Cardiff’s 4-0 defeat at Sunderland leaves the Welsh side bottom of the Premiership and odds on favourites for relegation and a quick fire return to the Championship.
Four months on from sacking Malky Mackay owner Vincent Tan is facing up to the consequences of his mid-season madness.
Before sacking Mackay Tan sent an email suggesting that the manager resign having already undermined Mackay by sacking chief scout Ian Moody and promoting a friend of his son who didn’t even have a work permit for the UK.
Under Mackay Cardiff steered clear of the bottom three positions with 17 points from 16 matches before news of the e-mail surfaced. Two defeats later and Mackay was history with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally taking over a club at war with the fans disheartened over the contempt shown by Tan and his sycophants in the positions of power.
With 36 games played Cardiff have got 30 points with the 4-0 defeat at Sunderland the original six pointer with Gus Poyet’s side lifting themselves out of the bottom three and carrying momentum into the closing fixtures.
Despite just seven wins so far Solskjaer is looking to finish the season with back-to-back victories over Newcastle and Chelsea which won’t guarantee a return to the Championship.
“We have two games left and must find a way to find the mentality that we can do this,” the former Manchester United striker claimed. “We have to keep believing over the next two weeks.
“There are characters in our group and that became clear in this match. The players don’t give up, they don’t sulk. Our task is to find something special. Two wins are needed.
“ Our performance was better then that, but football can be like that. This was a chance to win three points and it’s gone. Now we have to win against Newcastle and Chelsea.”
While Cardiff prepare for relegation defender Steven Caulker is a transfer target for Liverpool with goalkeeper David Marshall likely to be in demand after an outstanding debut season in the Premiership.
