Cardiff City

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Former Cardiff City defender Greg Halford has switched clubs again.

Halford, now 39, has joined Blyth Spartans, meaning he has now chalked up more than 20 moves in his long career.

The Chelmsford-born player had an 18-month spell at Cardiff City, joining in January 2017.

Halford was part of Neil Warnock’s outfit which gained promotion to the Premier League in 2018.

He left the club after his contract expired that summer having 33 appearances and scored one goal.

Halford began his professional career at Colchester United, making his debut in April 2003.

His versatility – he has operated as a right-back, centre-back, in midfield and even as a striker – has ensured he has attracted £7m of transfer fees during his nomadic football existence.

There were notable moves to Reading, Sunderland and Wolves, while he also played more than 70 league games for Nottingham Forest.

His football journey has taken him from step one to step seven in the FA pyramid and to Aberdeen in Scotland and Waterford in Ireland.

After dropping out of the EFL, he helped Hashtag United win the Isthmian League Northern Division.

Now he will look to add to his 500-plus career appearances with Northern Premier League club Blyth.

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Former Cardiff City winger Sheyi Ojo has joined Slovenian side Maribor.

Ojo, 27, had been without a club after being released by the Bluebirds over the summer.

The former Liverpool youngster made what proved to be his final Cardiff appearance in August 2023, before being sent on loan to Belgian club Kortrijk for the majority of last season.

Ojo made 40 appearances in 2022-23 after joining Cardiff for a second time in July 2022, but fell out of favour under Erol Bulut.

He had previously made 42 appearances for Cardiff during a loan spell in 2020-21.

Ojo has signed a two-year deal with Maribor, who finished second in the Slovenian top flight last season.

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Cardiff City new boy Jesper Daland will have to wait for his chance of a first Norway cap after injury seems to have seen him withdraw from international duty.

Centre-back Daland, a late transfer window signing from Belgian side Cercle Brugge, was called into Norway’s squad for their Nations League games with Kazakhstan and Austria.

But he was not named in the matchday squad for the 0-0 draw in Almaty, and is again missing from the selection to face Austria, with reports suggesting he pulled out of international duty through injury.

The 24-year-old suffered an ankle problem in Cardiff’s 2-0 defeat by Middlesbrough last Saturday, although manager Erol Bulut stressed it was “not a big injury”.

An Under-21 international, Daland is yet to make his senior bow alongside the likes of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard.

Bulut will hope Daland will be available for Saturday’s return to Championship action against Derby.

Cardiff have nine players on international duty, including defender Perry NG who completed a training camp with Singapore as he seeks to earn citizenship.

Prior to Monday night’s match in Montenegro, Aaron Ramsey played 72 minutes’ of Wales’ 0-0 draw with Turkey while Rubin Colwill was an unused substitute.

Neither Callum O’Dowda nor Callum Robinson made it off the bench in Dublin as the Republic of Ireland lost 2-0 to England, though could feature against Greece tomorrow night, for whom Manolis Siopis played 26 minutes as a second-half substitute in their 3-0 win over Finland.

Evan Horvath did not add to his 10 caps for the United States, remaining on the bench as they lost to Canada for the first time since 1957 before Wednesday’s friendly with New Zealand.

Meanwhile, midfielder Andy Rinomhota played 90 minutes as Zimbabwe drew their AFCON qualifier in Kenya, with a fixture against Cameroon coming up on Tuesday.

Image source, BBC Sport

Cardiff City have reached the first international break of 2024-25 after what has been a disappointing start to the season.

Erol Bulut’s side began the campaign with some optimism thanks to the progress made last term and a clutch of new signings.

Yet after four league games, Cardiff are bottom of the early-season Championship table with only one point on the board and 10 league goals conceded.

The point came, of course, in the south Wales derby, when Callum Robinson struck what is to date the Bluebirds’ only league goal this term.

There have been defeats against Sunderland, Burnley and Middlesbrough, leaving Bulut’s men under pressure to deliver a result when they return to action after the international break at Derby County on 14 September.

We asked for your views on the season so far. Here are some of your responses.

Carter: Extremely disappointed with the start of this season. The way the team sets up and the style of play is awful. I'd be happy staying in the Championship with a young exciting team, with players from the academy giving everything they have for the badge. It cannot continue this way. A smart, affable man, with limited experience will never succeed.

Darren: Terrible start to the season. Players don't seem aware of system they are supposed to be playing and their natural game is stifled.

