CITY STYLISH SIGN OFF WITH A KICK UP THE R's

Cardiff City 1
Queens Park Rangers 0



So what was the fuss all about?

City, temporarily on the pitch and permanently in the record books, made everyone forget what a tortuous, relegation threatened, financial meltdown it's been following the club by signing off the season with a 1-0 victory over QPR and climbing to a final, comfortable 16th place, only 3 positions lower than last term.

With safety assured and no pressures, Cardiff's players lost their inhibitions to produce a first half performance to match anything this season. Jobi McAnuff scored what many will regard as goal of the season, The Bluebirds should have been at least two or three goals clear of the Londoners by the interval. The players minds however seemed to be at airports (or was it their agents offices?) ready for summer getaways afterwards but they hung on to receive prolonged applause and ovations.

With City's Championship status thankfully confirmed last week and QPR safely in mid-table, it was a wind down affair and an occasion to enjoy. Cardiff should have wanted to avenge a 1-0 defeat in West London last November, a real horror show and a strong candidate for worst display of the season - although it had plenty of competition (Plymouth, Watford, Derby at home, Ipswich, Reading, Wigan away anyone?). QPR's last visit to the real Capital was that 1-0 Millennium Stadium defeat two years ago this month, a reason for their manager and players to desire victory today.

Cardiff's side picks itself these days, there are no real decisions for Lennie to make. So it was Alexander, Williams-Collins-Gabbidon-Barker, Ardley-Langley-Boland-McAnuff, Thorne-Jerome. Subs were Margetson-Bullock-Lee-Parry-Vidmar.

Ian Holloway's side have enjoyed their return to this level and, in many ways, have mirrored City's debut season here last term. A great start to the season, livewire play-off contenders at Christmas before settling into mid-table at the business end of the season. They finished in 11th place, 8 points ahead of us and would have been very pleased at that.

In their familiar hooped shirts but in tawdry lime green and white to avoid a colour clash, they started with Rossi - Bignot-Shittu-Santos-Padula, Cook-Bircham-Rowlands-Cureton, Thorpe-Gallen. Subs were Day-Bean-Edgehill-Hislop,Miller.

On a day when the weather was changeable, the match was played under a mix of bright sun or dark cloud and a swirling wind. The crowd was a healthy 15,722 - at least that's what it was declared as - including about 1,000 R's, all of whom witnessed a Cardiff City footballing masterclass in the first half with wave after wave of attacks towards the Canton Stand.

In fact, City could have been three up in the opening 10 minutes alone. Cameron Jerome looked odds on to score inside 4 minutes when a Thorney flick sent him racing clear, his shot inside the area was denied only by smart Rossi reflexes and he got down to save the ball. McAnuff, in outstanding form, almost got himself clear and was just denied then an Ardley corner was headed over by Collins inside the 6 yard box.

City's build up play was fast, exciting and skilful, it has the crowd purring and QPR boss Ian Hollloway reduced to the role of helpless onlooker although his trademark ranting style was close to boiling over. City were within a whisker again of 15 minutes as Ardley delivered another dangerous corner, the ball dropped between several players before Jerome's shot was cleared off the line. A follow up corner saw Rangers just scramble clear again, they looked as down and out already as a Joe Calzaghe opponent.

The first time Rangers made inroads towards City's goal saw Cureton glance a header comfortably wide as City continued to pound the visitors goal with a succession of clever play, good passing, corners and crosses before they eventually scored on 26 minutes, a goal of breathtaking quality but, ironically, after a game of one way pressure, it came from the first time City went at Rangers on the counter-attack.

Cardiff won the ball deep in their own half and when Danny Williams played the ball ahead to Cameron Jerome just inside halfway, there was nothing on. The sheer quality of Jerome's outrageous dummy and turn to leave Santos made the whole ground gasp, you wanted to shout Ole!, as he advanced Danny Shittu came over to the touchline like a steamroller and looked odds on to take the ball, and probably Jerome too, into the Bob Bank but Jerome's precocious talent and speed saw him touch the ball first, leave Shittu dumped, and he tore away again down the touchline. Jerome was probably the only Cardiff player who could still have got to the ball now running towards the Canton Stand/Bob Bank corner but he made it, stood it up, and then sent over a low first time cross. Peter Thorne charged into the middle, took a swing and missed but it ran across the area where JOBI McANUFF matched Jerome's magic with a finish of brilliance, stroking the ball back across goal and right inside Rossi's far corner beating the keeper's despairing dive. That was football heaven.

