As the City's 2005/06 campaign limped to it's conclusion, there was a completely different feeling amongst supporters towards the much rumoured transfer of their most saleable asset(s) compared to the previous two years. In 2004 there had been the belief (fostered by Sam Hammam's many media comments on the subject) that there was no way Earnie was going and this had only made his departure all the harder to take when it came. A year later, Black Friday had left City fans older but wiser and there was an acceptance that Gabbidon, Collins and others would have to leave to ensure that the club didn't go under.
In 2006, the club's financial situation had improved, but they were still not in a position to turn down big money bids for one of their players and, furthermore, most supporters seemed to be hoping that Cameron Jerome, the player at the club most likely to attract such a bid, would be on his way. A combination of ill advised media comments from the player and a series of late season performances that left you wondering if Jerome was as good as his early season hype had suggested he was left many hoping that the club could cash in on him and use the money received to strengthen the squad.
You couldn't help feeling as well that this was one instance where the club wanted the same as the supporters and so there was almost a sense of jubilation around when, some four weeks after the final ball had been kicked for the season, Jerome left Ninian Park not for the Premiership club that he had talked about a couple of months earlier, but for newly relegated Birmingham City.
I was one of those who definitely welcomed the sale - firstly, the deal was far too good to turn down (City would receive £3 million straight away, a further £500,000 if Birmingham were promoted in one of Jerome's first two seasons at St. Andrews and a further half a million if they stayed in the Premiership the following season), secondly, the club were now in a position to compete in the transfer market and, thirdly, surely this meant that we could use some of the fee to make Jason Koumas' temporary move to City a permanent one!
Jerome wasn't the only departure from the squad that had done better than had generally been expected in 2005/06 - Willie Boland the longest serving player at the club, did not have his contract renewed and, after trials with the jacks and Swindon, left to join Darren Williams and Lee Bullock at Hartlepool, Neil Cox left to join Crewe after not being offered a new deal, Jermaine Darlington eventually ended up at Wimbledon (and cost that club 18 points by appearing for them when not registered!), Neil Ardley went to Millwall, Phil Mulryne eventually turned up at Leyton Orient after having a trials at Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton, Barnsley, Ipswich and Legia Warsaw (!!!!) and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu moved on to Gillingham.
Besides these departures, other players still under contract were told they had no future at Ninian Park - the supporters Player of the Year from the previous season Chris Barker was amongst those told to find a new club (he eventually played out the 2006/07 campaign at Colchester on loan), Jeff Whitley's rapid fall from favour at the club was confirmed as he was made surplus to requirements (Whitley went to Stoke on loan and then finished the season off with another loan spell at Wrexham after, apparently, going missing in January 2007!) and it had been obvious for a while that Rhys Weston played no part in Dave Jones' plans for the new campaign. Furthermore, summer long rumours that we were trying to sign Liverpool's Scott Carson on a season long loan led to speculation that Neil Alexander (whose contract was due to run out in a years time) could be on his way out with Coventry City a possible destination and there were also reports linking Paul Parry (another player in the last year of his contract) with Yeovil Town.
All of these departures made it inevitable that it would be another hectic summer at Ninian Park as far as new arrivals were concerned and it was reassuring to learn that Glenn Loovens who had done so well for us during his season long loan from Feyenoord had signed for us on a permanent basis for a fee reported to be in the region of £250,000.
The club's early bird season ticket scheme was again in operation until the end of May and a few days before it closed the Bosman signing of Scottish International player Kevin McNaughton from Aberdeen was announced. City had first been linked with McNaughton back in 2001 when we watched him as a teenager and there had been a fair bit of speculation beforehand that he would be opting to sign for us over clubs like Luton and Brann Bergen.
Whilst I don't think McNaughton's arrival led to a rush of season ticket sales (we ended up having around about the same amount of them as in 2005/06), the signing of the 23 year old who had won three Scottish full caps and was versatile enough to have played in all positions except for keeper and striker at his old club was an encouraging one for me and there were other signs that the club were looking to bring in quality performers.
