Latest news with #RubinColwill
Wales Online
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Cardiff City must build future around generational crop of young talent
Cardiff City must build future around generational crop of young talent The Bluebirds many be down, but Wales' capital city club still has so much going for it - if bold decisions are made in the coming weeks In Joel and Rubin Colwill, the future can be bight at Cardiff City (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency ) Right, enough of the doom and gloom. Cardiff City may be in League One, with Stevenage, Lincoln and Mansfield among the opposition next season, rather than Southampton, Leicester and Middlesbrough. They may be run in a baffling way which angers so many, making ridiculous decisions like appointing Omer Riza as manager - then compounding the error by keeping him for 37 matches which it was abundantly clear he was taking Wales' capital city club down. Vincent Tan may talk of a review of structures, when cynics reckon nothing tangible is likely to change. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community. We know the above. But… there is also a huge BUT. This is still a football club with so much going for it. A wonderfully passionate, and large, fan base just desperate for the hierarchy to get it right. When the Bluebirds were in the Premier League not so far back they boasted the 11th highest attendances in the division. So outside of the traditional big six, plus powerhouses like Everton, Newcastle and West Ham, Cardiff were neck and neck for next best with recently crowned champions Leicester. Article continues below Not bad for a relegated side. That support, latent or not, is crying out to be tapped into. They own a fabulous modern stadium. A new training ground is being built, we're told. They have a thriving Academy system. And despite everything that's just gone wrong, they also possess a generational crop of talented young players who the future needs to be built around. That future can yet be blue. For way too much time the dressing room, in my view, appears to have been dominated by under-performing senior stars. That needs to be turned totally on its head. Make the young guns the new kingpins, let them grow together, in League One, then hopefully the Championship again and one day perhaps even the Premier League. Let the effervescence, enthusiasm, pace and no-fear approach they offer become the nucleus of the side. Supplement them with four or five key summer signings, men to do a man's job in the uncompromising nature of League One football. Rubin Colwill needs to be given the keys to No.10, possibly even indulged - and then he needs to deliver, in terms of goals and assists. We want the kind of swagger we saw earlier in the season, not the timid displays witnessed towards the end, the sign of a player whose confidence has been completely knocked out of him. Being told the team is being built around him might bring greater responsibility on a more regular basis. Colwill played very well at Norwich, to be fair. Joel Colwill will return a better player from his loan spells away with Cheltenham and Exeter City. Some shrewd judges tell me he'll be even better than Rubin. We'll see, but his athleticism, energy and ability also has to be part of the Cardiff midfield mix next season and beyond. Cian Ashford and Isaak Davies offer the flair and pace the Bluebirds have missed so often on the wing. They are key parts of the jigsaw, too. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here Yousef Salech, if Cardiff can keep him, can be a 20-goal a season man. Alex Robertson, if they can keep him too, can prove a midfield dynamo with the right set-up around him. Will Fish looked the club's best centre-back at times this season. Joel Bagan did well when handed his opportunities. Roko Simic scored in a UEFA Champions League win over Benfica last term. It's surely only a matter of time before he breaks through. Others itching to emerge, although it might need to be more slowly-slowly in their case, include defenders Dylan Lawlor - what a superb talent he looks - Ronan Kpakio, who also did well at Norwich, and Luey Giles. These players mentioned above are 23 or younger. They are the ones Cardiff need to invest in and plan around. The fans will feed off the passion of home-grown youngsters. They did when Nathan Blake, Jason Perry and Damon Searle came through during the loveable Eddie May era of the 1990s. They can again. 'He's one of our own…' is the modern-day chant. But experience is required too, key signings this summer. The recruitment team have to get this right. Cardiff desperately need a rock-solid, been there, worn the T-shirt centre-half. Preferably as captain. A leader. They also require a dominant defensive midfielder, someone capable of controlling play and ticking things over. Preferably as vice-captain. Another leader. A reliable right-back, again with experience but who is capable of bombing forward as well as defending, is another must. So too is a fast, dynamic winger who with Ashford or Davies is able to get Cardiff up the pitch at speed, race past full-backs, stretch defences and cross to Salech - or Simic - from the byline. The blend would be so much better. Youth and experience. Pace and know-how. It can pay for itself with bold wheeling and dealing in the transfer market. A host of senior players are already out of contract this summer and can be moved on. Others can be sold. Personally I'd keep Callum