Aaron Ramsey wonder goal slays Italy

Fantastic win by Wales Under 21's over Italy tonight crowned by a wonder Aaron Ramsey goal - watch his backheel flick then an awesome finish. Cardiff City foolishly undersold him and don't it show.

Arsene Wenger talks about Cardiff City, Bothroyd and Ramsey

Hear Arsene Wenger's thoughts ahead of Sunday's clash at Ninian Park

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/7848236.stm

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Dave Jones on Rambo's Return, "Am I Bovvered?"

Check a BBC pre-game video interview with Jonesy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7847221.stm

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JOE 'FLATTERED' BY PREM INTEREST BUT CONCENTRATING ON CITY

Cardiff City skipper Joe Ledley confessed to be "flattered" by reported interest from Premier Leaguers West Ham about paper gossip that they are about to make a £5M bid for the Kairdiff Kid.

Talking to BBC, Joe insisted, "nothing is happening" but added, "It is great to be linked to a Premier League club and if I continue playing well, then who knows what might happen? I must continue to do what I've been doing on the pitch. I've got to put all of the speculation to the back of my mind, it's flattering and proof that I must be doing something right. It is not down to me anyway, it's down to the club so I will just concentrate on playing well and helping the boys against Arsenal."

With former Cardiff player and Welsh international mates at West Ham in Danny Gabbidon and James Collins plus close friends Aaron Ramsey, Chris Gunter and Gareth Bale also in the area, he may be interested but Cardiff turned down an higher offer - £6M - for the star midfielder last August from Stoke City which, privately, was believed to have devastated the player.

Joe seems to be no closer to discussing a new contract with Cardiff and with less than 18 months remaining on his present deal, any bid will seriously test their resolve and ambitions. City fans will be bracing themselves as they don't want to lose Joe and if it happened so close to Deadline Day in the transfer window, it leaves little or no time to replace him although I'm sure Dave Jones will have plans in place.

Fantastic Draw - City home to Arsenal in F.A. Cup Round 4

The draw for the Fourth Round of the F.A. Cup brought further rewards for Cardiff City taking it seriously and Reading showing scant respect as The Bluebirds pulled a plum home draw against Arsene's Arsenal.

The sides last met in Highbury's last ever F.A. Cup match 3 years ago this weekend when a Robert Pires double in the opening 20 minutes was enough to see off a spirited City side who clawed back a late consolation through Jerome Campbell. Only Joe Ledley and Darren Purse remain from the City 16 that day although Martyn Margetson and Neil Ardley now form part of the backroom team.

It will be an apt send off if Ninian Park's last ever F.A. Cup match is also against Arsenal, the side they famously beat in the 1927 Cup Final.

The game is certain to be a sell out with a scramble for tickets (I've had 3 texts already asking if I can help others!!!) and could mean a return to Ninian Park for Aaron Ramsey but playing against us. Convention would see it take place on Saturday afternoon Jan 24th, don't bet against it being a live tv game meaning it could be played Friday night, Saturday evening or sometime on Sunday!

The full draw is below

The FA Cup fourth round draw in full:
Liverpool v Everton

Southampton or Manchester United v Tottenham

Hull or Newcastle v Millwall or Crewe

Sunderland v Blyth or Blackburn

Hartlepool v West Ham

Leyton Orient or Sheffield United v Charlton or Norwich

Cardiff City v Arsenal

Portsmouth or Bristol City v Histon or Swansea

Chelsea or Southend v Ipswich

Cheltenham or Doncaster v Aston Villa

West Brom or Peterborough v QPR or Burnley

Torquay v Coventry

Kettering v Fulham

Watford v Leicester or Crystal Palace

Derby v Nottingham Forest

Birmingham or Wolves v Middlesbrough

Joe Ledley - The January Sales Talk Starts Here

According to today's South Wales Echo, Everton are poised to offered £6M for Joe Ledley when the next transfer window opens which is 3 weeks today.

The Toffees have been long rumoured suitors of Joe but failed to move for him and instead opted to try and take Aaron Ramsey who was prised away by Arsenal for £5M.

