Team: Cardiff City
Nickname: The Bluebirds
Lge Pos: 6th
Ground: Ninian Park
The Gaffer: Lennie Lawrence
The Owl, as I like to call him, made a name for himself at Luton before leaving under a cloud a few years ago. Lawrence's talents were spotted by Cardiff and thus he was brought in to revive the "big" Welsh club. Having made some excellent signings with a raiding of Stoke for Kavanagh and Thorpe, and boosting the squad with winger Alan Mahon from Blackburn, Lawrence has added to an already strong backbone which boasts the ever-committed Andy Legg, Rhys Weston and The Rabbit - Robert Earnshaw.
Lawrence's temperament and attitude is key to a Cardiff club which has major ambitions. Normally, he appears to be a well-thought out, honest man and I was pleased with his comments after our 1-1 draw in January when he gave the Latics high praise. That day we earned a late point to save a then unbeaten away record. However, even Lawrence's temperament is being tested now as at present, the side has yet to win in 5 games after a poor finish to the season. LL must be feeling some pressure.
Star Goalkeeper: Neil Alexander
Alexander is one of Cardiff's rocks at the back and with his excellent handling of crosses, he gives confidence to his defenders infront. Having been regarded as one of the best young players to emerge from north of the border, Alexander put in an ever-present season last year and had his national sides manager, Berti Vogts, taking close notice of him.
This term, Neil faced a challenge of a different sort as Division 2 journeyman and 2001/2 Division 2 PFA goalkeeper of the year, Martyn Margetson joined. Alexander knew he would be number one keeper after his impressive 2001/2 season, but he didn't know how long for. Only his performances could speak volumes and with 16 cleans sheets this season, Alexander has more than made up for Lawrence's faith in him. The Scot is often outspoken about his ambitions and with the season he has had he may soon be about to achieve his ultimate goal - a Scottish International cap.
Star Defender: Danny Gabbidon
Cwmbran born Gabbidon was bought from West Brom in 2000 and has flourished in the Cardiff City side. Plagued with an injury hit season this term, Gabbidon had been almost an ever-present in The Bluebirds last two campaigns and is the main defender when fit. His light weight of just 11st 2lbs allows the nippy centre-back to keep up with the most pacey strikers and as an added bonus, Gabbidon can play anyway in defence. His ability and versatility has seen him play for the Welsh national side with a full debut being earned last year against Argentina.
However, after recently coming back from injury, Gabbidon was forced off in the 1st half against Wigan in the sides final home match of the season. He now faces a race to be fit for the play-offs. Should he be, The Bluebirds will have a strong additional to their play-off side.
Star Midfielder: Graham Kavanagh
The grey-haired marvel never fails to impress. For opposition fans, he is the type you love to hate but he has a quality which all fans have to admire. His passing is crucial in the middle, his ability to get forward and exploit spaces is eternally dangerous and his striking abilities are deadly. Add to this, the veteran is a pain in the proverbial and has a knack of winding up opponents to get them in trouble. Kavanagh needs constant attention throughout a game and it was a lack of this which allowed him to run the game at Boundary Park on the opening day of the season, as Cardiff recorded an easy 3-1 win.
Star Attacker: The Rabbit - Robert Earnshaw
When a player is threatened with a fine for his celebrations, you know that he must be celebrating too many times for it to be bad for him. Earnshaw has faced this from his physio several times as every time he scores, he would summersault landing on a leg which wasn't 100%. It didn't stop him though. Nor did it stop the goals.
However, by Earnie's standards he had a "drought" towards the end of the season. After netting a Friday night hat-trick against Tranmere in their 3-3 draw, Earnshaw scored just 2 goals in the next 9 games. Even more amazing, by his standards, he failed to score in 7 consecutive games. That co-incided with Cardiff's poor run of 5 games without a win as they went an amazing 432 minutes without a goal.
Here's the word of warning though - Earnie's back! Worryingly for all teams in the play-offs, it was The Rabbit that ended Cardiff's goalless streak with his 2nd half equaliser at Gresty Road on Saturday. And you know what they say about when they get one - they go on to bag a load. Earnshaw may now be more deadly than ever.
What they say:
Big ambition, big crowds, big squad with big money spent on it. Well surely that deserves big things?!?!
Fans have had a taste of higher league scalps with recent FA Cup victories - notably their friends Leeds last season - and the fans want more.
However, Cardiff's home form has been dodgy this season and towards the end of the campaign, it seemed as though a mental block had appeared. With the fanaticism within the club, it has to be imagined that the crowd are either totally buoyant when all is good or thunderous with anger when things are bad. And recently, at The Ninian, things haven't been at their best. This was typified during The Bluebirds 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Colchester. Fans turned on Lawrence in the 65th minute as he substituted what fans felt was their best player of the game, Gareth Ainsworth. Maybe the fans might become the sides biggest problem, should the game start to slip from their grasp. Who knows?
What we say:
To be honest, we don't like them. To be even more frank, we don't want to ever play them. Latics fans had been hoping that if we didn't win 2nd place, then Cardiff would. Either that or even better Tranmere would catch them and drop The Bluebirds into 7th place. Unfortunately, neither happened.
The truth of the matter is that ideally, we would like to avoid Cardiff and never be in the same league again (preferably them in non-league or even better, back in the Welsh league or is that the same?) However, football is never idealistic. There are many reasons for this attitude towards the Welsh outfit, but just as we hate Manchester United, the main one has to be the arrogance and god-given right to success which the club appears to believe it has. Wigan are the same and with the money both sides have, they should be having success. However, Latics fans love to see Cardiff fail and if we had to beat them in a play-off final - nothing would be sweeter.
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The run in: (final 6 league games)
Chesterfield (a) Won 2-0
Peterborough (a) Lost 2-0
Colchester (h) Lost 3-0
B.City (a) Drew 1-1
Wigan (h) Drew 0-0
Crewe (a) Drew 1-1
Home: W0 D1 L1 - F0 A3 - 1pts
Away: W1 D2 L1 - F4 A4 - 5pts
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Head-to-head: (vs 3 playoff contenders)
vs B.CITY (h) Lost 2-0
vs B.CITY (a) Lost 2-0
Vs Latics (h) Drew 1-1
Vs Latics (a) Won 2-1
vs Qpr (h) Lost 2-1
vs Qpr (a) Won 4-0
P6 - W2 D1 L3 - F9 A8 - 7pts