Cardiff City's collapse at the end of 2008/09 was spectacular and while Dave Jones remains in charge he is struggling to hang on to his better players as they look to make ammends this season.

Last Season: 7th Cardiff enhanced their growing reputation as chokers with a remarkable end to a season that seemed certain to end in play off football at the very, very least. At one stage they looked set to push on for the top two and when they beat Derby, Palace and Burnley in consecutive games in April Premiership football looked likely. But a remarkable last four games in which they conceded 12 goals, including six at Preston who would subsequently beat them to sixth on goals scored, and took only one point to finish empty handed. Given the choice of last day fixtures having to win Preston’s home game with QPR looked the plum, but Cardiff’s trip to a crap Sheffield Wednesday side for whom the season ended months previously was not far behind. To lose that game 1-0 underlined the spectacular nature of the collapse and the inquest was a long and bloody one. Dave Jones survived, but is unlikely to do so if City choke again this season – remember Cardiff were top of the league and apparently running away with it in 2006/07 before crashing into the lower half of the table. The failure to reach the Premiership, and the club’s mounting debt which they seem completely oblivious to when splashing out in the transfer market, could cost them a number of their best players with Roger Johnson already elsewhere and Joe Ledley and Ross McCormack making come to bed eyes at the Premiership’ lesser lights.

Head to Head: Cardiff were beaten 1-0 a Loftus Road in a dour game in November settled by a late, looping header by Gavin Mahon at the Loft End. There was little to entertain the masses at Ninian Park later in the campaign either as QPR had marginally the better of a dire 0-0 draw. Heidar Helguson missed a late chance and Wayne Routledge got plenty of grief after choosing Rangers over the Bluebirds during the January transfer window but otherwise the small army of QPR fans were left to sing their songs and reminisce about memorable late goals from Ray Jones and Richard Langley on their final visit to that ground.
QPR 1 Cardiff 0
Cardiff 0 QPR 0

Odds: City are just behind Rangers in the betting with Tote and Ladbrokes offering 22/1 title odds and William Hill coming in as low as 16/1.

The Manager: Dave Jones is now one of the most experienced managers in the Championship but the noises coming out of Cardiff following their dramatic collapse at the end of last season was that he might no longer be considered the best man for this job. Personally I would not envy any manager working for Peter Ridsdale and the financial situation at City looks to be a recipe for future disaster and Jones seems to be doing a sound job to me, if he can just manage to convince his players to see the job through to the end of a 46 game season. Jones cut his managerial teeth at Stockport and after winning two promotions with them also did well at Southampton until revelations about his private life, which he tackles with great honesty and anger in his recently released autobiography ‘No Smoke, No Fire’ caused good old Rupert Lowe to shit on him from a great height. He won promotion with Wolves after returning to football and has done a good job at Cardiff so far. The problem he now has though is that a number of his better players are now looking to move onto the Premiership without him and Cardiff, I cannot help but feel they may have missed the boat last season and a great deal of rebuilding will be required if the likes of Ledley and McCormack join Johnson through the exit door. It is doubtful if that turns out to be the case that patience in South Wales will stretch far enough for Jones to be left in post for another two or three seasons to do it.
Survival Chances – 4/10

Players: One thing Cardiff do have in their team this season straight away is goals. Despite saying he never wanted to return to the Championship again after a £5m move to Sunderland, Michael Chopra is back in a blue shirt this season and if he stays injury free that’s 20 goals at least for them right there. His return to this level is inevitable, because he is simply not good enough for the one above, but he is plenty good enough against Championship defences and is a sound signing. The other big news this summer surrounds departures though. Roger Johnson and Darren Purse have gone from the defence, necessitating the signing of Mark Hudson from Charlton and Paul Quinn from Motherwell. Ross McCormack was last season’s success story after signing from the Mothers – he scored 21 goals in all competitions but rarely impressed me when I saw him and it is worth remembering, certainly for Premiership teams planning on spending millions on him, that Cardiff got an incredible 19 penalties last season, roughly one every ten minutes, and that boosted his goal scoring total by ten. Joe Ledley is a different matter – clearly a class act and a big loss if he does leave, especially as his contract situation means they will have to accept a lower transfer fee than he is worth.
Likely Star Man – Joe Ledley if he stays, Michael Chopra otherwise

Transfers:
In:
Michael Chopra from Sunderland – £3m
Mark Hudson from Crystal Palace - £1m
Anthony Gerrard from Walsall – Undisclosed
David Marshall from Norwich City – Undisclosed
Paul Quinn from Motherwell – Undisclosed
Out:
Roger Johnson to Birmingham City - £5m
Darren Purse to Sheffield Wednesday – Free

Prediction: With Chopra back in the attack and Ledley and McCormack still with the club at the time of writing Cardiff have a top six squad at their disposal make no mistake. But with unhappy players wanting away, a defence weakened by the departure of Roger Johnson, and further players through the exit door likely it remains to be seen if Cardiff can first of all enjoy a good season and second of all hang on right through the 46 games and not die on their arse before the end again.
Verdict: Play off push if they hold onto Ledley.

Photo: Action Images

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