Newspapers have also speculated that Spurs may bid for Joe who could then team up with the North London Taffia of Ramsey, Chris Gunter and Gareth Bale. It also seems inevitable that Stoke City whose £6M bid was declined in the August window will try their luck again too.

All of this makes it tough, if not impossible, to hold onto a player who is out of contract at the end of next season and who had been unsettled by summer rumours only recently rediscovering his form. When it is rumoured that Stoke were willing to more than treble his Cardiff City salary and dangle the carrot of Premiership football, it is easy to understand why he may have been distracted but it also suggests City have next to nil chance pf gettign him to sign a new deal too.

Of course, it may be mutually beneficial to club and player to sell as City would love to keep Wayne Routledge and Michael Chopra plus add a midfielder to the squad for the run-in. Publicly, they may say they wish to keep Joe but, privately, I can imagine Joe being sold if the only way to raise funds to give them any opportunity to do such deals. .

Cardiff City braced for £6m Everton bid for Joe LedleyWalesOnline

Friendly: DENMARK 0 WALES 1

If there were World Cups for friendlies, Wales would qualify for the finals everytime and probably go a long way too. In the latest tonight, The Red Dragon Kids produced an excellent and deserved 1-0 vistory over Denmark in Brondby featuring a side of 8 Under 21 players and Aaaron Ramsey showing all his class on his full debut at this level.

The first half was goalless but I'm not sure anyone can work out how. Wales missed four golden chances, skipper Craig Bellamy failing to convert 2 one on one sitters while the Danes saw Myhill produce a superb stop and miss one glorious opening of their own. The half belonged to Wales however and they really should have been winning in an open and entertaining battle.

All the flowing promising football in that first half evaporated midst a flurry of substitutions and tactical changes after the interval but just when you thought it would be goalless, up popped BELLAMY to beat Stoke City's Sorenson with a scuffed edge of box shot that found the corner of goal. Wales had few problems holding on as the Danes, in a spare crowd including 150 Welshies, were roundly booed by their support.

Well done Tosh and the Boys - now please start getting these results ion the games that really matter.

Mac out for Scotland, Blake in for Wales

Cardiff City's mercurial leading scorer Ross McCormack has been forced to withdraw from Scotland's squad for tomorrow night's keynote home friendly against Diego Maradona's Argentina due to his hamstring problems.

McCormack hoped to return for Cardiff City at home to Crystal Palace last weekend after a hamstring pull in the Wolves defeat just over a fortnight ago but suffered a small setback in training last Thursday. Although not believed to be serious, McCormack will not be ready for midweek and will now concentrate on being fit to be in City's squad for the visit to Plymouth in a live Sky game this coming Saturday.

McCormack is a latest in a lengthening line of Cardiff City players who have had to withdraw from international games as it's happened a couple of times to Kevin McNaughton and even Gavin Rae for Scotland while Joe Ledley is now absent for Wales. However his absence has opened a door for Darcy Blake who is in Denmark and hoping to be involved in tomorrow's friendly, a game which will see the talented ex-City star Aaron Ramsey make his full debut.

International Delight for McCormack and Rambo

Ross McCormack will be delighted to hear that he has been called into the full Scotland squad for next week's prestigious international against Argentina.

McCormack has vastly enhanced his name and reputation at Cardiff City this season immediately becoming a fans' favourite and leading the club's and Championship's goalscoring charts with his 12 strikes already. Scottish boss George Burley recently visited Ninian Park and saw McCormack score a magnificent free-kick to clinch victory over Blackpool.

However, there was no place for City's other Scottish contingent on the form of Gavin Rae and Kevin McNaughton.

Closer to home, ex-City hero (and now Arsenal prospect) Aaron Ramsey has finally been called into the senir squad for Wales' freidnly date in Denmark next week.