McAnuff ran straight over to Jerome and jumped on him followed by most of the rest of the team. As assists go, Jerome's was in a league of its own. The celebrations and roars were worthy of a truly fantastic goal.

City were rampant and sparkled all over the pitch but particularly going forward. McAnuff was inches away from firing his, and City's second, within a couple of minutes of the opener as a goalmouth scramble saw the ball drop for him 15 yards out, his effort looked in all the way.

Langley put wide too and even Willie Boland got in on the act. The midfielder with 3 goals in 6 years, 2 of those penalties, must have had nosebleeds and he got into the penalty area twice, firstly only being denied by a desperate last ditch tackle and then showing great play at an angle to chest the ball, flick it past a defender and hit a dipped shot across goal that went wide of the far post. Willie was dynamic!

Ardley was blocked just before half-time before Jerome nearly rounded off an outstanding first half with another outstanding minute in the 1 minute added time as he took the ball 35 yards out and had the same effect on QPR's defence as an instant laxative and he ran at them, sped and tricked his way past three challenges, dummied another into diving for him with another dummy but fired over with the goal in his sights. Brilliant entertainment.

The half-time whistle blew from the resulting goal kick, City cheered and roared off with a standing ovation that lasted until every last player had disappeared down the tunnel. It was fantastic stuff which belied much of the dross we had witnessed at Ninian Park for much of the season until the side had found character through adversity in recent weeks.


Half-time: CITY 0 QPR 0


The less said about the second half, from a Cardiff City view, the better. This was the proverbial game of two halves and as one fan remarked at final whistle and seeing the sun shining, "I think they got the deckchairs out for the second half", such was the contrast to the opening 45 minutes.

City had two let offs. The first an amazing Kevin Gallen miss just before the hour when Darren Williams made a terrible mistake deep in his own half which presented the ball to a QPR player who switched it inside putting Gallen clear on Alexander. The keeper came out, the shot beat him but was incredibly put wide too. Never has "what the ****ing hell was that?" been sung so loud and so rightly.

With 15 minutes to go, Padula's 25 yard free-kick smacked the top off Alexander's crossbar although the keeper looked to have had it covered if it dipped underneath. Alexander also made a good save from Cook.

You always felt QPR were going to equalise as City got sloppy, feel deep and seemed to lose all the pace and energy that they had first half but our defence have been outstanding for us in the second half of the season in particular and it seemed fitting for all that they signed off with a clean sheet. They conceded just 51 all season, better than any side who finished in the Championship play-offs, incredible for a team who battled relegation throughout.

City never created a single effort all half but found some rhythm again for the final 15 minutes after a lost half hour. Lennie used all subs, Thorne and Jerome were replaced by Lee and Parry for the final quarter. Lee - who has gone from skinhead to Beatles moptop inside two months - gave us an unintentional laugh when he used his physique to force his way past three challenges across goal and then ran into Paul Parry and lose the ball. For the final 10 minutes, there was a sentimental choice as Tony Vidmar got his final run out and did some good work too, winning a couple of needed late challenges.

There was more interest in the second half with who was going down, something we genuinely thought we'd be fighting to avoid today only a couple of weeks ago. Fortunes swung as Brighton hung on for the point they needed, Crewe who were trailing at the interval and down turned things around to win for the first time in 20 games and almost 5 months. It meant Gillingham had to win at Forest and they also turned around a deficit for a 2-1 lead before conceding in the final 5 minutes. Having survived by 1 goal on goal difference last season, they went down by the same margin this term, no doubt in agonies over Forest's last equaliser this week and Paul Parry doing the same for us last week.

So City finished the season with their 10th home win, matching last season's tally. Lennie however proclaimed his team had to do better than last season total of 7 home losses, they lost 9 and that was a significant reason why we were always in trouble - couple with the fact we only won 3 times on the road to make up for home defeats. However on a day when others above us lost, City lost to climb to the heady heights of 16th, a slightly false position but we'll gratefully take it.