Dave Jones and Peter Ridsdale spent the last Saturday of the season watching Barnsley's game at Walsall with the Yorkshires sides skilful midfielder Steve McPhail being the subject of their interest. Twenty six year old McPhail, who had been capped 10 times by the Republic of Ireland, had been at Leeds when Peter Ridsdale was Chairman and this must have played a part in him opting to sign for us despite interest from Hull and the fact that Barnsley had made it into the Championship by defeating Swansea City on penalties in the League One Play Off Final.
McPhail signed for us on 15 June and, on the same day, Newcastle striker Michael Chopra also chose to opt for City despite being offered a new one year contract by his home town club. The signing of Chopra (who had formed a very effective partnership with McPhail during a loan spell at Barnsley for most of the 2004/05 season ) was something of a coup for the club when you consider that clubs like Palace, Birmingham and Southampton were, reportedly, interested in him and, whilst he may not have quite lived up to the great things that were predicted for him when he was a teenager, there was a feeling that he could be a very effective performer at Championship level.
With Chopra only being 22, Newcastle would be entitled to compensation for his Bosman move to City and, eventually a fee of £500,000 was agreed for the player - it was hard to avoid the suspicion that we had signed a better player than Jerome for a sixth of his transfer fee! Having paid a fee for Loovens and Chopra, City then spent a further £275,000 when they signed Wycombe captain Roger Johnson from right under the noses of Swansea City! At 23, Johnson, a centre back with an eye for goal, continued a trend which had seen us signing younger players and it seemed that Dave Jones was making a conscious effort to get the average age of the squad down.
Other signings during the summer tended to confirm this, Martyn Margetson's retirement to take up the goalkeeping coaching role vacated by George Wood saw Arsenal's 19 year old Mark Howard, who had impressed during a loan spell at Scottish premier League club Falkirk the previous season, recruited as back up keeper, the MK Dons pair winger Malvin Kamara and central midfielder Nick McKoy also arrived on free transfers as did striker Luigi Glombard (who had been in French Under 17 World Cup winning team) from Nantes while Irish Under 21 captain Willo Flood was signed on a four year contract from Manchester City for a fee believed to be worth £200,000.The only exception to the policy of recruiting youthful players was thirty six year old striker Kevin Campbell who arrived on a free from West Brom just as the season was kicking off - having played at the top level for Arsenal, Forest, Everton and West Brom as well as for Trabzonspor in Turkey, Campbell, who seemed to have been recruited as much for his off field influence as anything he was likely to do on it, certainly had the pedigree, but the question was whether there was anything left in his tank at this late stage of his career.
Another new arrival was Arsenal full back Kerrea Gilbert on a season long loan deal - 19 year old Gilbert had played nine times for Arsenal during the previous season and his signing only served to confirm the general impression that City had done well in the transfer market during the summer.
There were other players linked with City during the summer, most noticeably Luton striker Steve Howard who was to play a big part in Derby's fine season while Swansea's Andy Robinson was another who was consistently linked with the club, but one name dominated all summer. Surely, with all that Jerome money in their pocket, finding the £1.5 million the City needed to sign Jason Koumas would be a mere formality wouldn't it? Mark Bloom for one certainly seemed to think so because he ran this story in the Echo in mid July
http://tinyurl.com/28s5op
Not for the first or last time, Bloom was proved wrong but, when Sam Hammam spoke in August about how a certain squad number had been left free for his "special number seven", you couldn't blame any City fan for thinking that a deal was imminent. As it turned out, Sam Hammam must have had Peter Whittingham in mind because five months later the former Villa man became our "special number seven" - all I can think is that the contract negotiations must have been a lot more complicated than Sam thought they would be!
With the benefit of hindsight, I don't really think we were ever that close to getting Koumas -even if we could have afforded his transfer fee, his wage demands would almost certainly have been too much for us and it has to be remembered that relations between Sam Hammam and West Brom Chief Executive Jeremy Peace in particular became ever more frosty as the Koumas affair dragged on. There were reports of a consortium of local businessmen each investing £50,000 towards the fee needed to sign the player, but, when Sam Hammam amazingly declared in mid August that he wasn't bothered whether we signed Koumas or not, the writing was on the wall and an acceptance that we would be playing out the 2006/07 season without the player who entertained City fans so much during his spell with us finally began to sink in.