Owen: Undoubtedly a poor start to the season. Having said that, there are good players in the squad and there have been some passages of good play in the games so far. I think the system and formation needs a tweak - with two strikers in a 4-3-1-2, especially at home. There also seem to be issues with fitness and injuries for a few in the squad.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Simon: We have been struggling since mid-last season, especially at home. The style, fluidity and quality of play is woefully bad. That is on Bulut. He should have gone at the end of last season - many fans agreed. But a small, vociferous group of fans and the local media seemed to be having a love-in with him and the club listened. This is the reward!

Tony: The manager needs to change his tactics. We do not press opposing teams and when results don’t go our way, Mr Bulut blames the players! Did he forget that he is the one picking the team? Another disappointing season ahead for the Bluebirds, unfortunately.

Lyndon: The most damning statistic is the one goal. We have been exposed by our failure to acquire a proven goalscorer. We don’t have anyone on the bench to worry our opponents and without a 15-20-goal striker, we are going to struggle

Benj: There’s no way around it, this is an awful, awful start. Having such a huge negative goal difference after four games is shocking. This doesn’t feel like we’ve made any progress since last season. It actually feels like we’ve gone backwards despite signing a few quality players. Bulut needs to change the team. Brutally, and quickly.

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Bluebird Noise: I think it’s time for a steady nerve. Looking beyond the results, we were the better team first half against Burnley, whose bench cost more than our entire squad. Two of our main strikers are injured for three months and Robinson who scored six in pre-season is also not fully fit.

John: Tactically very weak with very little pace or vision throughout the squad which is very worrying. We look very vulnerable on the break as teams seem to find it very easy to get behind us as we struggle to recover and offensively we are so slow and deliberate, teams find it easy to negate our attacks - a very worrying trend!

Gary: Bulut has to go. He’s had time and money to bring players and failed to sign a decent striker, the one position we needed. Ten [goals] against and one for is embarrassing. His tactics are woeful and his football hard to watch.

Rubes: We haven’t been able to score in open play for many seasons now. There is no creativity, no intelligent play. It’s so poor to watch. The manager is obviously to blame as it is nothing new. What has he been doing in the off-season?

Image source, FAW

Manager Iain Darbyshire says Cardiff City Women can be “so proud” despite their heavy defeat to FC Twente in the Champions League first qualifying round.

The Bluebirds were beaten 7-0 by the Dutch champions in Enschede on Wednesday.

But Darbyshire insisted the Adran Premier champions could have done no more.

“I'm so proud of the players,” he told the club’s website.

“For 70 minutes, we were competing and we were in the game against a team that are one of the best in Europe.

“They played Ajax last weekend and beat them very comfortably and they're full time professionals, full of international talent.”

Cardiff have lost some key players this summer, with a number of younger players coming into the club as they prepare for the new Adran Premier season.

Darbyshire says his side are “in a good position” building up to the domestic campaign.

But before their league opener, at Wrexham on 15 September, Cardiff play a third-place game as part of a Champions League mini-tournament.

The Welsh side will face North Macedonia’s FK Ljuboten this Saturday.

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Midfielder Kieron Evans hopes his maiden goal for Newport County in the EFL Trophy will be the first of many at the League Two club.

The 22-year-old, who is on a season-long loan from Championship side Cardiff City, gave County a first-half lead at home to Cheltenham Town on Tuesday.

But the visitors came from behind to beat the Exiles, who had Jacob Carney sent off before half-time.

“It’s always nice to get off the mark early doors so hopefully now it’s going to come more often,” said Evans.

“If you watched the first half I thought we played really well, but second half we were up against it a bit.

“On Saturday [at Morecambe], I came on for 15 to 20 minutes and the gaffer (Nelson Jardim) has said ‘just go and express yourself, drive with the ball’, so that’s what I went out and did."

Evans says he is hungry to gain League Two experience after previous loan spells in the National League, with Torquay and Gateshead.

“I’m just excited to push myself at this level," he added.

"The gaffer and Daf (assistant boss Dafydd Williams) have been brilliant since I’ve come in and the way they play is brilliant.

"It’s exactly what I like to do, play on the floor, so it’ll suit me perfectly.”

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Nine Cardiff City players have been selected to represent their countries during the September international break.

Aaron Ramsey and Rubin Colwill are in the Wales squad for the Nations League games against Turkey and Montenegro.

Craig Bellamy has confirmed Bluebirds midfielder Ramsey will remain captain for the new Wales head coach's first games in charge.

Cardiff pair Callum O'Dowda and Callum Robinson have been included in the Republic of Ireland's 23-man squad for the upcoming Nations League matches against England and Greece.

They could face midfield team-mate Manolis Siopis who is in the Greece squad for the game against Ireland and also Finland.