The closing stages saw the ground get covered with close to 100 police -where did they come from and why? - and the pitch perimeter rimmed by a similar number of stewards but I'm so pleased to say that, at final whistle, they successfully managed to stop Sam Hammam getting onto the pitch! Well done lads. ;>)

Instead, final scenes were all about the crowd and the players - as it should be. It was touching - QPR's players went to their fans, some boots and shirts launched to their fans who gave them good backing in the second half - while City's went around every part of the ground in unison. Ginge Collins launched his boots into the Grange End an incredible distance, he should try javelin this summer.

It went on for some time but last off were Gabbs, Ginge and Williams followed by, last of all, Tony Vidmar. Ali who did an excellent tannoy job once more announcing it was his final City game. The difference being we know he's going, I wonder how many others just completed their last game too?

And that's it folks. Another season over and, for the first time since Sam came here, I must say hallejuah for that. I can handle City hanging on in the Championship while they hopefully stabilise and progress - after all, give me this than the dungeon anyday - but I hope hard lessons are learned and supporters do not get treated with the contempt, mistruths and p.r. shambles we've endured this term. Unfortunately, if Sam's statement this week is anything to go by, I doubt it very much.

In my lifetime supporting City we've had plenty of bad seasons, we've had absolutely dreadful ones and we've had ones where the club's future was in the balance but we've never had one where the people running it have promised us so much but delivered so little, broken so many promises and told hardly any truths. That, for me, makes this as low a season as I've ever known following my club. I feel the fans were badly let down and treated with contempt to the extent that some who had genuine questions and expressed concerns got abused and slated for doing so. They can never be right.

The club has got itself into a shocking mess and whilst we hope for the best, all attention now diverts to the club trying to resolve its many complex issues and internal politics. On the football side, we've lost our best goalscorer, we've lost our captain and we fear we may yet lose anyone of decent price and ability with Danny Gabbidon's departure looking a certainty. With Lennie Lawrences's sights seemingly set on decent, cheap lower division players rather than tried, tested and experienced players at this level, City somehow have to do better than this season but, more likely, with a tougher hand of cards.

Sam Hammam has lost most of his respect, trust and credibility with supporters and must be straight, open and honest with us from now on. Judge the man by his actions only, his words - as two pages of complete drivel and no content in The Echo this week showed - are of little value and bo guide.

There is hope however, there always has to be hope. Clubs like Ipswich, Derby, Sunderland have managed to turn themselves around and if City and Sam can get their acts together, behave more professionally and more responsibly, it may take time but ills can be put right.

And if it doesn't improve - well I guess there's always Brighton, Crewe and, maybe whoever wins the League One play-offs, tom give us a chance of staying up again next season.

Thanks to all the players for always being our inspiration, motivation, frustration. They have mostly under-performed, they have been overpaid but they've still given us good moments over the season - I wouldn't know what to do if we didn't have them to follow.

Thanks to all City fans for your laughs, tears, angst, friendship, disagreements but, mostly, for giving me more great laughs and memories over the season than the team did. We don't all see everything the same way but wouldn't it be unbelievably boring if we did?

Have a great summer - see you in August.

AUSTRIA 1 WALES 0 A view from Vienna

Well another European journey to follow Wales is over but what an excellent time despite the result. I think just about everyone who went enjoyed themselves.

I'm saving the lads only trip for Blackpool when City visit Preston in 3 weeks so it was a toned-down experience for myself going with the missus, parents, brother and nephews but we all went our different ways when relevant. Got to Stanstead at a ridiculously early hour but Wetherspoon's was open, sausage sarnies were excellent and although it was a stupid time to drink beer, the Welshies were well and truly at it.

Flew over with Nicki Lauda's airline (the facially disfigured ex-F1 driver). Didn't expect anything from an internet cheapie flight but we had air hostesses wearing what was supposed to resemble F1 racing overalls but their shiny, silver garbs with red sashes made them look like Thunderbirds extras. The plane had leather seats, we were all fed and watered too, there were tv's showing Mr Bean, a pranks show and cartoons and the few Austrian/Germans on the flight were stocked up with the hostesses coming down the aisles handing out literally hundreds of newspapers and magazines. Plane was late an hour late, Nicki Lauda only crashed twice on the way and the mid-air pit stop was hairy but we were there by lunchtime.