AARON RAMSEY SCORES IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, GLENN LOOVENS DOESN'T

Two ex- Cardiff City stars, who both featured in the F.A. Cup Final for us, had contrasting fortunes in the Champions League as Glenn Loovens and Aaron Ramsey, collectively sold for £7.5M this summer, appeared for their new clubs.

Aaron Ramsey, scoring of a stunning goal for Wales Under 21's vs England last midweek, came on as a late sub in Arsenal's equally stunning 5-2 success against Fenerbace in Turkey, Rambo neeting the final goal with a sweet shot off the post.

Glenn Loovens, who has scored 2 already in his limited Celtic appearences, played in their Championships League game at Old Trafford against Manchester United due to injury of their skippe, Cladwell, but Celtic were outclassed while Loovens struggled too and got a yellow card as United powered home 3-0 and it could have been more.

Still, well done to both. I wish they were both still with City but you can't deny it is career progression.

CITY TRIED TO GET RAMSEY BACK ON LOAN

According to this morning's Independent, Cardiff City contacted Arsenal close to the end of the transfer window with an audacious bid to bring back Aaron Ramsey on loan but found themselves knocked back.

This is my shirt ... ... and I'm keeping it!

It would have been great but it always seemed destined to failure given that Ramsey turned down Manchester United over the summer to a large extent because they wished to loan him back to City for the season.



It does however beg the question did City go for Ramsey as an option after Smertin turned them down or was it becuase, despite Ridsdale's public bravado, that they would have sold Ledley to Stoke had they secured a viable replacement??



Independent Story

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-in-lastgasp-attempt-to-capture-alonso-915884.html

SMART CITY IN FOR SMERTIN

Cardiff City are on the verge of bringing the 33 yr old 52 times capped Russian international ALEXEI SMERTIN to Ninian Park. The deal is agreed and it all depends on City gaining a work permit at the Home Office this afternoon. Dave Jones is in London today hoping to sort that and, if done, Smertin will join his fellow Fulham team-mate Eddie Johnson on a season's loan at Ninian Park.

SMERTIN - A Bluebird by tonight?

City need an urgent addition in midfield having failed to replace Aaron Ramsey while both Gavin Rae and Riccy Scimeca are set to be absent for several more weeks.

It's the final day of the transfer window and there have been unsubstantiated reports that Dave Jones was in Scotland yesterday maybe trying to get another striker while Steve Thompson seems set to move to a Championship rival with Burnley reported to be in the hot seat.

More on this as the day develops.

RAMBO IN, EARNIE OUT FOR WALES

Aaron Ramsey is one of nine Under 21's who faced Romania on Wednesday who have been called into the senior squad for the World Cup opening qualifiers home to Azerbiajan on September 6 and in Russia on September 10.

The squad features 2 current Cardiff City men (Paul Parry and Joe Ledley) and four former Bluebirds but Wales have major defensive problems with centre halves Nyatanga and Gabbidon injured while James Collins is named having just returned to West Ham reserves after lengthy injury.

A huge disappointment for Robert Earnshaw who only just got back into the squad last Wednesday, played just a few minutes as a late sub and now finds himself dropped again by John Toshack.

The Under 21's face a massive task to win their final game in Romania on September 9 for qualification but all those in the senior squad are also named in the Under 21 squad as some may be discarded for the senior trip to Russia which follows the Azerbaijan match and head for Bucharest instead.

WALES SQUAD

Wayne Hennessey (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Boaz Myhill (Hull City)

Lewis Price (Derby County)

Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur)

James Collins (West Ham)

Steve Evans (Wrexham)

Chris Gunter (Tottenham Hotspur)

Craig Morgan (Peterborough United)

Sam Ricketts (Hull City)

Ashley Williams (Swansea City)

Andrew Crofts (Gillingham)

Simon Davies (Fulham)

David Edwards (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Carl Fletcher (Crystal Palace)

Owain Tudur Jones (Swansea City)

Jason Koumas (Wigan Athletic)

Joe Ledley (Cardiff City)

Paul Parry (Cardiff City)

Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)

Carl Robinson (Toronto FC)

Brian Stock (Doncaster Rovers)

Craig Bellamy (West Ham)

David Cotterill (Sheffield United)

Freddy Eastwood (Coventry City)

Ched Evans (Manchester City)

Sam Vokes (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

WALES U-21 0 ROMANIA 1

It was echoes of days gone by as Wales again fell at home to Romania on a night when a win would have seen them qualify for a finals.