Goalkeeper Ethan Horvath has joined up with the U.S national team to face Canada and New Zealand in two friendly matches.

New signing Jesper Daland is on duty with the Norway squad as they begin their Nations League campaign with a visit to Kazakhstan, before hosting Austria on Monday.

Andy Rinomhota has been included in the Zimbabwe squad for their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Kenya and Cameroon.

And right-back Perry Ng has moved a step closer to playing for Singapore after training with their national squad this week.

Cardiff return to Championship action against Derby County on Saturday, 14 September.

It's not been the start to the Championship season Cardiff City fans were hoping for.

Four games in and just one point - and just one goal - to their names, the Bluebirds are spending the international break bottom of the table.

There were boos for manager Erol Bulut and the side after the weekend defeat by Middlesbrough that means - at this early stage - it's the worst start to a Cardiff league campaign since 1989.

And some of the guests on Call Rob Phillips didn't hold back either.

But how concerned are you about the signs so far from the Bluebirds? Is it just a matter of time before the team clicks with new signings still settling in?

Or are you worried that there is something lacking in the team?

What would you change in time for the trip to Derby a week on Saturday.

You can have your say by sending us your views here, external

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Defender Malachi Fagan-Walcott has left Cardiff City for a season-long loan at National League side York City.

The 22-year-old former Tottenham graduate spent the second half of 2023-24 on loan at Scottish club Dunfermline and made his Championship debut for the Bluebirds against Burnley in August.

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Cardiff City are enduring their worst start to a league campaign in 35 years.

Beaten 2-0 by Middlesbrough at the weekend, the Bluebirds are yet to win in their opening four league games.

Currently bottom of the Championship table, Erol Bulut’s side have managed to pick up just one point in that run – their worst return since the start of the 1989-90 season.

Cardiff were in the old Third Division that year, manager Frank Burrows resigning just two games into the campaign to be replaced by Len Ashurst.

Their only point came in a 2-2 draw against Brentford with Jimmy Gilligan on the scoresheet in front of less than 3,500 at Ninian Park.

They would eventually be relegated to the fourth tier, having had to wait nine games for their first win.

Cardiff also had to wait until nine fixtures into a season for their first win in 2018, although that was in the demands of the top tier after promotion under Neil Warnock.

Even then, the Bluebirds had already mustered two draws by this stage of the league season, with the current Cardiff crop having only one - the south Wales derby draw at Swansea.

In terms of second tier football, you have to go back 43 years to the start of the 1981-82 campaign for the last time Cardiff failed to pick up more than a point from their first four games, opening the season with a 2-2 draw at Oldham before winning 3-2 at Luton five fixtures in.

Cardiff – who are below Luton on goal difference with one goal scored and 10 conceded – will have to wait until after the international break if they are to show this is a blip when they head to new boys Derby County.

And, should they break their duck, manager Bulut – who has promised changes to his side after the winless start – can take comfort from the fact his side only had four points from their first five games last year but went on to push on towards the Championship play-offs before the end of the campaign.

Image source, Getty Images

Neil Warnock has paid an emotional tribute to Sol Bamba following the 39-year-old's passing.

Warnock was a long-time admirer of the Ivory Coast international and made him his first signing as Cardiff City boss in October 2016.

Bamba was a pivotal figure under the Yorkshireman as Cardiff staved off relegation in his first season in south Wales before gaining promotion into the Premier League in 2017-18 - with Bamba featuring in all 46 of the Bluebirds' Championship matches that season.

Paying tribute to Bamba on X, Warnock - who also worked with the centre-back at Middlesbrough - wrote: "I can’t believe I won’t see that beaming smile again.

"I’m so happy that Sol was part of my life and we had such brilliant memories together.

"I’m heartbroken for Chloe and the family and all my thoughts are with them.

"Sol was a ray of sunshine and I’ll miss him so much."

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Cardiff City are hopeful that centre-back Jesper Daland's ankle injury is not serious.

Daland, who joined the Bluebirds from Cercle Brugge earlier this month, was forced off during Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough.

The 24-year-old Norwegian twice received treatment on the pitch before eventually being replaced by Dimitrios Goutas in the 43rd minute.

“I think it’s not a big injury," said Cardiff manager Erol Bulut.

"He twisted his ankle. The player stepped on his ankle."

With Championship football now taking a break for a period of international fixtures, Cardiff will not be in action again until they visit Derby County on Saturday, 14 September.

The loss to Middlesbrough was Cardiff's third from four league games this season, leaving them bottom of the table with only one point and one goal to their name.