{"id":18084,"date":"2017-02-28T13:48:46","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T13:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=18084"},"modified":"2017-02-28T13:48:46","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T13:48:46","slug":"neil-warnock-light-end-cardiff-citys-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2017\/02\/28\/neil-warnock-light-end-cardiff-citys-tunnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Warnock: The light at the end of Cardiff City&#039;s tunnel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">SINCE December 2013, most Cardiff City fans would struggle to recall any moments of real optimism amongst the countless days of disappointment.<\/span><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18101\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18101\" style=\"width: 351px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-18101\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Mackay, Slade and Solskj\u00e6r were all fired by Vincent Tan\" width=\"351\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-770x576.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-500x374.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-293x219.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers.jpg 1027w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 351px) 100vw, 351px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18101\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18101\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Mackay, Slade and Solskj\u00e6r were all fired by Vincent Tan\" width=\"351\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-770x576.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-500x374.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers-293x219.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/axedManagers.jpg 1027w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 351px) 100vw, 351px\" \/><\/noscript> Mackay, Slade and Solskj\u00e6r were all fired by Vincent Tan<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite sitting outside the Premier League\u2019s relegation zone, much-loved manager Malky Mackay was sacked on 27 December, 2013, and the Bluebirds found themselves on a downwards trajectory. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Relegation from the Premier League led to seasons of unimaginative, mid-table football under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Russell Slade and each would meet the same fate as their predecessor.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During the summer of 2016, the club appointed Paul Trollope as head coach. A strong pre-season under the former Wales coach inevitably got fans talking, and the club sold more season tickets than any season since relegation from the Premier League. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once the season started, the fans\u2019 excitement evapourated. The Bluebirds failed to score a single goal, excluding own goals, in five of their opening six matches and only managed eight points from a possible 30.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unsurprisingly the club was dragged into a relegation battle, and a 2-0 away defeat to newly-promoted Burton Albion back in October was Trollope\u2019s final game in charge.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On 3 October, 2016, Cardiff were 23rd in the table, manager-less and devoid of all confidence. Relegation was looming and fans knew something drastic was needed if the club was to avoid its second relegation in three years.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years fans called out for a manager with real experience, who is not afraid to say what he thinks, and it\u2019s hard to thi<\/span>nk of a better example than Neil Warnock.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18086\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18086\" style=\"width: 415px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-18086\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-300x180.png\" alt=\"Attendances were higher in 4 of Warnock's first 5 games\" width=\"415\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-500x300.png 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-293x176.png 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08.png 740w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18086\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18086\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-300x180.png\" alt=\"Attendances were higher in 4 of Warnock's first 5 games\" width=\"415\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-500x300.png 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08-293x176.png 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-28-at-12.14.08.png 740w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/noscript> Attendances were higher in 4 of Warnock&#8217;s first 5 games<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Warnock\u2019s name had been linked with the club on numerous occasions in the past because of his public admiration for the fans. On his first day at Cardiff he said: \u201cI\u2019ve always got on well with fans here, that\u2019s unusual for me. I always thought it\u2019s a good challenge for me, they\u2019re my kind of supporters.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be good enough to do the job. I\u2019ve been disappointed when I\u2019ve seen the appointments this year. The fans, I know, will get behind me.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Warnock\u2019s impact was clear just one week after he took charge. A packed-out Cardiff City Stadium welcomed their new manager, as well as arch-rivals Bristol City. Live on Sky, and in front of the biggest home attendance of the season, all eyes were on Warnock.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Much to the delight of the fans, Cardiff won 2-1 and gave Warnock the perfect start to life in South Wales.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since then, the Bluebirds haven\u2019t looked back. Defeats have inevitably halted progress, but now almost five months on from that defeat against Burton, Cardiff find themselves in the top half of the table.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Warnock\u2019s impact at Cardiff can not be denied &#8212; the club is 11 places higher than when he took over even though he has not had a pre-season or funds to bring in players.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite this, supporters knew if the board were not prepared to invest in Warnock for a promotion push next season then he would almost certainly leave the club in the summer.<\/span><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18102\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18102\" style=\"width: 323px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-18102\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"The fans are returning, and with them comes hope and optimism\" width=\"323\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-770x578.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-293x220.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18102\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18102\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"The fans are returning, and with them comes hope and optimism\" width=\"323\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-770x578.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans-293x220.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/fans.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px\" \/><\/noscript> The fans are returning to the Cardiff City Stadium (Credit: John Candy)<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But an agreement was reached last week between the board and Warnock which will see him remain Cardiff manager until the end of next season.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After dismissing any chance of a play-off push this season, Warnock has already started to turn his attention to next season. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been planning for weeks,&#8221; said Warnock after Saturday\u2019s draw with Fulham.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cNext season if we all do our jobs right, it will give us a chance but you can&#8217;t say you&#8217;re going to get promotion, all you can say is we&#8217;ll have a good try at having a good season.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The atmosphere is returning to the Cardiff City Stadium, and with it comes hope and optimism. Under Warnock, the belief which was instilled in the club before their promotion to the Premier League is returning.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINCE December 2013, most Cardiff City fans would struggle to recall any moments of real optimism amongst the countless days of disappointment. Despite sitting outside the Premier League\u2019s relegation zone, much-loved manager Malky Mackay was sacked on 27 December, 2013, and the Bluebirds found themselves on a downwards trajectory. Relegation from the Premier League led to seasons of unimaginative, mid-table football under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Russell Slade and each would meet the same fate as their predecessor. During [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":18102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,4],"tags":[185,142,187,2030,2648,722,781,4615,2650,4173,2032],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-18084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-bluebirds","tag-cardiff-city","tag-cardiff-city-stadium","tag-ccfc","tag-malky-mackay","tag-neil-warnock","tag-premier-league","tag-promotion","tag-russell-slade","tag-the-championship","tag-vincent-tan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Neil Warnock: The light at the end of Cardiff City&#039;s tunnel - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2017\/02\/28\/neil-warnock-light-end-cardiff-citys-tunnel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neil Warnock: The light at the end of Cardiff City&#039;s tunnel - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SINCE December 2013, most Cardiff City fans would struggle to recall any moments of real optimism amongst the countless days of disappointment. Despite sitting outside the Premier League\u2019s relegation zone, much-loved manager Malky Mackay was sacked on 27 December, 2013, and the Bluebirds found themselves on a downwards trajectory. Relegation from the Premier League led to seasons of unimaginative, mid-table football under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Russell Slade and each would meet the same fate as their predecessor. 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