Cardiff City Football Club - Bluebirds

Cardiff City History

2006-07 Season

13th in the Championship
League Cup: 1st round: Barnet h. 0-2
FA Cup: 3rd round replay: Tottenham Hotspur a. 0-4

Highlight:
4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, 30/9/06

Low Spot:
2-0 defeat at Burnley, 9/4/07.

Good:
Michael Chopra
Choppy Chopsticks Chopra netted 22 times for the Bluebirds and when you consider that the next highest return was 6 his contribution is obvious.
His goals tended to come in spurts and his team play has room for improvement but he will be vital again next season if Cardiff are to mount a more sustained challenge.
Joe Ledley
Strong, talented midfielder who was a fixture in the team throughout. Getting better and more consistent all the time and if he continues to improve looks set for the Premier League either with or without City.

Bad:
Willo Flood
Big things were expected of this utility player signed from Manchester City but his contribution was a damp squib and mainly confined to substitute appearances.
Kevin Campbell
Didn't manage to find the net from 20 appearances, 15 of which came from the bench. It looks like Old Father Time may have finally caught up with Campbell.

In Brief:
The Bluebirds were truly soaring after a blistering start and were sent clear at the top of the table by a barrage of goals from their pacy new striker from Newcastle Michael Chopra.
From early November, however, the club went on a winless run that stretched to the end of January.
Six wins in nine games then lifted them back to 5th and a play off place was there for the taking but only two points were gained from the final nine games of the season and the club finished a disappointing 13th.
Chopra remained an exciting presence but his performances were somewhat inconsistent and both he and his colleagues will need to improve in that respect next time around.

Cardiff City FC History

Cardiff City Football Club was formed in 1899 by members of the Riverside Cricket Club. It was in 1908 that the club changed its name to Cardiff City.

The club gained entry into the Football League in 1920 when they were elected into the second division. In their first season in the league Cardiff won promotion to the first division as runners up behind Birmingham City and also made it to the semi finals of the FA Cup before losing to Wolverhampton Wanderers after a replay.

In 1923-24 Cardiff were denied the league championship by Huddersfield Town on a fractional goal average. By any modern day system they would have been champions.

The following season they defeated Fulham, Notts County, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers to reach the FA Cup final only to lose 1-0 to Sheffield United.

In 1927 the Bluebirds returned to Wembley after beating Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea and Reading along the way. This time the only goal of the game was theirs, Hughie Ferguson's shot slipping through the hands of Arsenal's Welsh keeper Dan Lewis to give them the famous trophy.

In 1929, however, Cardiff suffered relegation to the second division and in 1931 they dropped into Division Three South.

They managed to win the championship of that division in 1947 to return to Division Two and in 1952 returned to the top flight as runners up behind Sheffield Wednesday.

Cardiff were relegated in 1957 but returned to Division One, again as runners up, in 1960. They again suffered relegation in 1962, however, and have yet to return to the top flight.

The Bluebirds spent thirteen seasons in the second division before suffering relegation to Division Three in 1975. They were promoted instantly as runners up behind Hereford United in 1976 and managed to survive in Division Two until 1982 when they again went down.

The club continued to bounce between the second and third divisions, promoted in 1983 and relegated in 1985 before collapsing the following season to drop into the fourth division.

The Bluebirds spent two seasons in the basement before winning promotion as runners up behind Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1988. Two seasons later they dropped back into Division Four, climbing back into the third tier as champions in 1993.

Yet again they could not achieve stability, suffering another relegation in 1995. In 1997 they reached the Division Three play offs but were defeated in both legs of their semi final with Northampton Town.

In 1999 Cardiff won promotion back to the third tier but again could not adapt and slipped to an immediate relegation.

Eventually the club managed a more sustained revival after winning promotion as runners up the following season, 2000-01.

Cardiff then reached the Division Two play offs in 2002 but lost out to Stoke City in the semi finals despite winning 2-1 away from home in the first leg. Stoke scored in the last minute to take the tie into extra time at Ninian Park before scoring again to win on a 3-2 aggregate.

The Bluebirds won promotion the following year, however. They beat Bristol City in the play off semi finals before seeing off Queens Park Rangers 1-0 with an extra time Andy Campbell goal at the Millennium Stadium.

After two solid seasons in English footballs' second tier the club is looking to push on under the strange chairmanship of Sam Hammam.

Cardiff's best effort in the League Cup came in 1966 when they reached the semi finals. They defeated Crewe, Portsmouth, Reading and Ipswich Town before crashing out on a 10-3 aggregate to West Ham.

They have also won the Welsh Cup on 22 occasions which has allowed them several ventures into Europe in the Cup Winners Cup. Their best run in that competition came in 1968 when they reached the semi finals. The Bluebirds accounted for Shamrock Rovers, NAC Breda of Holland and Moscow Torpedo before going down 4-3 on aggregate to SV Hamburg in the last four.

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