New writer, Jon Lewis, looks at how Cardiff City have started to rebuild and reconnect with their fans.
Plenty can be said about the progress and actions of Cardiff City over the past decade, but one of the biggest issues has been the disconnect between the fans and the club. We can point to a very “colourful” reason for this, but there has been progress and some level of redemption. No matter how old we get, we yearn to see ourselves in our club. To see players and staff who know what it means to be a Bluebird, to see someone wearing the badge with pride. To see people who have grown with, and into, the club celebrate a goal like it’s their first. And to also see them aching after every defeat; scrutinising and analysing every little part of the game to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Not every fan punched the air in delight at the appointment of Neil Warnock as manager of Cardiff City. But one of his earliest decisions should be lauded as a master stroke. The decision to bring Andy Dibble back to the club as goalkeeping coach.
Andy Dibble
It might have been over 30 years since Dibble’s last appearance with a Bluebird on his shirt, but it was an appointment that would give an insight into Warnock’s managerial vision. Surely the main reason Warnock brought Dibble back to Cardiff was as a result of their time working together. They’d last worked together during the former’s stint as Rotherham’s saviour at the end of 2015-16 season.
However, as anyone who has had Neil Warnock as manager of their club will know, he has a desire to ensure a connection between himself, his family, his staff and his players, and the club they represent. When you’re in need of a new goalkeeping coach, at a time when a club is low on confidence, who better to turn to than a man with 400 career appearances for club and country, with a 12 year coaching career under his belt. But most importantly an instant connection to the club he is joining.
Sticking with Cardiff
Dibble’s appointment felt like a step forward, a step towards unity. When managers come and go, coaches are certain to follow. Warnock has his trusty lieutenants in Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jepson; with David Livermore assisting Neil Harris throughout managerial stints at Millwall and Cardiff City. Upon Neil Harris’s appointment as Cardiff manager there was no mention of a change of goalkeeping coach though. Then, when Warnock made yet another return to the managerial merry go round, Andy Dibble’s name was not mentioned as part of the new Middlesbrough coaching set-up either. A sure sign that Andy Dibble is finally “home”.
Any manager in football would do well to review Neil Warnock’s career and understand that his continued success in the second tier of English football is as much to do with his actions off the pitch as it is to do with the way his teams play on it. The club now appears to have renewed ambitions to carry things forward, akin to Warnock’s attitude. With an overwhelming number of Bluebirds also being Wales supporters, we shouldn’t be surprised by the recent spate of established Welsh squad members being recruited by the club. Clearly a sign of that Cardiff City is attempting to reconnect with the fans.
Cardiff City Reconnect: Role of Home Grown Talent
It feels no coincidence that over the past decade, when relationships between the fans and club have been fractured, the conveyor belt of home grown talent has been stuttering. Over that time there have been a number of academy products making league and cup appearances for the club. But, for the first time since Joe Ralls and Declan John broke in to the first team, the club can claim to have graduates who look capable of making the grade. The emerging talents of Mark Harris and Joel Bagan.
Any young player attempting to progress to the first team squad needs the perfect mix of talent, ability and enthusiasm. However, with the right time, support and guidance, these players can rise to the top of a club. Finding and nurturing these young players can be a challenge; but there are few professional clubs that don’t possess a first team player who has risen through the ranks. It is these players that allow our youngest fans to form instant connections to a club; to see what they could dream of becoming. As those fans get older, and their ability, or lack of it, starts to show; the next generation of home grown talent are needed to grow new connections between the squad and fans.
It’s not every year a club will have young players coming through and cementing their place in the first team squad. Therein lies the importance of coaches and managers who are connected to the club themselves. Staff who can transmit the passion and soul of the club to players that may not fully understand what it means to be a Bluebird. Does Andy Dibble do this? Let’s hope. What his position at the club should do is reassure. It gives fans a connection to the club beyond the players, a feeling of pride seeing him in the stand. A sense that he goes above and beyond what is needed to get the best out of the goalkeepers at the club.
David Hughes: new Academy Head of Coaching
The aspirations of the club to forge its own direction, regardless of any first team managerial set up, was shown with a more recent appointment. Former defender David Hughes in as the clubs new Academy Head of Coaching. Not only bringing in someone with an extensive career in youth management and coaching, but someone with an understanding of what it means to be part of the club. Each appointment to the club needs the same time and patience that should be afforded to any young player. But every time the club appears to look back with the hiring of a former player, it should be seen as a step forward.
Whether a new manager is appointed in the summer, or Mick McCarthy earns a contract extension, City will do well to keep building connections between the fans and the club. Whether it be through first team game time for youth players or with the appointment of former players into roles and positions that match their coaching experience.
IMAGES: Fans Jon Candy, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Ralls Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons / Dibble Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons