Vital Statistics
Founded: 1899
Chairman: Chan Tien Ghee
Last Season: Championship - 4th
Nickname: The Bluebirds
Rivals: Swansea City
Major Honours
FA Cup: 1927
Scheduled Matches
Portsmouth vs Cardiff: Saturday, August 27th (3pm)
Cardiff vs Portsmouth: Saturday, January 21st (3pm)
Transfers In
Craig Conway (Dundee United - Free)
Don Cowie (Watford - Free)
Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough - Free)
Robert Earnshaw (Nottingham Forest - Free)
Aron Gunnarson (Coventry - Free)
Joe Mason (Plymouth - £250,000)
Kenny Miller (Bursaspor - £870,000)
Rudy Gestede (Metz - Free)
Filip Kiss (Slovan Bratislava - Loan)
Transfers Out
Adam Matthews (Celtic - Free)
Chris Burke (Birmingham - Free)
Martin John (Released)
Gavin Rae (Released)
Michael Chopra (Ipswich - £1.5 million)
Jay Bothroyd (QPR - Free)
Probable Starting XI
GK: David MARSHALL
RB: Kevin McNAUGHTON
CB: Mark HUDSON
CB: Anthony GERRARD
LB: Andrew TAYLOR
RM: Filip KISS
CM: Don COWIE
CM: Craig CONWAY
LM: Peter WHITTINGHAM
CF: Kenny MILLER
CF: Robert EARNSHAW
The Manager: Malky Mackay
Mackay was best known in his playing days as a commanding centre back that achieved three successive promotions to the Premier League with Norwich, West Ham and Watford.
Mackay was appointed Watford manager in June 2009 following the resignation of Brendan Rodgers and guided the Hornets to a 14th place finish in the Championship when many predicted relegation.
This attracted the attention of the Cardiff board who eventually reached an agreement with Watford for Mackay to become the new manager of the Bluebirds and he will be expected to rebuild the squad following a number of high profile departures.
The Fans
Cardiff fans have a reputation for being a bit rowdy and they love asking us where our clock is so they're certainly good for banter. I have much respect for a lot of Bluebirds after the FA Cup Final after they stayed behind to see Pompey lift the trophy and we applauded their fans when they left the ground.
Cardiff have plenty of famous fans with the most well known names being Joe Calzaghe, Charlotte Church and, of course, Shakin' Stevens. There are many Welsh footballers who support the Bluebirds with the main two being Ryan "loyalty" Giggs and the softly-spoken Craig Bellamy.
Cardiff City Mad Editor Michael Morris on the upcoming season:
This time around under a new manager with nine new signings at present we are expecting a more patient and hopefully efficient season and hope to emulate Norwich and Swansea who won promotion on hard work and team spirit and didn't court the headlines.
The Ground: Cardiff City Stadium (Capacity: 26,800)
Situated behind where the old Ninian Park was, the Cardiff City Stadium is your basic "new ground" that does everything a modern football ground with good facilities should do and yet it doesn't really have any distinguishable features.
Pompey fans are kept in the corner of the Ninian End where banterous exchanges can be had with the fans to your right. The Canton End can also be seen and those with eagle eyes will be able to read the scoreboard and clock.
This is the Grandstand. It seems like Cardiff have trouble to sell out regular league games which is slightly surprising given the size of the city itself and the catchament area.
This is the Grange End. There's nothing special about it and that could be said for the entire stadium. Some Cardiff fans wish they could have stayed at Ninian Park.