Travel in Vienna was easy. 28 Euros (about £20) bought you a return high speed train from airport to city centre, the ability to check in for the return flight and dump your bags in the city centre allowing you to spend your last hours with no luggage and unlimited travel for 3 days on the excellent trams, underground and buses. In fact, you could have done that for 16 Euros only for the return airport train only as - just like Helsinki and Milan - not once did anyone check for tickets on the city travel network.

Vienna has some great buildings and some pretty awful ones too but was, on the whole, clean. It was more like visiting an Eastern European city rather than Western Europe, only its shops gave it a modern edge.

Our hotel was the Hilton on the Danube and we hung out the Welsh flags only to have management knocking our rooms asking to remove them. Only later did we realise that (i) it overlooked the ground and (ii) the Austrian team were staying there!

As often seems to happen on Wales trips, we were blessed with good weather. Dry throughout, usually sunny. It did cool at night but never went to freezing and unless you were in direct sun, it was still chilly and fresh walking the shady streets by day but, given the time of year, was excellent.

Food and drink was excellent too but I'm glad to be back just to avoid meat for a day or two. Although advance fears were how costly it could be, the reality was anything but. At worse, it was equivalent to Cardiff. Beers about £2 - £2.50, meals £3 - £5. Those kebabs (I didn't have any!) about £2, huge Bratwurst hot dogs (mostly with cheese in the middle) about £1.50, a triple scoop Italian ice cream only just over £1. First night, we visited a luxurious Italian and had starters, meals and drink for under £9 a head.

Not sure I'm a fan of their beers. It's nearly all Pilsner. The most popular by far, Gossmer, shore be re-named Gas-More. I later discovered the wheat beer, Edelwiess. Not that was a top drink, had me singing after just two! I even brought some back.

We drunk 1st night at the so-called Bermuda Triangle where main drinking dens were and it did resemble Little Wales. Matchday started in the centre but in the afternoon, we went to the beer garden at the huge fairground. Cold beers on tap, the excellent go-karts and mayhem right behind.

The "Vienna Eye" big wheel must be old, it looked like its capsules were old Trecco Bay caravans or portakabins. We tried to remember in which film they had been featured. The night we got back, James Bond's The Living Daylights was on ITV and there's Timothy Dalton at the fairground, on the big wheel and even in the beer garden but minus all the Welsh flags!

Ernst Happel Stadium had its good and not so good aspects. Good - it was impressive, offered good views, the away section was decent and the bowl shaped stadium with high hanging roofs kept the (our) atmosphere in. We were all given free baseball caps and sweets going in too. Bad - it's an athletic stadium with a football pitch plonked in the middle leaving us a long way from where the action was. The climb to the top of the stadium was three tortuous flights of stairs, testing the fittest amongst us.

The best bit was also the worst bit. How chuffed we were to see beer being sold in the ground even if it was 4 Euro (almost £3 a time). The Welsh fans loved sitting in our seats with beer watching the football. The fact it tasted like the proverbial gnat's pee was minor detail. However, the more we drank, the more sober we became. Not until half-time did it dawn on me that I, and hundreds of Welsh fans, had been joyfully swigging alcohol free beer!

It's all been said about the game but I thoroughly enjoyed watching Wales' best away performance for a very long time. Taking the game to the Austrians, our only failure was our finishing. It's all been said about how we created 7 clear cut chances (5 of them one on ones with the keeper) but failed to take any. That's suicidal in international football.

Austria were, in my opinion, very poor indeed but they were clinical. Three shots they had, all in the second half - one hit the post, one hit the bar and the third went in. Danny Coyne's howler of howlers on the same ground where David James did the same for England. It was undeserved and very rough justice but Wales will reflect on a much greater performance that gives hope but, like last Saturday, they still lost out by failing to take one on one chances and then gift the Austrians late goals.

It looks like England will win the group, Poland will be second and Austrians will come next although they still yearn for a play-off spot. They're not good enough. Wales meanwhile should be angry about a group where we should be finishing third at worst (I think we're better than Austria) but instead are joint bottom with Azerbaijan.

The support at the ground has been mentioned too. It was enormous. The home fans were anonymous by comparison, their only noise coming from their tannoy man. They also did an impressive pre-match routine with a huge flag behind goals and let off a couple of flares. How come that's a jail-type offence at home but happens everytime we go abroad? Highlight has to be that 25 minute non-stop Men of Harlech chant in the second half with a fully dressed Spiderman and 3 topless drunks leading the way at the front.