Not all of the new signings were in place when City kicked off their pre season programme on 11 July with simultaneous matches at Merthyr and Carmarthen. I went to Penydarren Park, Merthyr where I watched a side including Alexander, Purse, McNaughton, Scimeca and McPhail lose 1-0 to the local team - Merthyr scored quite early on and held on for their win after that as City created and missed quite a few good chances. The news from Carmarthen was better with a Paul Parry goal proving enough to beat the Welsh Premier League side whose turn it was to beat us in the FAW Mickey Mouse Cup the season before!
Having got those gentle warm ups out of the way, the serious pre season business began with a two week trip to Canada to take part in a tournament hosted by the Vancouver Whitecaps. Before that tournament started however, City played a couple more warm up matches with the first coming against Victoria United - the game was won by 4-1 with the home team having their captain sent off in the first half. City took the lead through Kevin Cooper, then regained it through Michael Chopra after Victoria had equalised just after the break and further goals from Steve Thompson and a Darren Purse penalty completed the scoring. Three days later the team crossed the border into America for a far more testing looking game against the Seattle Sounders, Chopra with a header from a Parry cross gave City a fourth minute lead, but the home team levelled with twenty minutes left as the match finished at 1-1.
The tournament organised by Vancouver now got under but only after a scare when the Chinese Under 20 team that City were due to play were denied entry visas! However this problem was eventually sorted out and City cantered to a comfortable 5-0 win to take their place in the Final against the hosts - Chopra, who was making an impressive start in City colours scored twice and there were also a couple of goals from Steve Thompson and one from Paul Parry. The Final turned out to be a much tighter affair with the Whitecaps (who had beaten Sunderland 3-0 to win the previous years tournament) giving City their toughest test so far in very hot conditions - the game finished goalless with the home side winning the penalty shoot out by 3-1 after Chopra, Thompson and Purse had all failed to match McNaughton in scoring from the spot.
The City squad (and the fifty or supporters who followed them out to North America) returned home to face French side Auxerre at Ninian Park in their final pre season match. City gained a reward for a dominant first half display when Chopra glanced in Thompson's cross, but, they faded somewhat after the break and the visitors equalised from the penalty spot to give the game a 1-1 final scoreline which was just about right on the balance of play.
It was generally felt that it had been a good pre season for the City with encouraging early signs that the new signings were settling in well and four of them (Gilbert, McNaughton, McPhail and Chopra) made their debuts for the team in the opening league game at Barnsley with another five newcomers (Howard, Johnson, Flood, Glombard and Campbell) taking their place on the bench.
On paper at least, an opening fixture at the ground of the team who had scraped into the Championship by winning a penalty shoot out in the League One Play Off Final didn't look too daunting a prospect, but the presence of a couple of ex Barnsley men in the City line up ensured that the home fans would create a hostile atmosphere for the returning Steve McPhail in particular. A healthy contingent of City fans were at Oakwell to cheer on the team and they saw City get off to a flier as they won an entertaining game which featured three fine goals by 2-1.
All of the scoring came in the first half with the honour of scoring City's first goal of the season after nineteen minutes going to Joe Ledley who finished off a marvellous flowing passing movement featuring Purse, Gilbert, Scimeca, McPhail and Chopra to score the goal voted best of the season at the Football League Awards ceremony. Three minutes later Ledley's left wing cross was volleyed home from the edge of the penalty area by Steve Thompson for another great goal and City looked to be strolling it, but shortly afterwards Barnsley's Brian Howard hooked in a truly spectacular volley which beat Alexander all ends up to reduce the deficit.
The second half saw Barnsley put City under a lot of pressure hitting the woodwork in the process, but City always looked dangerous on the break and they could easily have increased their lead on several occasions with Ledley hitting the post, Chopra having an effort cleared off the line and Purse a penalty saved by home keeper Colgan after the influential Scimeca had been brought down.
In the closing minutes, skipper Purse picked up an injury which would keep him out of the next game and he was replaced by Roger Johnson who joined Willo Flood and Kevin Campbell in making their first appearances as City held on for a hard fought victory.