This time it was U21 level and the Euro's but it was just as gutting as Wales dominated, missed a number of golden chances and then fell to a sucker punch goal.

The side featured Cardiff City's Darcy Blake, an injured Joe Ledley was watching on and ex-City men Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey were starring. They deserved success but didn't take their chances, that will hurt.

Wales go to Romania next month now needing to avenge this defeat with a victory of their own to make it. However it is likely that some of the players will be in the full squad for World Cup games significantly weakening their hopes.

Flynn rallies young Wales chargesBBC Sport

Wales U21 qualifying hopes hit by Romanian blowWalesOnline

WALES v GEORGIA GO-AHEAD, CARDIFF'S OFFER TO BOURNEMOUTH, RAMBO PASSES ASENAL DEBUT

Following up a blog stories over the past two days;

WALES vs GEORGIA
The Georgians have resolved visa issues and confirmed that, despite the current problems in their country, they will be coming to the Principality for a friendly international next Wednesday night.

CARDIFF's OFFER TO THE CHERRIES
Following Dave Jones' post-match quote that he would be happy to help AFC Bournemouth with loan players on Tuesday, he subsequently confirmed that he is seeking to send promising defender Aaron Morris and forward Jonathan Brown to the League Two side.

Both players are teenagers are are unlikely to feature in City matchday squads this season with the exception of the Carlign Cup where both were on the bench at Bournemouth as that competition allows 7 substitutes.

RAMBO
Aaron Ramsey passed his Arsenal competitive debut with flying colours as he performed very well, covering for Cesc Febregas, in The Gunners Champions League win in FC Twente of Holland. And to think he couldn't only get a few minutes for us in the F.A. Cup Final ...

RAMSEY SET FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEBUT TONIGHT

In Arsenal's vital qualifier against F.C. Twente - remember Warren Feeney and City beating them a year ago in a friendly? - and in central midfield too, where Dave Jones recently said he wasn't strong enough to play!

Good Luck Aaron! Think there's little doubt now that Rambo made the right choice when City were pushing him to go to Man United instead and play on with City for a season.

Guardian article about Ramsey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/13/arsenal.fctwente

CARDIFF CITY AGM REPORT

The AGM for the club was held at Ninian Park today and attended by many shareholders. Overall, it seems to have been reasonably upbeat.

This despite the ongoing Langston dispute and club debt, questions over the lack of investment in the team, some angst about Peter Ridsdale's 'fat cat' pay and, more starling in my view, City reporting a small profit only for 2007/08 despite above break-even crowd, the sales of three players for almost £8M, £400k from a Carling Cup last 16 match at Liverpool and, of course, that magical F.A. Cup run all the way to two appearences at Wembley and the final itself.

Dave Sugarman a.k.a. The Long Gunman posted his thoughts and report on the Cardiff City website which is reproduced below.

The top table at today's AGM, which took place in the Canton Suite at Ninian Park, consisted of chairman Peter Ridsdale, directors Alan Whiteley and Steve Borley, team manager Dave Jones, outgoing finance director Tony Brown, Keith Harris of Seymour Pierce Ltd and the club's auditor, Gareth Jones, from Chantrey Vellacott DFK LLP. Also present, although not sitting at the top table, were major shareholders Paul Guy and Mike Hall of PMG Ltd.


The chairman welcomed the shareholders to the meeting and introduced those at the top table. He announced that Keith Harris would be joining the Cardiff City board as a non-executive director directly following the AGM. In response to a question as to whether the new director holds shares in then club or not, Peter Ridsdale confirmed that his company, Seymour Pierce Ltd, already have a shareholding.Ridsdale also announced that a successor for departing finance director Tony Brown is currently being sought by the club, and when that person takes up their position they will also join the board.

