Cardiff City

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

When a player is left out of a matchday squad, they're usually free to do what they like.

For home games, they tend to watch from the stands and, even for away games, it's not unusual for injured or omitted players to travel.

That is true at Cardiff City, where the absence of some of their players for their final game of a dreadful season has been a talking point among fans this week.

Yakou Meite, Callum Robinson, Dimitrios Goutas and Anwar El Ghazi were all missing for the 4-2 defeat at Norwich City.

As Meite, Goutas and El Ghazi are all out of contract this summer, it's likely that they've all played their final game for Cardiff.

And while top scorer Robinson signed a new deal earlier this year, the Bluebirds will find it difficult to keep the former Premier League forward in League One.

There was nothing remarkable about their absence at Carrow Road, but what rankled with some Bluebirds supporters is that Meite was instead pictured watching a game at his ex-club Reading and joining his former team-mates on the pitch afterwards.

There is no suggestion the players broke any rules - they were free to do what they wanted on Saturday - but fans can justifiably question their judgement.

This has been a miserable campaign for everyone connected to Cardiff, who finished bottom of the Championship and will next season be playing in the third tier for the first time since 2003.

Yet 1,200 fans still made the long journey to Norwich to watch the already-relegated Bluebirds crumble to another defeat.

Given their commitment to a hopeless cause, you can understand why they were unhappy that some players had not only chosen to miss the game but had gone to watch another team.

As many have said, it's not a great look.

Such superficial matters are inconsequential in Cardiff's dire situation. Their priority right now is finding a new manager and a route back to the Championship.

But it's yet another case of questionable decisions in what has been a nightmare season, full of poor judgement.

This post has been updated to correct an error in the original version, in which Callum Robinson was said to have been at Aston Villa's game on Saturday. Robinson has clarified that he did not attend any game that day.

Image source, Rex Features

Peterborough United have announced that Ricky-Jade Jones will leave the club this summer having been a Cardiff City transfer target in the last transfer window.

Jones, 22, scored 18 goals in 2024-25 as Posh finished 18th in League One and won the EFL Trophy, but will leave London Road when his contract expires next month.

In January, then Cardiff boss Omer Riza said pacy forward Jones was on the Bluebirds' list of transfer targets and that discussions had taken place over a potential deal.

Much has changed since then of course, with Riza gone and Cardiff preparing to play in the third tier alongside Peterborough next season.

If the Welsh club do their revive their interest in Peterborough youth product Jones, they would have to pay compensation despite his contract situation because of the player's age.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Cardiff City are bracing themselves for interest in striker Yousef Salech as they prepare for life in League One, says caretaker manager Aaron Ramsey.

Salech has been a rare bright spark in a wretched season for the Bluebirds, who finished bottom of the Championship table following Saturday's 4-2 defeat at Norwich City.

The 6ft 5in striker scored both Cardiff goals at Carrow Road, taking his total to nine from 22 appearances in all competitions since his move from Swedish side Sirius in January.

The fee was undisclosed but believed to be between £3m and £4m, and Cardiff would hope to make a profit on the 23-year-old should he leave this summer.

"There's always going to be interest in players of his quality," said Ramsey.

"That's part of football. He showed again what he's capable of doing. He's a fantastic player and he's only going to get better.

"Some of the goals he's scored and it's not just that, it's what he does off the ball, that effort he puts in is not to be sniffed at. He's a serious player who's only going to get better."

Relegation will come at a significant financial cost for Cardiff, who will lose much of their income from broadcast deals and sponsors.

That could make it harder for them to reject offers from higher-placed clubs should any come in for Salech, but Ramsey hopes he will stay.

"We always want to keep our best players and he's no different," the Wales captain added.

"There's a few things that need to be addressed over the coming weeks and hopefully that will give some clarity to everyone – players, staff, fans, everyone. That's the next step."

Relegated Cardiff City will look to end their dismal season on a high when they visit Norwich City on Saturday (12:30 BST).

A victory over the Canaries could mean the Bluebirds don't complete their time in the Championship this year bottom of the pack, a place they currently reside.

Cardiff will then go again next year in League One with a new manager at the helm, something that is also the case for Norwich in next season's Championship campaign.

The Canaries are winless in six and have seen their promotion hopes dashed by a much poorer second half of the season, now finding themselves firmly in the midtable and without a permanent boss.

• Norwich City have won three of their last four league games against Cardiff City (L1), scoring 2+ goals in each of those victories.

