Cardiff City v Ipswich Town
Saturday 18th March 2017 - 15:00
Cardiff City Stadium
Opening Thought – Jamma
Looking for positives, as I generally try to do, one good thing about following Ipswich at the moment is that at least they should win you some money at the bookies or on the pools…! Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Barnsley was the seventh time the points had been shared in the last eight games involving the Blues, and the fifth outing of the last six that had produced that scoreline. But for those who hadn’t backed the draw – at a surprisingly generous 9/4 – or added Town to their pools coupon, there was precious little to cheer at Oakwell other than Tom Lawrence’s late equaliser. If you were looking for a composite of Ipswich Town’s matches in 2016/17, Saturday would have come pretty close. The Blues have enough possession but labour in the final third, while the opposition – invariably ‘a good side’ – pass the ball more incisively and enjoy the lion’s share of the chances. We surrender what little initiative we have from an attacking set piece, only to see our opponents win the ball back and break away to score. Once again, we are left thankful for our two standout performers of the season to salvage a point – Bartosz Bialkowski making a classy save to keep us in it before Lawrence popped up with a 93rd-minute strike to secure a barely-deserved draw. It’s got to the stage where the wider football community has even started to take notice of how predictable we are – my Inter Milan-supporting boss stopped asking how Ipswich got on at the weekend after draw No. 4 on the bounce!
So, with the threat of relegation refusing to go away, the question of most immediate concern is can we afford to sustain this ‘form’ and still be sure of being a Championship club come August? Going by the 50 points usually required to stay up, the nine fixtures remaining should be more than enough to see us finish above the dreaded dotted line. You would certainly sooner be in our position than some of the other big clubs down there like Nottingham Forest and Wolves (albeit the latter breathing down our neck with a game in hand). And yet the way in which Town have almost stumbled to the last three results hardly fills you with confidence. Yes, we can take heart from the fact that we are still unbeaten in eight matches, but at the same time we have been fortunate not to lose the last three. I certainly don’t fancy the prospect of going into back-to-back home games at the beginning of next month against two potential rivals for the drop with the need for points as well as the added pressure that accompanies every match at Portman Road at the moment. But before the visits of Birmingham and Wigan is a meeting with a revitalised Cardiff City. The Bluebirds are unrecognisable from the team that was staring relegation in the face prior to Neil Warnock’s appointment in October. The man who everyone loves to hate has galvanised the club in much the same way as he did Rotherham this time last year, and they look well set to compete at the right end of the table in 2017/18. Questions will inevitably be asked about whether Ipswich should have gone down a similar route, as we look to turn the draws into a much needed 3 points.
The Opposition – Cardiff City FC
Riverside A.F.C. was formed in 1899 as a way of keeping players from the Riverside Cricket Club together and in shape during the winter months. In 1905, Cardiff was granted city status by King Edward VII, and as a result the club put in a request to change their name to Cardiff City, but the request was turned down as they were deemed to not be playing at a high enough level. To combat this, they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907 and the following year they were granted permission to change the name of the club to Cardiff City.
Over the next two years, the club welcomed many of Britain's top sides to Cardiff, including Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Crystal Palace, with the matches being played at various grounds in Cardiff and nearby towns. The club would eventually move into their new ground, Ninian Park, in 1910.
With the new ground in place, Cardiff joined the Southern League Second Division. Their first match was a 2–1 defeat to Aston Villa. They stayed in the division for the next decade, apart from when the league was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I.
The club's most successful period so far has been the 1920s, in which they finished runners-up in the old Football League First Division, followed by two FA Cup finals in 1925 and 1927, the latter against Arsenal. The final against Arsenal saw Cardiff become the only team to have taken the FA Cup out of England, with a 1–0 victory. The final was also notable as it was the first to be broadcast to the nation by BBC Radio.
On 30 August 1920, Cardiff City played their first Football League match at Ninian Park.
This early Cardiff City team showed more than enough class to match others in the league, and they were promoted to the top flight of English Football at the first attempt.
