On the field there had been some good performances in the opening months of the year and results hadn’t been bad, but the team had failed to build on the very promising position they held just before Christmas 2003 whilst the closing months of 2004 had seen results and performances which, if repeated until the end of the season, would see the team relegated. I am sure most City supporters were hoping for something better from 2005 and, so far at least, I would say the news is mixed with it being a worse year off the field but a better one on it.
A special word of praise is due to the 638 supporters who managed to get to Derby for a lunchtime kick off on New Years Day because that really is showing devotion beyond the call of duty! At least those hardy souls were rewarded by being able to say “I was there” as the City gained what was arguably their best result of the season by winning 1-0 at the team destined to finish fourth in the table. Kav came straight back into the team at the expense of Tony Vidmar and he seemed to be the instigator behind the pre match huddle which the team held. I must admit I am not normally a great fan of these sort of gestures, because I reckon it’s what happens in the ninety minutes that counts not what happens in the seconds before kick off, but to be fair, this one seemed to signal a new attitude in the team for the new year and the important thing was that subsequent results backed up the idea that this game represented some sort of turning point in our season.
That said, City needed a bit of luck in the first half - the homes team’s Spanish playmaker Inigo Idiakez twice hit the woodwork, while City’s goal arrived via some awful Derby defending in the 27th minute when Rhys Weston’s long throw was allowed to bounce in the box to Peter Thorne who had a simple task of nodding in from about six yards. There could have been other City goals as well in that first period with Jerome having an effort cleared off the line and Langley and McAnuff forcing good saves from home keeper Camp, but the second half was all about City holding on to their lead and with James Collins, who had recovered from his injury at Watford quicker than expected, an immense presence at the back they managed to do this with relatively few problems.
Whilst plenty of teams do pre match huddles, post match ones were, as far as I know, unheard of until the City side did theirs at Derby! Their performance had shown a sort of “were all in this together” attitude and now this gesture just seemed to echo it. Again the instigator seemed to be captain Kav who had attracted all sorts of criticism following his two sendings off in three matches. I was one of many who were calling for him to be stripped of the captaincy because he was not showing the attitude that City required in their current position but I must admit that I completely changed my mind after watching Kav’s very impressive post match interview on Cardiff City World where he spelled out what playing for and captaining Cardiff City meant to him.
Five points from three matches meant it had been a decent holiday period so far, but three points from an absolutely vital home game with Nottingham Forest on 3 January would make it a very good one. Forest arrived in Cardiff last but one in the table having lost their last seven away games and there really was an opportunity for City to put a lot of distance between the two teams if they could win the match.
Right from the start it appeared that there was only one team really interested in winning the game. Whereas City were committed and positive, Forest’s lack of belief was immediately apparent and they spent all of the first half on the back foot defending desperately at times against wave after wave of attacks. However, somehow, there was no score at half time and you couldn’t help thinking that City had blown a great chance - Forest couldn’t be as bad in the second period could they, well yes they could actually!
The flow of play continued constantly towards the visitors goal in the second forty five minutes as well and, finally they cracked after 55 minutes as Jerome was scythed down by Thompson in the box for an obvious penalty which meant that supporters got their first chance to see the Peter Thorne penalty taking technique (patent applied for)! Thorne has scored with a penalty in the home win over Gillingham, but that had been a “normal” penalty directed just beyond the diving keeper, this one (and every other he took afterwards during the season) was different! Thorne set off on a straight and slow run up to the ball and rolled the ball home as keeper Gerrard dived the wrong way - at the time, people said that Thorne was lucky because he had scuffed his kick and it would have been an easy save for Gerrard if he had gone the right way, but, quite understandably, they had been fooled as much as Gerrard had been! Thorne’s subsequent penalties made it clear that he ran up so slowly to try and get the keeper to commit himself just before he hit the ball and, once that happened, he just rolled the ball gently in the opposite direction. So far, Thorne has a 100% record from these penalties and it takes great nerve (particularly in circumstances like against Forest) to use a technique which will make you look a right idiot if it goes wrong!
Forest responded by throwing on sub Marlon King which meant that as David Johnson had replaced the anonymous former City man Neil Harris at half time they had come into the game with £4 million worth of striking talent on the bench - if anything showed why they were in the mess they were, surely this was it. For a brief spell these changes seemed to offer them some hope as the highly rated Andy Reid began to exert some of authority for the only time in the game, but this rally didn’t last long and the closing stages were marked by City finishing very strongly as the visitors lost their discipline with cards being issued left, right and centre.
One of the cards shown by referee Crossley was a straight red to Jon-Olav Hjelde for a kick at Jerome. That looked quite a harsh decision, but it was balanced out when Matthieu Louis-Jean clattered into substitute Paul Parry with a challenge that was to keep the winger out for nearly four months and only got a yellow.