Ridsdale outlined the position at the club at the moment and painted a very positive picture of the direction in which the club is heading, thanks in particular to the new stadium development and the new training facilities.He spoke of the management team's financial strategy in terms of their attempts to compete in the Championship and gain promotion to the Premiership. That involves selling players each year in order to raise enough revenue to pay the club's annual wage bill, which he suggested needs to be almost twice the amount that can be covered by the current gate receipts and commercial revenues.

He stressed that the latest set of accounts, which show a loss of almost £5 million for 2006/07, do not include any player sales as Cameron Jerome was sold just before the relevant period began and Michael Chopra was sold weeks after it ended.Ridsdale said the accounts for the period covering June 2007 to May 2008 were in the process of being signed off and would show that the club made a profit of approximately £750,000 during that time.

He stressed that the sale of Aaron Ramsey and the revenue from a record 14,000 season ticket sales are not included in that figure as they will be covered by the following year's accounts (ie: June 2008 to May 2009).

The chairman mentioned the club's success in avoiding summary judgement in the Langston court case and he also confirmed that Langston's recent appeal had failed. He estimated that the court case had cost the club approximately £400,000 and stated that regular dialogue with Langston's representative, Sam Hammam, is now very much ongoing. He said he is extremely confident that this business will be sorted out once and for all in the very near future.

Ridsdale then threw the meeting open for questions from the floor. The first question concerned his wages and bonus payment during 2007, which it was suggested were far too big for a company of the football club's size. The chairman defended his right to his level of earnings by outlining the progress the club has made since he took over his position. He was backed up by Keith Harris, who claimed Ridsdale's basic wages are in line with chief executives at other Championship clubs. He said there are other chief executives in this division who earn far more and stated his belief that Ridsdale's bonus was well deserved given the situation the club was in when he first arrived.

The chairman was asked a question regarding a debt write-off of almost £2 million that was contained in the 2005 accounts. He explained that this money was written off in agreement with Rudgwick Ltd, a company owned and controlled by former chairman Sam Hammam, who were the club's parent company at the time. The figure largely related to management fees which had been charged to the club by Rudgwick in previous years but had never actually been drawn as the club could not afford to pay them. Tony Brown mentioned that this debt write-off was crucial in order for the council to pass the club's stadium project business plan.

A question was asked regarding a large loan, believed to be in the region of £1.5 million plus interest, which is due to be repaid to former vice-chairman Michael Issac fairly soon. The chairman reported that friendly talks with Isaac are underway in a bid to renegotiate the terms and repayment date of that loan.

In answer to a question about the size of the club's current players wage bill, Ridsdale stated there are ten to twelve teams in this division whose wage bills are in excess of £12 million pa, six to eight whose wage bills are between £7 million and £12 million and the rest whose wage bills are less than £7 million. He said City are in the second bracket with a players wage bill of approximately £8 million pa at this current point in time.

The chairman fielded a question about people who had apparently bought season tickets for the forthcoming campaign but had then attempted to cancel their payments following the FA Cup final. He said they number less than a dozen in total and that includes a couple of genuine cases where people have either unexpectedly moved due to work or have passed away. He said the situation is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Ridsdale spoke briefly and proudly about the club's Academy set-up. He stated the current crop of Under 16's are particularly promising and suggested the manager already has his eye on a couple of them with a view to involving them in the senior set-up in the not too distant future.

The chairman was asked about the fee involved when Aaron Ramsey moved to Arsenal. He stated that the agreement made with the Gunners stated that they should pay £2.5 million immediately and then a further £2.5 million one year later in what was effectively a straight cash deal and was not dependent upon appearances. However, he added that Arsenal have in fact reached a further agreement with City since whereby they have already paid a little over £4.8 million in one lump sum to complete the transaction early.