1923–24 has proved to be the best ever in the league for Cardiff City. After a dramatic season in which they and Huddersfield Town tussled for the Championship title, Cardiff would have to settle for 2nd spot on goal average.
The following season was the first time Cardiff City appeared at Wembley Stadium in an FA Cup final, versus Sheffield United, which they lost 1-0, and, as mentioned above, in 1927 they won the FA Cup final against Arsenal.
That FA Cup win was not the end of their cup exploits that season; they also won the Welsh Cup, defeating Rhyl by a scoreline of 2–0, and would go on to win the FA Charity Shield after beating the Corinthians 2–1 at Stamford Bridge.
In the 1928–29 season, Cardiff City were relegated from the First Division of the Football League. However, this was only a sign of things to come for the Bluebirds, and after two seasons in the Second Division, they were once again relegated in 1931 into Division 3 South, and in 1934 they had to re-apply to stay in the Football League after finishing last.
They were crowned champions of Division 3 South and returned to the Second Division in the 1946–47 season. Finally, they finished second level runners-up and returned to the top level after 23 years in the 1951–52 season.
During the 1960s, Cardiff began qualifying for European competition for the first time through the Welsh Cup. Two years later, the club would go on to reach the semi-final of the Cup Winners’ Cup, the furthest any non-top division club has ever gone in European competition.
The club remained in the old Second Division except for the 1975–76 and 1982–83 seasons.
Between 1985 and 1993, Cardiff were continuously in the lower two divisions of the league after being relegated to the Third Division. They were relegated to the Fourth Division once in the 1985–86 season and were promoted to the Third Division in 1987–88 as runners-up. Two years later, they dropped into the Fourth Division for the second time. Cardiff won the new Division Three championship in 1993 but were relegated two years later, and in 1996 finished in their lowest ever league position – 22nd of 24 in Division Three. They finished third in Division Three in 1999 and won automatic promotion to Division Two.
Having sold his interests in Wimbledon, Sam Hammam purchased control of Cardiff City in August 2000. Shortly after he took over at Cardiff, the club crest was redesigned. This new design incorporated the Cardiff City bluebird in front of the Flag of Saint David, and featured the Club's nickname superimposed at the top of the crest. Lennie Lawrence guided Cardiff to promotion via a Division Two play-off triumph in 2003.
The Bluebirds established themselves in Division One during the 2003–04 season, finishing in 13th position. They struggled to a 16th position finish at the end of the 2004–05 campaign and ended the 2005–06 season with an 11th position finish.
After failing to get the new stadium plans agreed by Cardiff Council due to concerns over financial security in 2006, Hammam agreed to a takeover by a consortium led by new chairman Peter Ridsdale but the club remained £40 million in debt.
Datuk Chan Tien Ghee (TG) took over as chairman on 27 May 2010 after a meeting on the same day. Vincent Tan also invested and joined the board.
Cardiff changed their home colours to red and black, as well as their badge, from the 2012–13 season in exchange for an investment plan from the Malaysian owners, including a new training facility, stadium expansion and a transfer budget. Cardiff topped the Championship and with it gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time, but were relegated after only one season with 30 points from 38 matches.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær was sacked on 18 September 2014, and replaced by Leyton Orient manager Russell Slade.
On 2 January 2015, Cardiff beat Colchester United in the FA Cup in front of the lowest ever recorded crowd of 4,194 at the Cardiff City Stadium, which prompted an emergency meeting of the Cardiff Board. A week later, the club announced an official statement, saying that, after deliberation with members of the board and chosen fans, the club's home colours would be changed back to blue with immediate effect.
On 5 October 2016, Neil Warnock was appointed First Team manager of Cardiff City.
Last season, Cardiff finished in 8th place in the Championship table on 68 points.