O'Dowda, Aaron Ramsey and David Turnbull. Possibly Callum Robinson, Jesper Daland and Andy Rinomhota as a utility back-up too. You need a squad. But I wouldn't shed a tear if the other senior players - and there are a lot of them - departed this summer to make way for the kind of experienced newcomers I believe the team needs. To implement this, of course, requires the right manager. Ramsey might well be that man - I have not the slightest doubt he would be prepared to invest in youth. If not him, Tan must appoint someone else who is also prepared to embark down that route. Erol Bulut kicked off the season with the oldest team in the league, eight players in their 30th year or above. In an era where modern-day football is about legs and athleticism, it was pathetic management which set the tone Cardiff never recovered from for a truly dismal campaign. Bulut badly let down his many backers. Cardiff next need to go in the opposite direction by choosing a boss prepared to execute a plan, structure and vision for the future based around the youngsters Ramsey himself calls 'very talented' - and who is given adequate time to do the job. The short-termism Tan constantly goes for - enforced because of terrible managerial appointments - simply doesn't work. Relegation to League One is evidence of that. Not only does building around the young guns make sense football-wise, as for many they are Cardiff's better players, it's also an infinitely more sensible business model. In time, given their opportunity to shine, these early twentysomethings can be sold on for decent sums of money, which in turn can be ploughed back into the club. What's the point of the Academy if you're not going to utilise it properly? So football-wise and corporate-wise, it is win-win. Personally I feel it would be negligent of the board - and next manager - not to embark down this clear and exciting path forward that presents itself. Will they? I wish I could be convinced as I write these very words. Article continues below The choice of manager, which players are shown the exit door, just as pertinently which ones aren't, and then the profile of the newcomers arriving this summer, will tell us everything we need to know. Cardiff City may be down, but they don't have to be out. However, there needs to be a fundamental sea-change in attitude.
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Pick of the stats: QPR v Cardiff City
Cardiff head to London sat in the Championship relegation zone ahead of their game against Queens Park Rangers (15:00 BST).In a congested basement-battle the Bluebirds slipped below the dotted line when Derby overcame Preston on Wednesday night, despite picking up four points from their past two are effectively two points from safety, due to their inferior goal difference, but could climb above Hull City, Derby, Oxford United and Stoke if they can pick up a win while the others Hoops are only five points ahead of Cardiff, in 15th, after a nightmare run of one point from their past six games, though four of those defeats did come on the are looking to complete a league double over Cardiff City for the first time since the 2020-21 2-1 winners at Loftus Road last season, are looking to win consecutive league visits to QPR for the first time in the have lost eight of their past 11 league matches (W2 D1) – since the start of this run on 25 January, the Hoops have lost the most games of any Championship have won just four of their past 41 league matches in London (D14 L23), though two of them have been at QPR (in March 2022 and January 2024).Cardiff's Will Alves has three assists in his past five Championship appearances and despite only debuting for the club in February, only Rubin Colwill has more assists for the Bluebirds this season (4) than his three.
BBC News
06-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wales draw Denmark again in Euro27 U21 qualifying
Wales have been drawn against Denmark, Belgium, Austria and Belarus in qualifying for the 2027 Uefa European Under-21 draw pairs them again with Denmark who were the winners of Wales' qualifying group for the 2025 finals, when manager Matty Jones' side narrowly missed out on a play-off of the other sides in Group I - one of the groups with five rather than six teams - qualified for this summer's tournament in qualifying for 2027 the nine group winners and the runner-up with the best record against the top five in their group qualify directly for the final tournament along with hosts Albania and eight other runners-up will contest play-offs to determine the four remaining games will take place between March 2025 and October 2026, followed by play-offs the following month. The finals are in in June 2027. Wales have never reached a European Under-21 Championship side missed out on a chance to qualify for the 2025 tournament, losing their final game to Czech Republic who went on to overhaul Wales for second place in the group and a place in the 2-1 defeat to the Czechs at Rodney Parade was hit by controversy, with Wales missing six players for the game – including senior international Rubin Colwill – because of a Football Association of Wales administrative games during the 2025 campaign also saw them draw 2-2 against the Danes in Vejle with two Colwill penalties. However, they lost the return 2-1 at Rodney Parade in Newport, with Cian Ashford scoring a late consolation. Under-21 Euro 2027 qualifying group I Seeding for draw in bracketsDenmark (1) Belgium (2)Austria (3)Wales (4)Belarus (5)
