
we're bound to do really well.
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