The Gaffer – Neil Warnock
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Let's see if Warnock and Bamba can keep their hands off each other this time
Media Watch - K L Blue
Tom Lawrence on Cardiff game
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... _1_4931364
McGreal confirms Towns Interest
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/31352/
Form Guide
Cardiff Last 5 Matches – Currently in 13th place with 48 points
Cardiff City 1-1 Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Cardiff City
QPR 2-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff City 2-2 Fulham FC
Cardiff City 5-0 Rotherham
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 16th place with 45 points
Barnsley 1-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 0-0 Wolverhampton
Ipswich Town 1-1 Brentford FC
Norwich City 1-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 1-1 Leeds United
Fixtures of Interest
BIRMINGHAM VS NEWCASTLE
BURTON VS BRENTFORD
Q.P.R. VS ROTHERHAM
THE DON CUP
Excellent week of captions, probably the best this season for laugh out loud funnies. Was even minding my own business making a cup of tea at one point, singing "head, shoulders, tits and toes", to which the wife overheard and asked "What is that you are singing?" Oops!
SCORES:
Barmy Billy 5pts
Frosty & Blueblood (shoulders, tits, toes) 4pts
Nicsreamer & Derick 3pts
Bluemike & Tangfastic 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
DerickIpsw 64
Gold&Black 63
Blueblood 61
Nicscreamer 54
Herforder 51
Frosty 51
Ando 48
Bluemike 48
Tangtastic 48
Number 9 30
Shed on Tour 27
Watership Down 27
Quasar 27
Patthegimp 17
IpswichtownNo1 15
Ashfordblue 10
Barmy Billy 7
LoudNProud 6
Supershred 3
Longjohn 1
Foxy Lady 1
ItfcTrev76 1
Try this one....... The future of Cardiff City:
Match Referee – James Linington
Final Thought - Bluemike
So Nine games to go and Forty Five points on the board, Seven clear of the drop zone. There is always much speculation as to what the safety mark is but by and large it is generally accepted that Fifty points will almost certainly see you safe so we need just Five more points right, well let's set a target of Fifty Two just to be on the safe side meaning it's seven more required to guarantee our Sixteenth conscutive Championship campaign. It all sounds crazy to even be talking about what we need to stay up considering we are Eight games unbeaten and personally I do not even think we are in a relegation scrap, blinkered ? Maybe I am but one thing that cannot be argued with is that we are hard to beat right now and are not losing games, that alone will ensure we are fine, as long as we continue to scrap away for points, even when we are not deserving of anything, like at Barnsley last weekend. I cannot recall ever celebrating a dull boring game more than I did at Oakwell, so bad were we it felt like a victory as the second half was torrid to watch and no way on earth did we look like salvaging anything. The very fact we scored in the Ninety Third minute tells you that the team are trying their damndest even when not playing well, they keep going to the very end and on this occasion grabbed something when all looked lost.
So let's go back to this final Nine games and see where these Seven points are going to come from. First up is Cardiff who it has to be said are a team transformed under Neil Warnock, I have this down as Zero points for Town I am afraid to say, next up we have Two massive Home games in the space of Four days, Birmingham who are in freefall on the Saturday and struggling Wigan the following Tuesday, for me this is where we secure our fate, I have this down as a Six point haul putting us on the cusp of safety. I see the run in as follows :- Fulham (0), Burton (1), Newcastle (0), Rotherham (3), Sheff Wed (0) and Forest (1), that is another Five points giving us Eleven more in total taking us to Fifty Six, safe as houses seeing as Bristol City would need to win at least Six more and Wigan Seven or Eight, and that won't happen so relax everyone !!!!! God what have I done !!!
As I have already stated I see little return from the trip to Cardiff, I just don't fancy us at all, we are due a defeat, they are playing well, the Warnock factor, you name it. Having said all of that I didn't really fancy us at Preston, Villa, Brighton & Norwich and we all know what happened at all of them so you just never know. Either way I am looking forward to my second trip to the Cardiff City Stadium and hope it is far more enjoyable than last season's borefest, coming home with anything at all will be a big bonus, after the inept display in Yorkshire last weekend I think we are at least entitled to expect a bit of a reaction from the Town players. COYB'S
CARDIFF CITY 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
Have you heard of an area of Glasgow called Easthouses? The saying up here, when things could be safer, is; "Safe as houses, feckin Easthouses!" 
not quite 50 yet !!!