Low point of the support were knobheads who think rivalries between Cardiff City and Swansea City means more than following their country away at an international match who decided to bate and clash with each other at half-time. When will we ever learn?

Vienna had some notable sights not in tourist guides;
- The airport smoking zones
- The endless number of kebab, hot dog, schnitzel and ice cream shops and kiosks. Every street seemed to have a mini Caroline Street within.
- Despite that, what a skinny nation. How can they eat all those kebabs and be so skinny?
- Whilst they may be skinny and largely friendly too, Viannese don't smile much do they?
- The Blue Danube is brown
- Vienna must be 99.9999% white. Coming from a cosmopolitian city like Cardiff and a multi-couloured, multi-ethnic nation like UK, it felt almost eerie.
- Construction everywhere. Every 4th street appeared to have a crane, huge chunks of the city being rebuilt or revamped, most projects finishing just before 2008 when they jointly host the Euro Championships with Germany.

The game didn't spoil what was a brilliant stay. If I had my time again, I wouldn't have spent three days in Vienna. Others who went to places like Prague, Bratislava, Munich and The Alps first or during their time away probably got it right. Vienna was really good though and very enjoyable. The football was almost irrelevant to the mini-break when we're out of contention but I'm still gutted we lost that one but at least I can see some hope and way forward once more.

The roll leading guru and genius that is FEE WAYBILL and myself show how to perform, the Ayatollah post-gig at Birmingham Academy.

Match Report: Cardiff City 0 Preston North End 4

Monday January 3, 2000

Cardiff (0) 0

Preston (0) 4
Edwards (46)Alexander (55)Nogan (62)Alexander (83) pen

Cardiff City (3-5-2 as if you didn't know!)HallworthLowEckhardtMiddletonPerrettBrazierFowlerCarpenterSchwinkendorfNugentHumphreyssubsBonner (for Schwinkendorf 45)Bowen (for Nugent 75)Faerber (for Brazier 80)Kelly & Phillips (not used)

Referee: P. J. Joslin (Newark)
Attendance: 10,142
Weather: Mild, overcast, drizzle
Atmosphere:1st half - Fantasy Island
2nd half - Sully Island
Preston fans: 500

Let's get the important things out first. No matter how low any City fanfeels, and none can feel as low as me, today's result hasn't changed a thing.

Preston are an excellent side who will be probably be promoted and certainlyhave the look of a team who are undefeated for 18 matches and 4 months plusnot lost away all season in this division. Before the game, I would havegladly taken a point.

Cardiff are not too good to stay up but we won't go down either, there are a handful of sides who, praise be, are worse than us. As if to prove it, every team below us lost or drew today so our league position is unchanged.

We are a team of decent individual players who, for whatever reason, cannotblend as a team. City have only beaten one team higher placed than them inthe league before kick off in well over a year!

On the other hand, in the second division, we have not lost to any team currently below us either.That should tell you everything but it doesn't quite.Today, Cardiff City F.C. got a hammering.

Frank Burrows, under flak most ofthe season, has generally answered his critics by saying that his players never lie down and roll over for the club. Well sorry Frank, we can now. January 3rd 2000 may well go down as the day that even Frankie's most die-hard fans finally decided to open their eyes too and realise what many of us have spotted, and been pointing out, since the run-in to promotion last season .Be honest with yourselves and look at his record, he has not provided awinning side for the directors and supporters since January 1999 - a year ago!

He has been given more support and money than just about any other manager in the division. Frankie fans will try and point out things have gotbetter recently but are not being honest.The only wins Frank has got for City in the last 3 months have been Bury and Orient in the F.A. Cup, Chesterfield, Colchester and Reading in the league. They are all performing worse than City and it would have been a surprise if we had lost to them.

Honourable performances at Bolton and heroics at Cambridge merely paper over the cracks. Wake up - the players are good enough, the tactics, formation, motivation and, yes, the manager I love and always will, are not up to it anymore.

Yet again, the tactics were 3-5-2 and have never been altered in the 2 yearsof Burrows' charge. Burrows only gestures on the touchline, increasingly his arms are folded, are to implore players to get wide or push the ball wide. If we all see it and know what's coming every match, it's a sure bet our opponents do too.