• Cardiff City will be looking to complete just a second league double over Norwich City in the EFL after winning the reverse fixture 2-1 in November last year (also in 2017-18).

• Norwich have failed to win any of their last five final league games of a season (D1 L4), conceding exactly five goals in two of those defeats.

• After winning each of their four final games of a league campaign that came away from home between 2015 and 2022, Cardiff have since lost their last two via a three-goal margin.

• Norwich's Jack Wilshere and Cardiff's Aaron Ramsey will face as managers for the first time, six years and 251 days after the last Premier League game in which both featured, with Wilshere playing for West Ham against Ramsey's Arsenal in August 2018. The pair both played in the same match for Arsenal in the Premier League 71 times, most recently in May 2018 against Burnley.

Image source, Getty Images

Iwan Roberts says Cardiff City should make either Nathan Jones or Dave Challinor their new manager as they look to bounce back from Championship relegation.

Interim boss Aaron Ramsey has suggested the Bluebirds should quickly appoint Omer Riza's long-term successor while indicating that he wants to continue his playing career.

And as Cardiff prepare to play in the third tier of English football for the first time in 22 years, ex-Wales international Roberts says to managers who have done well in League One this season should be on their radar.

Former Luton boss Jones (below), a Cardiff fan, is set for a top-five finish with Charlton while Challinor (above) has led Stockport to third place – as things stand – having won the League Two title last season.

"I have got two names. I am looking at Nathan Jones and what he's done at Charlton and at Dave Challinor, especially Dave Challinor because he's a name that doesn't get mentioned, goes under the radar," Roberts told this week's Feast of Football podcast.

Image source, Getty Images

"The job he has done at Stockport has been absolutely phenomenal. They pipped Wrexham to the title in League Two last season. They were the top scorers, they are third at the minute and are second top scorers.

"He plays an attractive style of football and he has an attacking side to him. If I was the powers that be at Cardiff, whichever one of those two fails in the play-offs, I would be knocking on their door."

Roberts says it "still beggars belief" the Bluebirds have been relegated given the quality in their squad – and believes change off the pitch must now come.

"It's been one calamitous mistake after another and they have not learned their lessons," Roberts added.

"From top to bottom, I would get new people in to run the football club.

"I think people need to leave, people with a footballing brain need to come in and help build the club from top to bottom and give the club an opportunity of getting back up at the first time of asking."

Image source, Getty Images

Aaron Ramsey says he would like to be a manager in the future - but does not believe it is possible to combine the job with playing.

The Wales captain will sign off as Cardiff City's caretaker boss at Norwich City on Saturday, 3 May, having been put in charge for the final three games of the Championship season.

Ramsey was unable to prevent the Bluebirds from dropping into League One, their relegation being confirmed as a result of last weekend's goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion.

The 34-year-old says he has enjoyed his brief spell in charge, but has already distanced himself from taking the job full-time as he targets a return to playing with the 2026 World Cup in mind.

And he is lukewarm about the idea of being a player-manager.

"I've really enjoyed the last couple of weeks," he said. "That's been evident in the way the players have performed.

"One day I would like to be in this position [but] I don't think you can do the both [playing and managing].

"It would be one or the other. We'll see.

"None of that has been discussed. My full focus is on Norwich for now."

Ramsey was asked whether he would ideally need to be playing at a higher level than League One in order to achieve his ambition of playing at the World Cup with Wales.

"I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen," said Ramsey.

"At the moment I'm still in the early stages of rehab [from the hamstring injury] and I'm going to carry on with that.

"Even to go and play golf again I'm going to have to do this rehab to make sure I get my hamstring in a way it can function."

Ramsey says he is looking forward to having the chance to reflect fully on his time in charge, and provide feedback to club bosses as they search for the next permanent manager.

"I haven't really had time to digest it all," said Ramsey, who is hoping to end his spell in charge with a win at Carrow Road after picking up two draws.

"My full focus is on [Norwich], then having a bit of time to reflect.

"Then it'll all hit home - what we've done, what we've managed to get out of the players, the situation the club is in.

"If they want my feedback, I will do. I know what it's like as a player, I know the team, and I've been in here as a manager for a couple of weeks.

"I can give a fair assessment of everything really."

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Former Cardiff City striker Michael Chopra says managing the Bluebirds in League One is the "perfect opportunity" for Aaron Ramsey.

Ramsey has been in interim charge following the sacking of Omer Riza but has been unable to prevent the club's relegation to the third tier.

The Wales captain has indicated he would like to continue his playing career, though his contract with the Welsh club expires at the end of the season.

