Cardiff City

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Defender Nat Phillips says he will report for pre-season with Liverpool and then see what the future holds after a successful loan spell at Cardiff City.

Phillips, 27, was almost ever present for the Bluebirds after joining in January, making 17 starts and one substitute appearance for the Championship club.

“It’s nice to be back playing games, playing regularly," he told LFCTV GO's Extra Time programme.

“It was really important that wherever I went I was playing regularly and doing my bit. Fortunately, I have had the chance to do that at Cardiff. I’ve played almost every minute of every game.”

Prior to the 2023-24 season, Phillips had spent time on loan at VfB Stuttgart and AFC Bournemouth.

He has only made 16 starts for Liverpool in five years after coming through the club's academy and says nothing beats the experience of regular first-team football.

“It’s a really useful tool to get yourself off the mark, get your exposure to first-team football and get used to the demands, playing in front of crowds, away from that home comfort,” he said.

“You have to adapt otherwise you don’t survive. You pick things up along the way.

“I’ve been asked to do different things by different managers. Obviously at Liverpool it is high-pressing football, getting after opponents and trying to play out from the back.

“At Cardiff we try to mix it up a bit. Sometimes we’ll press high, sometimes we’ll let opponents have it, try to pinch it and hurt them on the break."

Phillips is uncertain what the future holds, and it is likely to remain up in the air for now with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp leaving Anfield at the end of the season.

“Looking to the summer, sometimes you can worry and overthink things too much," he said.

"You can only control what you can control. The plan is to go back in pre-season and just take it from there.”

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Cardiff City boss Erol Bulut says he can offer no further clarity on if he will remain Bluebirds boss next season.

Bulut reiterated that he wanted to stay as part of the Cardiff City "family," after a 5-2 defeat at relegated Rotherham ensured a 12th-placed finish in the Championship.

Bulut is out of contract this summer and said talks had been "positive" over a new deal.

“At the moment I don’t have something clear I can say," he told BBC Radio Wales Sport.

“We are on one point that maybe takes a few days for the club. I hope Mehmet and Vincent Tan will have a meeting.

“If the club want to continue with me, I have made it clear, I don’t want to be a guest anymore I want to be part of the family. I want to build this family together.

“The next step is the decision of the club. I believe we can build here much, much better things."

Bulut says he expects his future to be settled quickly.

“When this will be sorted is a good question, you should ask our chairman Mehmet Dalman or our owner Vincent Tan, they can give a better answer on this," he said.

“It shouldn’t take a long time because I have to make also plans for my career and Cardiff City have to make plans.

“It hopefully should not be a long time we have to wait."

Bulut has been linked to jobs in his native Turkey and Italy but offered "no comment" when asked if he had other offers.

“I have said many times I would like to continue to build here," he added.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Erol Bulut will ask for one final push from his Cardiff City players as they end the Championship season at Rotherham United on Saturday.

Cardiff will look to bounce back after heavy defeat to Middlesbrough in their final home game of the campaign last weekend.

The Bluebirds claimed one of their most enjoyable wins of the season as two late goals saw them beat promotion-chasing Southampton on 20 April, but followed that rousing triumph with a 4-1 loss to Boro.

“Sometimes pressure is good, sometimes when you are too relaxed it’s not good,” Bulut said.

“What I don’t like is that Southampton was great. We gave everything. Middlesbrough we had not enough players [because of injury], but this is not an excuse to lose the game 4-1.

“The last game against Rotherham, still half the team is not with us because of injury.

“We will have the youngsters. But the opponent team also have many injuries I think. They have 10, we have 13, so we are close!”

Callum O’Dowda is set to return to the Cardiff squad at Rotherham after his latest injury lay-off.

A win against the Millers could see Bulut’s team secure a top-10 Championship finish, depending on results elsewhere.

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Erol Bulut says Ebou Adams will return to Cardiff City next season unless Derby County make a move to sign the midfielder on a permanent basis.

Adams helped the Rams win promotion back to the Championship after joining them on loan in January.

The 28-year-old had made nine appearances for Bulut’s Cardiff in the first half of the season and has another year to run on his Bluebirds contract.

Speaking after Derby clinched promotion last weekend – and amid suggestions the Pride Park club would like to sign him on a full-time deal - Adams said he did not know where he would be playing next season.

When asked about Adams’ situation, Cardiff boss Bulut said: “I congratulate him for the victory - they got promoted. He was a big part of the season, he helped the team a lot.

“New season, we are all together here we will see how it goes. He is still under contract at Cardiff City.

“Let’s see how he thinks, how his manager thinks, how the clubs think, Cardiff City and Derby. If they are interested, they have to discuss with our club.”

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Erol Bulut says Cardiff City must look to improve in every department if they are to achieve their goal of returning to the Premier League.

Manager Bulut is in talks with the Bluebirds over a new contract after a successful first season at the Welsh club.

Bulut’s current agreement ends after Saturday’s trip to Rotherham United, the final game of the 2023-24 Championship season.

But amid optimism that the former Fenerbahce boss will sign a new long-term deal, Bulut is already looking ahead to the new campaign.

And he says the signing of new players is the “first step” for Cardiff this summer.

“Of course for this, the budget is important,” he added.

