I started writing these weekly reviews this year about a month ago, so I reckon this is the fifth one I’ve done and, increasingly, I’m thinking why am I bothering because, confirmation that Erol Bulut will be staying apart, there’s been virtually nothing to report in that time.
We’re now about halfway between our last Championship match of 23/24 and our first one of 24/25 and there’s nothing that has happened yet to get supporters enthused for the new season.
As far as the managerial situation is concerned, I’ll say that the new manager of Fenerbache has been called the Portuguese Erol Bulut, but I’ll stick with ours being the Turkish Jose Mourinho for now.
Some may see that as something of a compliment, but I’m thinking more of the park the bus version of Mourinho as his career has declined in recent years – perhaps Erol Bulut will give me reason to eat those words once the action gets under way again, but what we saw from November onwards last season and the reputation Bulut arrived at City with makes me doubt that somehow.
Returning to my original theme of there being nothing to report in recent weeks, I’m having to row back on relatively minor stories that I’d put on here believing them to be fact. For example, this week, I’ve heard that the re appointment of James Rowberry as a coach (a very good move by the club if it happens in my opinion) is not the done deal I assumed it was. Understandably, Rowberry’s current employers, the FAW, are reluctant to let him go and it may be that City will have to look elsewhere. Similarly, the pre season training camp in Austria that I wrote about a fortnight ago has not yet been officially confirmed.
Incredibly, the only pre season match at any level I’ve seen confirmation of so far is a First Round Nathaniel MG Cup tie at Afan Lido on July 19 for our under 21s and we only know that because the draw for the opening round was made last week.
Actually, there are a couple of developments I should mention, Raheem Conte, who did surprisingly well when used as a rigth back in the first team in the closing matches of last season, has signed a one year contract with an option for another season, while Matthew Turner, who was an unused sub in around twenty first team matches following an injury to Jak Alnwick, has agreed a deal to stay with us until the summer of 2026.
I know i’ll have something to report this time next week because the fixtures for the new season will be announced on Thursday, but I’m not holding my breath on there being much else happening in the next seven days.
It was reported that Erol Bulut had met with the money men at the club on Monday to hammer out the plans for incoming transfers over the summer. To give this some context, Stoke City have announced the signing of three players already I believe, while we’re, seemingly, finally getting around to having a chat on the matter!
Again however, I’m going by “reports” because there’s been nothing in the way of rumours to suggest that the club are acting on what was decided at said meeting – always assuming it went ahead.’
Indeed, a local media desperate for something concrete from the club to write about, have been reduced to reporting that former City loan striker Sory Kaba has been told he’s free to leave his current club, Las Palmas. There’s nothing to indicate City are interested in bringing Kaba back to Cardiff City Stadium mind and, although he did pretty well in his time with us during 22/23 I can’t help thinking that we need better than him if we are to make the large improvement needed to turn us into genuine top six contenders.
I’ll end with the news that a couple of former City players have passed away in recent weeks. Trevor Edwards was a Rhondda born full back who signed for us from Charlton in 1960 and made seventy three league appearances, scoring three times, before leaving us in 1964. Edwards won a couple of senior caps for Wales and was a member of the squad for the 1958 World Cup, but that was not the end of his international recognition, he emigrated to Australia after leaving us and went on to win a B cap for the country he lived in until his death at the age of eighty seven.
I’ve just checked, and as I suspected, I never saw Trevor Edwards play for us. He was still at the club when I saw my first City match, but, as it turns out, my first game, against Northampton, was the first one he missed in the 63/64 season and he was back in the team the following week. However, Edwards soon found himself being sidelined because of the emergence of Peter Rodrigues.
The other former Bluebird to pass away was Kevin Campbell at the age of just fifty one. Campbell spent his final season as a player with City in 2006/07, but did little to be remembered by in his season with us and it’s probably fair to say that he was a bigger influence off the pitch than on it while at Cardiff,
However, the club’s fans were never going to see the best of Kevin Campbell in a City shirt because the simple fact is that he was much too good for us for all but the very end of his career. Campbell was a powerful and clever centre forward who was unlucky not to win a cap for England during a twenty year career which, apart from a spell with Trabzonspor, was almost exclusively spent in the English First Division/Premier League with the likes of Arsenal, Forest, Everton and West Brom.
Occasionally, when someone in the public domain passes away, the warmth and generosity of the tributes paid to the person are lifted above the norm – nearly all tributes paid to the recently deceased make them out to be someone special when the real truth is that, no matter how worthy they were, they weren’t really that. However, it seems to me that when it comes to Kevin Campbell, the nature of the tributes I’ve heard and read suggest very strongly that he was, indeed, something out of the ordinary – maybe not in terms of how good a footballer he was, but in terms of the type of person he was away from the game.
RIP to Trevor Edwards and Kevin Campbell.