The line up is baffling. We spend £110,000 on a German central defender(Schwinkendorf) and play him in midfield when we have a crisis in centra ldefence. Burrows answer? Let's persevere with Craig Middleton, a midfielder, instead. This is a player who looked so out of his depth at Cambridge against decent strikers last week that he was sent off for two needless fouls 30 yards from goal and contributed to Perrett's sending off too.

We also had another natural central midfielder on the bench in Lee Phillips - granted, he's not the best but surely more able than Middleton.Surprise, surprise, Middleton wasn't up to the job. I despair.

Schwinkendorf, Carpenter and Fowler never looked the right balance inmidfield against such strong opponents and yet, Mark Bonner, who would havebeen beneficial, was relegated to the bench. And so, Cardiff City gotslaughtered in midfield. It is so badly and obviously wrong, why have theclub got so many coaching staff in Burrows, Ayre and Wood and theycollectively come to these decisions? Or is it Frankie alone with the othertwo nodding dutifully?Perhaps most annoying thing of all is that Frankie never makes any attempt toanswer why he does these things even though supporters say it after nearlyevery game. He's a stubborn man.Cardiff City should be starting the Millennium year in mid-table and anoutside chance of the play-offs, instead we are looking at a relegationbattle that may well go to the final weekend of the season. At least, that'sthe only realistic assessment when our beloved leader is too intransigent toadmit he's getting it badly wrong or change anything.His changes are more by luck than design, witness how Josh Low - a man hebought to convert to a striker - is suddenly his new "Mark Delaney" at wingback. Or what about how he was actively trying to get rid of RichardCarpenter and Jeff Eckhardt at the start of the season, the two players whoare probably first on his team sheet now. Remember how he thought Fowler wasa centre half - sending offs, own goals, and penalties later he wasn't! Orhow his pretty boy midfield containing 2 of Hill, Fowler, Brazier was onlybroken up by injuries.As for the match itself, there really isn't a great deal to report unless youenjoy watching the side you adore getting drubbed at home. City came out,acquitted themselves well, but bottom line is, we did not put a single shoton goal in 90 minutes yet again.Just in case you don't take notice of these things, Cardiff City have scored4 goals in more than 15 hours of league, F.A. Cup and Auto Windscreen action.That's a ratio of 1 goal nearly every 4 hours and what makes it even worseis that 2 goals were scored by defenders and another was an own goal!! It'sa joke.There was no real hint of the embarrassing outcome in the opening period.There were efforts at goal, three by Jeff Eckhardt who was worrying thePreston rearguard at corners and free kicks but a shot and two headers allwent a bit too high or wide. He was the most likely City scorer as Nugentand Humphreys were not linking and spending more time floating wide than theywere trying to create a nuisance and presence in the penalty area - you know,the job we'd quite like to see them doing. Jason Fowler had an excellenteffort with a curved free kick from 25 yards but he didn't quite get hisangle or height right and it floated wide but seemed to be covered.Schwinkendorf was possibly the pick of City's players by doing nothingspecial, just simple passing and distribution, it helped City get forward.Preston looked confident, assured and capable of breaking through even thoughit was an even half. Indeed, man for man, I wouldn't particularly sayPreston were better but, as a team, there was a marked difference. Theirformations, tactics, passing and movement were ahead of City's. They didhowever have 5 regulars missing, just as well it wasn't their full team then.They never troubled Hallworth in the opening period, no need to, Hallworthwas doing that job well enough on his own. Yet again, his lack assertivenessat the heart of City's defence was alarming, his communication with hisdefence was near non-existent. It was best emphasised when Cardiff playersran the ball out of play for two or three corners when there was no realdanger due to Hallworth not leaving his line to collect. This has gone onall season, let's hope Ian Feuer is a worthy challenger as the time forchange is surely now.Half-time City 0 Preston 0Yet again, Ninian Park proved it just is not capable of handling even decentsized crowds. It's one thing appealing for big crowds but another when theclub can't cope with it, big turnstile and ticket office queues before thestart were matched by half time ridiculous toilet queues. The cateringoutlets had nothing to sell other than burgers and hot dogs with unacceptablequeuing. By the time I got back to my seat, City were 1 down and I missedthe goal.The origins were in a half-time substitution as Schwinkendorf was replaced byBonner. You have to give Frankie the benefit of the doubt, especially whenwe know he never replaces players before the final 15 minutes, and assumeSchwinkendorf was injured or still suffering with flu. But how he was missedas the ball went into the hole where he would have been, Chippy Carpentertried to block a shot but Rob Edwards rifled high into the net from 20 yards.City tried to settle but the game was over as a contest just 9 minutes laterwhen defender Alexander drilled home a low shot from 25 yards which skimmedacross goal and off the far post. A beautiful finish but a knife through theheart for all City fans.And 6 minutes later, it was 3-0 as a lofted ball to the far post saw Citytarget, and local boy, Kurt Nogan given a free header from 10 yards. He didwell to reach it but maybe Hallworth could have saved as it was centre ofgoal and under the bar. He flapped an arm, missed and the ball went in togive Nogan only his 2nd goal of the season.Cardiff City work hard to encourage fans and had a superb attendanceexceeding 10,000. But with just under half hour remaining, the exodus hadstarted in the Grandstand and Bob Bank and you knew many walked out destinednot to return until City sort it out - it could be a while yet. Incredibly,the fans yet again refused to criticise, there was one chant of "what a loadof rubbish" and others who dared to criticise Frank were given glares.It was game, set and match and just a case of whether City could restore anypride. They rallied but on 83 minutes, a Preston winger burst into the area,Eckhardt fouled him with a clumsy tripping challenge, penalty. Alexandershot into the right hand corner for his 2nd goal of the afternoon, justeluding Hallworth.City trudged off with less than half the crowd in the stadium who were thereat the start and another glorious start to the New Year to rank alongside a5-0 home drubbing by Maidstone and a 5-0 hammering at Preston (they must loveus!) in recent years.No doubt there was a huge inquest in the changing room and we'll hear lots ofcomment about mistakes, players not showing enough commitment, City will workharder to put things right. In fact, just about everything except questionsbeing asked about our Manager.If I could ask him one, it would be, "We love you Frank but why don't youbecome a general manager, sort out contracts, transfers, help the youth andleave the day to day running, tactics and motivation of the team in someoneelse's hands Frank?"Because, to be honest, I have seen more than enough.