One shareholder complained that the fee for Ramsey was too small by today's standards. Ridsdale explained that Liverpool and Arsenal both initially offered £1 million up front with a further £2 million based on appearances. Manchester United then moved in with a bid of £4.5 million plus a further payment of £500,000 if he made a set number of appearances for City this season as a part of a loan-back agreement. Arsenal effectively topped that with a straight £5 million cash bid. Liverpool dropped out of the running at that stage. Everton then made a late entry into the market and said they were prepared to match the £5 million deals being offered by Arsenal and Man Utd. Agents working for Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton indicated they were not prepared to improve upon those bids, so Ramsey was given permission to speak to all three clubs, which he duly did.

Ridsdale and Dave Jones both stated the club wanted the player to stay here for another season and then go on to Man Utd, but he and his family eventually chose Arsenal and were very clear in that choice.

The chairman then moved on to the formalities of asking the shareholders to vote to accept the 2005, 2006 and 2007 accounts, and reappoint Chantrey Vellacott DFK Ltd as the club's auditors. All present with the exception of former chairman Tony Clemo voted to accept the 2005 accounts, the 2006 and 2007 accounts were accepted unanimously, and Chantrey Vellacott were reappointed with only one shareholder voting against.Overall, I felt the mood at the AGM was a very positive one.

Ridsdale's performance as chairman of this meeting was probably the finest I have witnessed from him since he arrived at the club. He dealt with all of the questions asked of him patiently and confidently and the answers he gave were generally plausible. Once again today he demonstrated just how good he is at public speaking and how comfortable he is with dealing with questions from supporters.

The permanent involvement in the club of Keith Harris can only be a good thing in my opinion. He is a real high-flyer within the British game and is certainly not known for backing losers, so his becoming a member of Cardiff City's board must be seen as a step forward for the club.

Dave Jones needed to say very little during the meeting itself but he spoke to a number of shareholders afterwards and seemed far more relaxed than he has done previously in public situations.

WENGER HINTS RAMSEY COULD BE KEY TO ARSENAL

Some interesting comments by Wenger about Rambo who, if he gets games at Arsenal, will have obviously made the right personal move over Man United and a season back with City.

Note how Wenger sees him as a central midfielder, a contradiction to Dave Jones strange quote that he didn't see him as strong enough to play that role.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/07/19/sfnars119.xml

RAMBO COMPLETES MOVE TO THE EMIRATES

Cardiff City's loss is Arsenal's gain. On a day when Aaron Ramsey completed his £5M move to Arsenal and Cardiff City have sent out a typical warning that we shouldn't expect to see the money spent on replacements - they know how to motivate us! - you wonder what the benefit is to the club overall if your interest is the football team but it's sensational for Ramsey himself.

QUOTES BY RAMSEY AND ARSENE WENGER

After formally signing his contract today, Ramsey commented that, "Arsene (Wenger) talked to me for a long time about the club and the plans for the future, which really excites me as it's a club which always gives young players an opportunity at the highest level of the game and I am going to work my hardest to be part of future successes here."

Rambo added, "It was a really difficult decision to leave Cardiff City, they are my local club with great supporters and I would just like thank everyone at Cardiff City for their support and help in my early career. I will still look out for their results and there will always be a place in my heart for the Bluebirds."

Arsene Wenger admitted he had been a Ramsey admirer long before he got into The Bluebirds first team as Rambo shone at Highbury in a narrow F.A. Youth Cup defeat for City in February 2007.

"We're delighted to have signed Aaron Ramsey," said Wenger "as he is a young player who has shown huge potential with his performances for both Cardiff City and Wales at Under-17 and Under-21 levels. Although still only 17, he already shown that he is a very intelligent and mature player with great quality."

Wenger concluded, "Although he mainly plays in midfield, Aaron is a versatile player and can also play across the defence. We are all looking forward to welcoming Aaron to the Club for our pre-season preparations."

TODAY’S AARON RAMSEY NEWS

It’s almost a daily bulletin but these two stories in today’s Echo are quite revealing. Have a read and see what you think.

Bluebirds could really cash in on Ramsey’s departureic Wales

How Wenger beat Fergie to Ramseyic Wales