Mark Hudson, the interim Cardiff manager and possibly in the ring and on the ropes this Sunday has issued a call to arms to his players. Someone who knows the Welsh derby and it’s meaning with over 160 appearances for the bluebirds is riding on the back of two defeats this week.

He really needs inspiration from somewhere. As does his team.

The 3-0 loss at Queens Park Rangers was indication the club need some serious intervention to avoid a season of woe for bluebirds followers, and really the issue remains with the clubs hierarchy and choice of leadership in the dressing room. Quick fix appointments rarely work and the recently departed Steve Morison was hardly given the opportunities Russell Martin has at Swansea. The clubs fans have a desire for continuity and want to see their academy products flourish in the first team. To an extent that has happened but a team fighting in every fixture like it’s a cup game isn’t the answer. It can get very tiring. Turning every game in to a must win fixture won’t work at any club, especially with club stalwarts like Hudson literally being spoken of as on his last chance each game.

The pressure will tell.

Hudson has experienced the derby as a player and as a captain of his club. To experience the highs under any manager you need to experience the lows and see how a manager deals with those moments. Cardiff will sack a manager after a run of defeats as Neil Harris, Steve Morison and Mick McCarthy have found out in recent times. They are not unique in that though, but how many clubs actually stay strong and solid after six defeats and say ‘let’s hang on in there and see where this takes us’ How can a club develop a style and footprint when the manager isn’t consistent ?

That’s why it will be seen as further evidence of Cardiff’s lack of direction in the dressing room if Hudson is relieved of his duties after this weekend. He has experience, after his retirement at Huddersfield Town, he stayed in West Yorkshire in a coaching capacity and was twice put in interim charge at the John Smith’s Stadium, after the respective sackings of David Wagner and Jan Siewert.

Surely there has to come a time when someone young and energetic with some form of plan is retained at Cardiff City ?

Swansea lost Steve Cooper in the summer of last year, he was going anyway either by fate or design, and that is an anomaly when you refer back to Graham Potter, Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers all leaving due to their success not failure. Surely that’s how you consistently develop a style and reputation as a football club ?

Hudson may well be on the merry go round come the end of the derby game on Sunday, and even Swansea City fans will want to see a competitive and hard game before taking the points of course. These games have never been the barometer to evaluate either clubs standing in football, currently it’s just a twice yearly test to have what is now called ‘bragging rights’ When Hudson said. "We will muster an eleven and we will go there and put a performance together we should be proud of. I don't think you can look at form going into the game. It's important to us, we have spoken about it already. We will go there on Sunday, stick together and show them what we are about."

That’s the war cry and Cardiff fans expect nothing less than words like that going in to a game as important as this. And it is. How Cardiff supporters dealt with last seasons losses was impressive, turning to Bristol City once again to cite a bigger rivalry. Which any Cardiff fan I know will say is nonsense. And no mention of Bristol Rovers either. This is the Welsh derby, a one off attempt to stamp authority over the opposition between two cities, the biggest cities in Wales. I fail to see how any other game can be compared as of more importance. There are YouTube clips of Cardiff fans celebrating Swansea City failing in play offs, cup games and in Europe I’ve yet to see such enthusiasm for such defeats when Bristol City fall or fail to win a game.

The success of Swansea City must be hard to take at times, especially during the premier league years and winning a major trophy dispatching Liverpool at Anfield and a full strength Chelsea side over two unbeaten legs. We could go far deeper. Hudson brings his side to Swansea with one view and one goal, to win the game. And that’s as much as he can do come Sunday. Both sets of fans will raise the temperature this weekend, it’s a sell out and to be honest if the game kicked off at five in the morning it still would be. That’s the measure of this game, the impact of a loss can hurt for weeks, work colleagues across the towns that divide the loyalty of either club will goad each other and dispute the game in conversation. I want to see a competitive Cardiff City as well, in recent times this derby has been a routine turn up and win fixture for Swansea City. Of course, at no point do I want to see a bluebirds victory, but that is bound to happen at some point. Cardiff City will see this game as a turning point in their clubs fortunes in this derby if they do win, Swansea City will want to continue their success as they go in search of the treble.

Both sides have players who haven’t experienced this fixture before, but you can be rest assured they will know all about it come two o’clock on Sunday afternoon. Regardless of the result.

Swansea City v Cardiff City kicks off at noon on Sunday.

Photographs licensed from Reuters