However, City gave the best response to the visitor’s clogging as two goals in the last five minutes gave the final scoreline a true reflection of the balance of play. Firstly, Peter Thorne ended a scramble following a Kav corner by netting from point blank range and then Kav carried the ball from the half way line into the penalty area before smashing a great rising drive into the net for a goal which brought keeper Tony Warner racing over 100 yards from his goal to join in the celebrations!
Allowances had to be made for how woeful Forest were (people kept on saying a club their size couldn’t go down and that their side were too good for the drop, but they couldn’t have been at Ninian Park that day! The lack of spirit and fight Forest showed marked them down as obvious candidates for relegation and even the appointment of a disciplinarian like Gary Megson as manager couldn’t save them), but it had been a very good display by City with the game being a personal triumph for Kav who made his feelings known to those in the local press who had been critical of him after his sendings off as he left the pitch! If you asked me what the biggest single reason for the improvement that culminated in Lennie Lawrence being named Manager of the Month for January was, I would say it was that Kav galvanised the side when he came back from suspension. When Kav was on form, he was one of the best and most influential central midfielders I have seen wear the City shirt - it was simple, when Kav played well the team did and when he didn’t the team failed to perform. However, even a confirmed fan like me had to concede that those who were asking around this time why it had taken him half a season to start producing the goods did have a point.
Eight points over the holiday period had made such a difference to the team’s hopes of avoiding the drop - for months it had looked like a four way fight between Rotherham, Forest, Gillingham and ourselves for the three relegation places, but our improvement (and some better results for Gillingham under new manager Stan Ternent) had seen sides like Plymouth, Wolves and Coventry drawn into the dogfight Also, although we were still in 21st position we were now eleven points in front of Rotherham who already looked doomed, six in front of Forest and four ahead of Gillingham whereas only a single point had kept us out of the drop zone after our defeat at Sheffield united just over a fortnight earlier.
While Kav had been grabbing the headlines, Junichi Inamoto his partner in central midfield had been quietly getting himself back to something like full match fitness. Although he still appeared to be some way from his best, Inamoto was beginning to impress with his good technique, clever passing and, most unexpectedly for me, his tackling and work ethic. It was good news therefore that West Brom manager Bryan Robson allowed the on loan midfielder to play in the Third Round FA Cup tie Premiership side Blackburn at Ninian Park because it meant that City had a chance of maintaining the momentum that had built up over the holiday period.
For Blackburn boss Mark Hughes it was a chance to return to his home country after his resignation as Wales team manager a few months earlier and his inside knowledge of quite a few of the City team may have played a part in the visitors being able to open up a defence that had conceded just one goal in the past four matches after just five minutes when a simple looking pass by David Thompson sent Morten Gamst Pedersen through a yawning gap in the City rearguard to score. For a while after that Blackburn were able to impose their quality on the game, but City gradually got themselves into contention and equalised ten minutes before the break. Alan Lee had recovered from his hernia operation and had come on as sub in the past three matches, but he was in from the start in this match for the rested Peter Thorne and he responded with what turned out to be his last goal of a very disappointing season for him. I say Lee scored it mind, but, actually, I reckon it should have gone down as a Brad Freidel own goal as Lee’s looping header bounced off the crossbar and cannoned off the keeper back into the net.
City had their best spell of the match after that and it was a measure of their dominance that three of Blackburn’s back four were yellow carded during this period, but the half time whistle came too soon for them and they were unable to take full advantage of their superiority. After the break it became a more cagey affair with both teams having fewer chances (although Inamoto did almost catch Friedel out with a spectacular volley) and the match ended 1-1 with City having done enough to suggest that, although Blackburn would have home advantage for the replay, the tie was a long way from over yet.
Next up for City was a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United. Now during the course of this season, I have gone from someone who had some doubts about Sam Hammam, but, basically, still believed in his “dream” to someone who, frankly, no longer believes anything he says. However, it would be churlish of me not to recognise that without our owner Cardiff City would, almost certainly, not be playing games like this one. True, Leeds had fallen a long way, but City were now meeting them on, more or less, equal terms (six points separated the teams at the time) - people may have legitimate grievances about why we needed to run up debts of £30 million plus to get where we are, but, at least, we are watching second tier football.
Peter Thorne returned to the team for Alan Lee after being rested against Blackburn, but he saw little of the ball early on as the home team tore into City straight from the kick off (Lennie Lawrence described Leeds’ opening as the best City had faced during the season) and but for some good saves by Tony Warner, City would already have been behind before 17 year old Simon Walton gave Leeds a deserved lead after 14 minutes when he rounded off a flowing move. Apart from a long run from Jobi McAnuff which could have ended with a penalty being awarded to us, City had little to offer at this stage, but the Leeds storm was beginning to blow itself out and, with Alan Lee on for the injured Cameron Jerome, we gradually began to take command.