DAI THOMAS TURNS DOWN LOAN MOVE TO YEOVIL

Dai allegedly turned down the move to Yeovil as they refused to pay his wages plus a bonus of 500 of your award winning Champion Chicken and Mushroom piesper week!

The Echo did comment about him turning down the move and wanting to stay inNationwide - in other words, he'd prefer to do nothing at Cardiff and pick upeasy wages than put himself in the shop window - but you're probably betteroff without him.The paper also said Burrows was looking to loan out players but nevermentioned anything about them going to Yeovil - whoever posted a quote ofFrankie's saying that one of our forwards is definitely going there isstretching the truth unless he has inside info, the paper never said that.If anything, hints are player(s) are about to be loaned to Jimmy Mullen atMerthyr. Great, put the kids back in Jarman's company!Seems that Shay Kelly is going there once Feuer's work permit is sorted -apparently his permit expired 24 hours after signing for City - so Shay istruly out of the equation. Burrows also said he was looking to loan strikersincl Roberts, Earnshaw and Thomas (presumably, not all at once). You shouldtake Earnie or Robbo if you can get them.One of my workpals lives 3 houses from Dai and tells me he jumps in hissponsored car to go to the Chinese. Maybe we all do that but how many of uswould do it if the Chinese was just 100 yards from your front door? Lazyb***ard!

A MANIC MILLENNIUM

Spent New Years Eve seeing in the Millennium at Millennium Stadium ina hopitality box thanks to Scott Thomas.

A few us were in a hospitality box right behind the Royal Box - the only royalty sitting in front of us was Cerys of Catatonia.

We had a fridge jampacked with tinnies - at least it was before we got started on it!!

The Millenium itself was perhaps the non-event of the Century and none of itcould ever live up to the media hype. It seemed many had unrealistic expectations of all events.

In isolation I thought The Manics gig was a top event. The Welsh bands -Feeder, Super Furries and Manics - all put on great shows. I love SuperFurries but Feeder probably had the best response of the support acts.

Watching from our privileged position, that was a happening gig on the floor,it was bouncing!

A night I'll never forget.