"I think he's got the pedigree, there won't be much pressure on him in League One," Chopra told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"If Cardiff stayed in the Championship I would have been a bit wary of giving him the job but I think it's the perfect opportunity for Aaron Ramsey and hopefully Chris Gunter because they've got great football knowledge.

"He knows the area, he's a Cardiff fan. If he's not going to get a chance at Cardiff City, where else is he going to get a chance of being a football manager?"

The Cardiff City Supporters' Trust have called for a meeting with owner Vincent Tan to discuss a number of matters including a "lack of specialist football experience and knowledge at club board level".

Image source, Rex Features

Chopra - who made 145 appearances and scored 65 goals for Cardiff across four spells all under manager Dave Jones - believes the club should appoint a director of football.

And he names Jones (pictured above with Chopra) along with former teammate and Shamrock Rovers sporting director Stephen McPhail as potential contenders.

"You just need someone who knows the club and knows football," Chopra added.

"There are people making decisions, footballing decisions that don't really know what's going on, on the pitch or what needs to happen behind the scenes.

"I get on really well with the people on the board, I like them as people. But to not turn up to football games to follow the team, when you are board members and things like that, I think it's a little bit disrespectful.

Chopra believes the club is missing a philosophy.

"I speak to a lot of Cardiff fans and they hate me saying this but you look at Swansea, they had a philosophy at that football club even when I was playing against them," he said.

"They would play a certain way, a certain type of formation and a certain pattern of play. And no matter what manager came into that football club, they had to buy into that philosophy.

"Now when Cardiff City employ a manager, they want to bring their own players in, they want to change the system and the way the team plays and they've had seven managers in the last four years."

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Robert Earnshaw reckons old club Cardiff City are facing two of their "biggest games ever" as they fight to stay in the Championship.

Second-bottom Cardiff are three points adrift of safety heading into the final week of a miserable season.

Caretaker boss Aaron Ramsey's side host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday before a final-day trip to Norwich City.

Realistically, they need a minimum of four points from the two games to have any chance of avoiding the drop – but it could be that two victories are not enough to lift Cardiff out of the bottom three.

Ex-Cardiff and Wales striker Earnshaw says this weekend's meeting with another of his former clubs is "a must-win" if Ramsey is to oversee a great escape.

"You have got two cup finals, one against West Brom and then the last game against Norwich," Earnshaw told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"You have got to get minimum four points because of the goal difference. Cardiff's goal difference is not good.

"It's two cups finals to keep Cardiff City in the league. Listen, it's going to be two of the biggest games for Cardiff City ever because you don't want to drop down to League One."

Cardiff are in need an upturn in form to give themselves of hope of survival having claimed only one victory in their past 10 league games.

They have won successive matches on only one occasion this season, when they saw off Plymouth and Portsmouth at the Cardiff City Stadium in October.

The Welsh club have not played in the third tier of English football since 2003 – but Earnshaw fears they may be stuck there for a while if they do go down.

"You look at the likes of Portsmouth, Bolton, all of these teams who have been down there for years, teams that were in the Premier League finding it very difficult to come back [up from League One]," he added.

"To be honest it doesn't look good for Cardiff City. I am worried. But I have hope and I am going to be cheering on Cardiff City and Aaron Ramsey."

Having both sacked their managers over Easter Weekend, Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion will meet on Saturday (15:00 BST) with ambitions of staying alive on either side of the table.

The Bluebirds will be under the charge of Wales captain Aaron Ramsey after sacking Omar Riza following their defeat to Sheffield United on Friday.

The Welshman's first game at the helm culminated in a 1-1 draw with Oxford, keeping them afloat in the relegation fight with three points between them and safety.

While former Albion midfielder James Morrison replaces Tony Mowbray, who lost his position after a 3-1 loss to Derby County on Monday, for the first time as the Baggies look to keep their fleeting hopes of the play-offs alive.

• Cardiff are winless in their last seven league games against West Brom (D4 L3), failing to score in five of these matches.

• West Brom have won two of their last three away league games against Cardiff (D1), as many as in their previous 11 visits (D6 L3).

• Cardiff have won just one of their last 10 league games (D4 L5), and are winless in six since beating Blackburn 2-1 in March.

• West Brom have lost five of their last six league games (W1), as many as they had in their previous 30 (W8 D17).

• West Brom are winless in their last 14 away league games (D7 L7). It's their longest run since a run of 15 between September 2017 and March 2018, while they've never gone 15 without a win on the road outside the top-flight.