City would have been level just before half time if the woodwork hadn’t come to Leeds’ rescue yet again when Inamoto’s snapshot from about twenty five yards rebounded off the crossbar (opinions varied as to whether this was the fourth or fifth time we had hit the frame of the goal in our two matches with Leeds, but, whichever was right, it was certainly a lot!). However, we went in for the break a goal down, but with definite signs that we were now the better team. That trend continued virtually straight from the kick off after the break and we were level after 52 minutes when Langley was brought down in the box by keeper Sullivan after being worked clear by McAnuff. Predictably, Leeds’ supporters and players were incensed by the decision, but, having seen the incident a few times, I am sure the decision was the right one and all that was left was for the Peter Thorne (patent applied for) penalty technique to be brought out again as Sullivan became the latest keeper to dive one way and watch the ball roll gently the other! After that, City could have won the game but it finished 1-1 and I am sure Lennie Lawrence and his team would have taken that when Leeds were tearing us apart in the opening twenty minutes.
Five league games unbeaten and just two goals conceded, City’s season was definitely looking up, but leaguer matters took a back seat as City faced another “biggest day in their history” on January 19th! This was the day that the Council’s Planning Committee met again to make the decisions about the clubs various planning applications which had been postponed a month earlier. Once again, the feeling was that the news would be good for the club and, sure enough it was, as permission was given for all but one of the applications (the application, apparently, from Boots was withdrawn beforehand).
Once the news was confirmed, David Temme, the local media and leaders of supporters groups all united to tell us that the last hurdle to work on the new ground starting in May had been cleared - it had been a long hard road, but we had made it, it was all systems go! Naturally Sam Hammam had his say as well with this interview in the Echo;-
CLICK HERE
The thing is though, this interview was given by a man who knew that the previous months wages had been paid by another director because the club weren’t able to pay them. It is impossible for me to believe that, at this time, he didn’t at least have an inkling that the sort of financial problems that became public knowledge a month or so later weren’t a real possibility because, far from there being “still some paperwork and technical details to go over but they are all minor”, there were still serious problems the scheme had to overcome as far as the developers (Capital and Regional) were concerned.
Why did Sam Hammam say things like “let’s start work!” when the developers were nowhere near ready to hand over the funds that the club desperately needed to secure their shot term future? Perhaps, he genuinely believed what he was saying, but for that to be true, what does that say about his knowledge of the processes involved and his grasp of the true situation the club was in? Perhaps he was lying to supporters (it wouldn’t be the first time!), but to what end - I can’t see what he had to gain by doing this. Perhaps, he was trying to quicken the whole process up by almost trying to bully Capital and Regional into releasing the funds he needed (that would be my guess as to the most likely reason he said what he did)?
Whatever Sam Hammam’s reasons for putting the interpretation on the planning committees decisions that he did, applying hindsight, that piece in the Echo looks like just more of the “spin” that supporters have become all too used to seeing from the club over the past eighteen months or so. In politics, the Labour Party still continues with it’s obsession of putting their own gloss on any news story to try and reflect themselves in the best light long after so many of the voting public have twigged to them. These people have now become cynical of the whole process and there are definite similarities with Cardiff City here where the “party line“ is so relentlessly peddled by people in important positions in supporter‘s organisations - of course, these people are free to say and do what they like, but, surely they can see that, for what appears to be a sizeable proportion of City fans, this approach just isn‘t working any more?
I don‘t think I am the only City fan who thinks the club could benefit from a more honest and open approach. I certainly don‘t want to know the minutiae of everything that happens at Ninian Park, but I am tired of being treated like an idiot by those who speak on behalf of the club - after nearly two years of being told more or less the same thing about the new ground, I need more than assurances that it is “tantalisingly close“ or that it is “really is close to reality” before I start to believe it is going ahead and we can see a possible way out of the awful financial problems that are dragging the club down.
Anyway, enough of me ranting on about off the field stuff, let’s get back to the football! That same night City played their FA Cup replay at Blackburn and, surprisingly for two sides who were mean in defence and lightweight in attack for most of the season, it turned out to be a five goal thriller! Just as in the first game, City fell behind in the first ten minutes when David Thompson scored with a good shot from the edge of the box. City were giving as good as they got though and probably deserved their equaliser midway through the first half when Langley and McAnuff combined well down the left for the latter beat Friedel with a fine angled drive.
Although nobody realised it at the time, what happened next had an impact on the rest of City’s season as Tony Warner allowed Thompson’s cross to bounce gently into the net to restore the home sides lead - although James Collins may have had some part to play in conceding such a sloppy goal, it was a really bad error by Warner and one that he would pay a huge price for.
Two minutes into the second half a close range goal by Pedersen seemed to have put Blackburn out of sight, but James Collins bundled in his first goal of the season seven minutes later to keep us in contention. After that, both sides had further chances with the best of them probably falling to Langley, but it was another Third Round exit for the City. However, unlike the previous season where they had gone out to Sheffield United at the same stage with barely a whimper, at least this time the team departed the competition with their pride intact.