City's decline in the last 12 months. Facts and figures

Upon beating Southampton 2-1 on October 17 of last season, the Bluebirds boasted a sparkling 9-2-1 record, good for 29 points and a six-point lead over second-place Preston. In their last 34 games in 2006/07, however, City managed only eight more wins, to go with 11 draws and 15 defeats. Add the Bluebirds' 3-4-5 mark after their first 12 tilts this season, and City have a none-too-impressive 11-15-20 record over their last 46 matches, good for only 48 points, or 1.04 points per game. No doubt it's been a bad stretch. City failed to win any of their last nine last season and have won only one of their first six home games so far this year. But just how bad has it been? Let's have a look.

If, for instance, you're thinking that City would be facing relegation had they just finished a full, 46-game season with that loss to Wolves on Wednesday, you'd be right on target. Let's look at the 24 clubs that make up the second flight currently and how they've fared in the division, on a points-per-game basis, since City's miraculous 9-2-1 start last season. Here's what we get in
the way of a table:

Watford 9- 2- 1 29 pts 2.42 ppg
Bristol City 6- 5- 1 23 pts 1.92 ppg
Stoke City 21-15-10 78 pts 1.70 ppg
Wolverhampton 21-12-13 75 pts 1.63 ppg
Southampton 22- 9-15 75 pts 1.63 ppg
West Bromwich 22- 8-16 74 pts 1.61 ppg

Charlton 5- 4- 3 19 pts 1.58 ppg
Sheff Wednesday 21- 7-18 70 pts 1.52 ppg
Scunthorpe 5- 3- 4 18 pts 1.50 ppg
Plymouth 17-16-13 67 pts 1.46 ppg
Colchester 18-12-16 66 pts 1.43 ppg
Ipswich 19- 9-18 66 pts 1.43 pts

Preston 18- 8-20 62 pts 1.35 ppg
Crystal Palace 15-14-17 59 pts 1.28 ppg
Coventry 15-10-21 55 pts 1.20 ppg
Hull 15-10-21 55 pts 1.20 ppg
Barnsley 16- 7-23 55 pts 1.20 ppg
Burnley 13-15-18 55 pts 1.20 ppg

Leicester 12-16-18 52 pts 1.13 ppg
Norwich 14- 8-24 50 pts 1.09 ppg
Blackpool 2- 7- 3 13 pts 1.08 ppg
Sheffield Utd 3- 4- 5 13 pts 1.08 ppg
Cardiff 11-15-20 48 pts 1.04 ppg (-13 GD)
QPR 12-12-22 48 pts 1.04 ppg (-24 GD)

What a difference a year makes. A year ago, Cardiff City were at the top of their division, ahead of the Birminghams and Sunderlands of this world. Now, though, based on the last 12 months, they are 23rd best, ahead of only QPR and then only on goal difference. Worse than Barnsley, Blackpool, and Hull, not to mention the likes of mighty Colchester and Scunthorpe.

The picture doesn't improve much when you add into the mix the six clubs that left the division at the end of last season, either thru promotion or relegation. Here are their figures for games played in City's division since mid October of last season:

Sunderland 23- 6- 5 75 pts 2.21 ppg
Birmingham 21- 5- 8 68 pts 2.00 ppg
Derby 20- 6- 8 66 pts 1.94 ppg
Leeds 10- 6-18 36 pts 1.06 ppg
Southend 8- 8-18 32 pts 0.94 ppg
Luton 5- 6-23 21 pts 0.62 ppg

Holy mackerel! City are not even as good as Leeds were over the last three-fourths of last year, though they are better than Southend or Luton (two clubs now plying their trade in the league's third tier). Combining these tables puts City 27th best out of 30. You'd imagine that, if there were a division of 30 clubs, the 27th-place would almost certainly face the drop.

Are Cardiff City too good to go down? Has conceding so many late goals, along with missing a couple of key penalties, left the Bluebirds in a deceptively low position in the table, a spot from which they must rise once they catch the inevitable break or two? Or does the longer view of City's year-long decline, as shown by the tables above, point to something else, the looming prospect of a season-long struggle against relegation? Questions to ponder, certainly. Imponderable, though, is City's astonishing October-to-October slide from being the division's top club to just about its worst. Have we ever seen anything quite like it?