"Cardiff City Football Club suffer yet more misery in the month of November" was an all too familiar title under the management of Dave Jones. Now I'm not, and never have been one to criticise unnecessarily, and you won't find me starting now; but in this case the facts speak for themselves.
Under the guise of Dave Jones, Cardiff City won less than a quarter of their games in November which some may say ultimately cost them dearly, given that one season resulted in missing out on the Playoffs on goal difference; and last seasons failure to gain automatic promotion went down to the last but one game. "If only...."the fans would say, and in some ways this would be justified given that if the club had won just a few of those November games, then Premiership football may well be a reality right now.
This is all conjecture of course, and in many ways utterly pointless, given that Cardiff didn't gain promotion and are still playing Championship football. So now, one year on from another fruitless November, how has the club that couldn't buy a win this time last year, gone on a ten match unbeaten run resulting in the Manager of the Month award going to Malky Mackay? Just what's changed to bring about such a turnaround in fortunes allowing every Cardiff City fan the chance to smile in November for the first time in 7 years?
I believe it comes down to a simple theory. Mackay seems to have birthed a new culture at Cardiff City Football Club. A culture that runs from the media team to the tea ladies, and this culture is based on a foundation of pride. No longer will Cardiff City have players on the pitch that don't believe in the cause, no longer will there be players that are just collecting their appearance fees, no longer will the fans be left literally pulling their hair out with frustration at a slow, lethargic start and most importantly no longer will Cardiff fans be left wondering just what the manager is thinking when he is standing statue-like on the touchline seemingly immune to the emotion of the occasion.
Mackay's new culture has brought about not just a breath of fresh air, it's more like a lungful. The whole club, from top to bottom seems to be running on a new wavelength and it's absolutely delightful to see. The football isn't always pretty but let's be honest, who cares? Not one fan that I know of would be prepared to sacrifice a ten game unbeaten streak to watch "tidy football". This is an era of pride in the club, pride in the shirt and pride in the cause.
The club has a squad of players that are all pulling in the same direction, all fighting tooth and nail until the final whistle, all fighting tooth and nail to keep their place. It's so hard to get into the starting line-up at the moment that even Robert Earnshaw the hometown favourite, can't get a game. It's been a pleasurable surprise to see just how hard the players are working for the shirt now.
So long live King Malkay, the curse is dead and one thing's for sure, i don't miss it.
