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Manager:
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Dave
Jones |
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Owner:
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Dato
Chan Tien Ghee |
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Ground
Name:
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Cardiff
City Stadium |
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Capacity:
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26,828 |
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Last
Season Prediction:
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9th
in the Championship |
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Last
Season Position
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4th
in the Championship |
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Official
Web Site:
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www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk |
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All
Time Top Scorer
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Len
Davis (148) |
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Dave Jones is an
excellent manager, one of the best in the division and he has done
well at every club he's been at. He started his career at Stockport
County where he took them to the Championship and reached the League
Cup semi final where they narrowly lost to Middleborough.
He moved on to join Southampton and
did brilliantly for them taking them into the top half playing some
exciting football. He was dismissed though over allegations made
again him regarding child abuse. Those allegations were proved to
false but he was never given his job back and sued the club for
unfair dismissal.
Jones reputation was tainted despite
the allegations being false, he got his next chance at Wolves where
he built a very good side which finally won promotion in 2003 via
the playoffs, the same weekend that we lost in Cardiff.
He couldn't keep his side in the Premiership
and despite a decent season back in the Championship he was sacked
and moved onto Cardiff. It's been a real success for him in Wales
where he has built several very good sides having sell on many of
the players along the way. He reached the FA Cup Final in 2008 and
will consider himself unfortunate to have lost the playoff final
last season.
Jones is an excellent manager
who certainly deserves another crack at the Premiership.
Cardiff had a good season last time out, their
first in a new stadium which ended with a trip to Wembley. As ever
Dave Jones had them well organised but added more flair to the attack
with Michael Chopra who had a very good partnership with Jay Boothroyd
all season. The pair of them linked well together and were regular
goalscorers for Cardiff.
Cardiff were always around the playoff places and
the twenty goals from midfield of Peter Whittingham gave them a
faint hope of automatic promotion at one stage but they drew too
many games to make that a reality.
Cardiff made the playoffs with several games to spare
and looked impressive in the semi final first leg beating Leicester
1-0. The return game was a thriller and after taking an early lead
things went wrong with the side falling 3-1 behind before scoring
late to take the game into extra time. The game went to penalties
and Cardiff just squeezed past Leicester after a comical effort
from Leicester's Yann Kermorgant and an excellent save from a Waghorn
penalty sent Cardiff to Wembley.
The final was deemed a make or break game for
them with the clubs financial future still far from clear. Cardiff
twice lead in the final but couldn't find a third goal and ended
up losing to Ian Holloway's Blackpool to leave them proud of a good
season but ultimately stuck in the Championship for another year.
Tom Heaton
Tom Heaton was signed on a free transfer this summer
and is a goalkeeper who looks like he could be an outstanding talent
for the Welsh club.
Heaton had a previous loan spell at Cardiff and also
enjoyed spells at QPR and Wycombe last season. He failed to make
a single appearance for Manchester United but that is certainly
no blight on him considering the goalkeeping talent available at
Old Trafford.
Heaton is an excellent shot stopper and has a strong
command of his area and his back four. He is confident coming for
the ball at set pieces and made a name for himself at Wycombe producing
two brilliant penalty saves.
This is a big step up for Heaton to be playing
regular Championship football but in a tight league his ability
could be worth 10 points or more to Dave Jones side.
It looks a tough time ahead for Cardiff
City. They have a transfer embargo placed on them and face real
financial woes which could threaten to put them out of business.
The club being placed into administration is a real threat as well
which would lead to an almost certain relegation battle but manager
Dave Jones will still be expected to win promotion, good luck with
that Mr Jones.
Cardiff have lost Joe Ledley this summer but have
so far retained the services of the excellent Peter Whittingham
in midfield. Michael Chopra will again be a key man for them up
front, if he can get among the goals again they should have a good
season. They look on paper to be a decent side but it remains to
be seen how they react to the off the field problems, this can sometimes
galvanize a team to perform beyond expectations but can also have
the reverse effect.
Due to this they are a difficult side to predict
but they do look to have too much quality to struggle so I'll tip
them for a disappointing mid table finish.
On St George's Day, 23 April 1927, Wembley Stadium,
London; the FA Cup was taken out of England for the first and only
time when Cardiff City won the 1927 Final, defeating Arsenal, thanks
to a goal by Cardiff City cult hero, Hughie Ferguson.