A combination of that good win and the visit of pre season Championship favourites newly relegated West Brom ensured there would be a good crowd for the first home match of the season and in the event a near full house of 18,506 saw an excellent game of football. For a long time it had been hoped that this game would see Jason Koumas' first home appearance as a permanent Cardiff City player, but it was not to be (as it turned out, Koumas' lack of fitness caused by his decision to, effectively, go on strike and miss pre season training at West Brom would have probably have meant he wouldn't have played even if he had signed for us). However, Koumas was largely forgotten as the big crowd settled down to baiting John Hartson who reacted by creating a goal for the visitors after just three minutes when his header from a corner was turned on to his own crossbar by McNaughton only for Hungarian International Zoltan Gera to nod the rebound home from point blank range.
City took a while to recover from this early shock but once they had done so around the twenty minute mark, they proceeded to completely dominate the next hour with a performance the like of which had not been seen from a City side at Ninian Park in ages. West Brom just could not live with us at times as the pace and vibrancy of our game had them gasping for breath. I still don't know how we didn't get more than the single goal scored by Ricky Scimeca against his former team when he nodded in McPhail's cross after 33 minutes but it was one of those occasions when the display was almost more important than the result!
In the closing ten minutes, there were a few signs that City were paying for the fantastic pace at which they had played the game and West Brom may have sneaked a late winner, but that would have been an injustice given the City display full of fine individual performances (especially from McNaughton and Johnson).
Four days later another fancied West Midlands side pitched up at Ninian Park as Coventry who had spent heavily during the summer and were widely expected to mount at least a Play Off challenge posed a completely different type of challenge to West Brom. Whereas the baggies had been prepared to take us on in a game of football, Coventry's approach was altogether more physical as they put up a defensive barrier that ensured that City never really played with the sort of fluency seen in their first two games.
The first half saw the visitors have slightly the better of proceedings with Kerrea Gilbert clearing a header from their £1 million centre back Elliott Ward off the line, but, after the break City raised their game and were occasionally able to play with a pace which Coventry couldn't cope with. When that happened, some inspired goalkeeping by Andy Marshall looked like foiling the team, but with eleven minutes left, Ledley won the ball from substitute Tabb and then played a lovely low cross into Chopra who slid in his first league goal for the club from about eight yards out. Chopra really should have made it 2-0 shortly afterwards, but a single goal was enough to win it as City took their points tally to seven from just three matches played.
A break for International friendly games meant it was a week before City were next in action as they travelled to Elland Road looking to extend their excellent recent record against Leeds United. In the event, a tight game in which City always looked slightly the better team was decided by another late goal - there seemed little danger to Leeds when sub Willo Flood robbed Matthew Kilgallon deep inside the City half in the 83rd minute, but a break of great pace saw Flood feed Chopra who made ground before sliding over a perfect low cross which Flood knocked past former City keeper Tony Warner for a thrilling goal which provoked great celebrations from the City contingent on and off the pitch!
The closing minutes of the game saw youngster Darcy Blake make his first appearance of the season as he replaced Chopra and the first outbreak of the red card rash that afflicted the team throughout the season as Darren Purse confronted David Healy after the striker had slid in late on Neil Alexander - Purse was shown red and Healy yellow, but there was not enough time left for Leeds to do anything about their numerical advantage and City were only being kept off the top of the table through alphabetical order by the Birmingham side that they were to face in their next league match!
However before Birmingham came to Ninian Park, City faced Barnet at home in the First Round of the League Cup as we saw the first confirmation of the suspicion that we did not have the strength in depth to maintain our flying start throughout the campaign. Dave Jones made wholesale changes to the starting line up for the visit of a team that had picked up just three points from their first four league games as new signings Howard, Flood, McKoy, Kamara, Campbell and Glombard were all given their first starts, as was young Joe Jacobson while 17 year old right back Chris Gunter was handed a debut.
What the 3,305 hardy souls who bothered turning up that night saw was City come a poor second to a Barnet team that eased to a 2-0 win which was as comfortable as the scoreline suggests. True, Luigi Glombard did waste a great early chance by shooting wide when clean through, but, after that, City failed to pose Barnet many problems that and the visitors deserved the lead they gained after 32 minutes when striker Tresor Kandol took advantage of a poor kick by Howard to fire over the stranded keeper from around forty yards out. It was a very good goal by Kandol who City, apparently, tried to sign later in the season and when he scored again with a straightforward header early in the second half, City bowed meekly out of the tournament after a performance in which only the youngsters Gunter, Jacobson and Blake (a second half substitute for Rhys Weston) could feel satisfied with their contribution.