In the 74th minute, collecting a throw from the right,
Ferguson hurried a tame shot toward the Arsenal goal. Dan Lewis,
the Arsenal goalkeeper, appeared to collect the ball but, under
pressure from the advancing Len Davies, clumsily allowed the ball
to roll through his grasp. In a desperate attempt to retrieve the
ball Lewis only succeeded in knocking the ball with his elbow into
his own net.
It is believed that this cup final attracted one
of the highest audiences ever, as it was the first to be broadcast
by BBC Radio.
Captain Fred Keenor received the FA Cup trophy from
King George V only 7 years after Cardiff City had entered the Football
League and six seasons since they had been promoted to the top division.
Chris
Barker was the first choice left back for several years at Cardiff
during the clubs time in division two and in the Championship. Barker
played against QPR in the 2003 play off final and was a regular
for the Welsh side until he left on loan to Colchester in 2006 before
joining QPR in 2007 and helping to prove than snails can run faster
than man.
Other players to play
for both clubs has been Matthew Brazier who came through the QPR
youth set up in the 1990's and ended up dropping down a few divisions
to do a decent job for Cardiff.
One player who always
split fans of both clubs is Richard Langley The talented midfield
player looked to have a big future ahead of him before he picked
up a bad injury in 2001. He came back strong as a right winger rather
than a central midfield player and with more space out wide he began
to create a little more and score more goals.
He had an excellent
season in 2003 where his goals played a huge part in us getting
into the playoffs but it was then that many fans fell out of love
with him. Langley scored an equaliser at Oldham before being sent
off for what looked a nothing incident. He missed the second leg
and the final which many feel cost us a chance of promotion.
The following season
he started well scoring in the first two games of the season before
being sold to the team that beat us in those playoffs.
Langley did ok at Cardiff
without ever hitting his best form for them and he got plenty of
stick from QPR fans when the two sides met in 2005.
Richard Langley returned
to QPR in 2005/06 season but never regained his best form again
and was given a free transfer by Gary Waddock in 2006.
Recent
games between the two sides have been interesting to say the least.
Back in the 1999/00 season we faced them in the first round of the
Worthington cup. A 2-1 win at Ninian Park saw Richard Langley get
the winning goal, a feat he would repeat a few years later.
The return leg saw Rangers produce the usual home cup performance
losing 2-1 and then going out on penalties. Even Matt Brazier scored
against us. Within two years Rangers were relagated and Cardiff
promoted so league games became a regular occurrence.
A midweek match at Loftus Road saw Graham Kavanagh
score a controversial penalty in the first half. Rangers stormed
back though with Andy Thomson equalising through an equally controversial
penalty before Thomson scored a superb winner to send us home happy.
The return game saw Cardiff on a storming run towards
the playoffs and a creditable 1-1 draw kept our own playoff hopes
alive. Richard Pacquette scored one for Rangers before being sent
off and defender Scott Young gave the Bluebirds a point with a second
half equaliser.
The following season saw three very significant matches
between the two sides. First off Loftus Road saw a Friday night
game moved on police advice. The policeman advising this was not
the smartest and thousands of drunk Cardiff fans made it a very
intimidating night with plenty of crowd trouble before and after
the game.
It was just days after QPR's humiliating defeat against
Vauxhall Motors so confidence was at an all time low. Despite a
much improved performance which saw the scores level at half time
and us having the better chances, we ended up on the wrong end of
a 4-0 hammering.
Robert Earnshaw tore Rangers apart with a hat trick
and not for the first time that season Andy Campbell grabbed a late
goal to finish the game off.
Paul Furlong came on a second half sub and was booed
by the moronic elements of the QPR crowd his crime being that he
used to play for Chelsea. Ian Holloway was expected to resign after
the game but thankfully he pledged to stay on and fight and he soon
turned the club back round.
By the time we met Cardiff again it was a different
QPR. Paul Furlong was now one of our most popular players, Gino
Padula was a rock at left back and Richard Langley was playing some
of the best football of his career. Goals from Furlong and a last
minute winner from Langley gave Rangers all three points as we clung
onto our playoff position.
Rangers of course met Cardiff again in the 2003 playoff
final. In a tight game both sides had chances possibly the best
of them fell to Andy Thomson in injury time but his header went
wide.
Rangers had several chances to win it in extra time
before Andy Campbell broke clear and scored a stunning goal to send
Cardiff to the first division and broke the hearts of the 30,000
QPR fans in the stadium.
Once Rangers eventually won promotion a season later
one of the first fixtures QPR fans looked out for was the visit
of Cardiff. It came in November with a Saturday lunchtime kick off.
It didn't quite live up to the hype with Cardiff
struggling and Rangers without manager Ian Holloway who was at home
ill.
Danny Shittu smashed in his first goal of the season
to win an easy three points and the QPR fans began to dream of sending
Cardiff down on the last day of the season.
That didn't happen though with the Welsh side already
safe at that stage and an uneventful 1-0 win for Cardiff ended the
season for both sides.
In the 2005/06 season we had to wait until December to meet and
with Richard Langley back at Loftus Road he was now being booed
by Cardiff fans. Rangers won a tight game 1-0 thanks to a Marc Nygaard
header.
The away game was an equally tight affair with Nygaard
going close to helping Rangers to a double over the Welsh side but
a 0-0 draw was a decent result against the playoff hopefuls.
The 2006/07 season was a better one for Rangers as
we did the double over Cardiff. With the Welsh side top of the league
we travelled to Wales for a live tv game on a Friday night in November.
Rangers stunned them though with a good performance and a late goal
from Ray Jones won us three points.
The return game was a vital one for us as we knew
a win would keep us in the Championship for another season. We got
the win thanks to an early Dexter Blackstock goal for a third 1-0
win in a row at home against Cardiff.
In 2007/08 season both games were pretty poor for
QPR. Our first home game of the season was against Cardiff and we
were thrashed 2-0 by what looked a very strong Cardiff side. At
Ninian Park we were again thrashed this time 3-1 and to be fair
to them they looked one of the best teams against us that season.
In 2008/09 Rangers somehow won 1-0 in the game at
Loftus Road despite being played off the park that day. The return
game was a dull 0-0 draw at Ninian Park.
Last season was our first ever visit to the new Cardiff
City stadium, it was a good one as we became just the second side
to beat them at their new home. Jay Simpson got both goals in the
first half in what turned out to be the start of an impressive run
for Rangers.
The return game was a dull affair at Loftus
Road and a late Joe Ledley goal won it for Cardiff and ensured they
would make the playoffs whilst Rangers were again stuck in the wrong
half of the table.
Click on the match for a report of
the game from this web site.
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| Season |
Venue |
Score |
Scorers |
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| Coca
Cola Championship |
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| 2009/10 |
Home |
QPR
0 Cardiff 1 |
J.Ledley |
| 2009/10 |
Away |
Cardiff
0 QPR 2 |
J.Simpson
(2) |
| 2008/09 |
Away |
Cardiff
0 QPR 0 |
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| 2008/09 |
Home |
QPR
1 Cardiff 0 |
G.Mahon |
| 2007/08 |
Away |
Cardiff
3 QPR 1 |
P.Agyemang
J.Ledley
(2), P.Parry |
| 2007/08 |
Home |
QPR
0 Cardiff 2 |
S.McLean,
P.Parry |
| 2006/07 |
Home |
QPR
1 Cardiff 0 |
D.Blackstock |
| 2006/07 |
Away |
Cardiff
0 QPR 1 |
R.Jones |
| 2005/06 |
Away |
Cardiff
0 QPR 0 |
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| 2005/06 |
Home |
QPR
1 Cardiff 0 |
M.Nygaard |
| 2004/05 |
Away |
Cardiff
1 QPR 0 |
J.McAnuff
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| 2004/05 |
Home |
QPR
1 Cardiff 0 |
D.Shittu |
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| Nationwide
Division Two Playoff Final |
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| 2002/03 |
Neutral |
Cardiff
1 QPR 0 |
A.Campbell
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| Nationwide
Division Two |
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| 2002/03 |
Away |
Cardiff
1 QPR 2 |
P.Thorne,
P.Furlong,
R.Langley |
| 2002/03 |
Home |
QPR
0 Cardiff 4 |
R.Earnshaw
(3), A.Campbell |
| 2001/03 |
Away |
Cardiff
1 QPR 1 |
S.Young,
R.Pacquette |
| 2001/02 |
Home |
QPR
2 Cardiff 1 |
A.Thomson
(2), G.Kavanagh |
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| Worthington
Cup |
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| 1999/00 |
Home |
QPR
1 Cardiff 2 |
G.Peacock,
M.Brazier,
Hughes |
| 1999/00 |
Away |
Cardiff
1 QPR 2 |
J.Bowen,
R.Langley,
J.Fowler (og) |
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Previous
Meetings
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Queen's Park Rangers
wins
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draws
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Cardiff wins
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| League
Game |
25
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10
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22
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| Cup Games |
6
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1
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4
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| Total |
31
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11
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27
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