“When we want to go to the next level, we have to be focused on this and work like this to go that direction – not only me, everybody in the club.”

Cardiff are guaranteed a top-half finish having battled relegation in the last two seasons.

Bulut wants to make further progress next season – and says it will take more than some good transfer business to make that happen.

“It’s not only players. I will try to make my coaching staff bigger next season,” he added.

“For recruitment, we have to work on scouts [and] we have brought already one or two in. We have to add a little bit in every part so we can go up all together as a club.”

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Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut says midfielder Rubin Colwill is being tracked by a number of Premier League clubs.

Colwill has scored three goals and provided four assists in 39 appearances this season, showing further signs of his undoubted promise along the way.

The 22-year-old, who shot to prominence when he was named in the Wales squad for Euro 2020, signed a new contract last September which ties him to Cardiff until 2027.

Though Colwill has not always made Bulut’s starting side, the former Fenerbahce boss says the attacking midfielder has made significant progress in 2023-24.

“When I saw Rubin in pre-season and where he is right now… I think it’s a big, big step [forward],” Bulut said.

“Now he is in the target of many Premier League clubs.”

Southampton boss Russell Martin showered praise on Colwill after the Saints’ defeat at Cardiff City Stadium in April.

Bulut says Colwill is bound to have admirers given his attacking qualities, but does not want to see him leave Wales this summer.

“It’s not surprising because I knew at the start of the season that he can be much, much better,” he added.

“He worked hard, he listened to us, but I still believe he can do much more.

“Then he will be at that level where we maybe we cannot hold him here.”

Colwill has taken part in light training this week after a hamstring issue, but is unlikely to feature in Cardiff’s final game of the Championship campaign, at Rotherham United on Saturday.

Chris Wathan
BBC Sport Wales

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On the day he was unveiled as new Cardiff City manager, one of the Bluebirds hierarchy described Erol Bulut as something of a wildcard.

Regardless of the contract poker playing out over Bulut’s future, it is safe to say Cardiff’s hired hand has provided returns.

In fact, as he approaches his 50th game in the Cardiff dug-out with this weekend’s final day of the season trip to relegated Rotherham United, Bulut can lay claim to already being one of the Bluebirds’ best bosses in recent times when it comes to wins.

Currently, the former Fenerbahce man can boast a 40.8% win ratio in charge thanks to 20 victories from 49 games in all competitions.

That is better than any of his five immediate predecessors who have held the position since Neil Warnock’s time as manager.

Even then, serial promotion winner Warnock’s win ratio was only slightly better at 40.97%.

And a win at the New York Stadium on Saturday would lift Bulut up to 42% - the best since Malky Mackay’s 43.2% during a period where the club reached the play-offs, a League Cup final and secured the Championship title.

If no new deal is agreed to extend Bulut's services, that is not a bad way to bow out.

There is a caveat, of course, in that Warnock’s record includes a season in the Premier League.

But Bulut’s 19 Championship wins is still the most in a campaign since the veteran Yorkshireman took the club to the top flight in 2018, when a superb season saw 27 victories celebrated.

Conversely, there have been 21 defeats this season – only one shy of last year’s struggle for second-tier survival – with Cardiff only drawing five games all term. Only promoted Leicester City have drawn fewer.

But given one of the attributes chairman Mehmet Dalman cited when explaining Bulut’s appointment was his knowledge of how to win games; the statistics show he has done just that.

Cardiff manager win ratios since 2013:

• Malky Mackay – 43.2%

• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 30%

• Russell Slade – 37.21%

• Paul Trollope – 16.67%

• Neil Warnock – 40.97%

• Neil Harris – 38.71%

• Mick McCarthy – 36.84%

• Steve Morison – 35.56%

• Mark Hudson – 22.22%

• Sabri Lamouchi – 33.33%

• Erol Bulut – 40.8%

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Former Cardiff City captain Steven Caulker has welcomed the news that the Bluebirds have started contract talks with manager Erol Bulut.

Bulut, whose current deal expires at the end of the season, has guided Cardiff to 12th place in the Championship with one game left this term - a big improvement on the successive relegation battles his predecessors endured in the previous two campaigns.

Former Cardiff, Tottenham and Liverpool centre-back Caulker played under Bulut for Turkish clubs Alanyaspor and Gaziantep.

"He's offered Cardiff some much needed consistency. They've needed a bit of stability and he's given them that," Caulker told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"I think the fans, from what I read and what I hear, have taken a liking to him and I think it's really good news that [Cardiff owner] Vincent Tan is also backing him, and hopefully he'll back him in the transfer window as well.

"Erol's an ambitious man. I'm sure what he'll want is for the club to fully support him and get some new players in."

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There has finally been some movement on Erol Bulut's future as Cardiff City manager, with the club starting new contract talks with the former Fenerbahce boss.

It has taken a long time, with Bulut having to answer questions about his future for months.

He has always maintained that he would like to stay and, after we asked Cardiff's fans for their opinions on the matter, it looks like they want him to stay too.

Here's a flavour of what the Bluebirds faithful have had to say.

Viv Sanders: I desperately want Bulut to stay. If he does, I reckon there’s a great chance of promotion next year.

Nathan: Absolutely Bulut should stay. The football can be a little negative at times but he has had to make do with inheriting a squad that flirted with relegation last season and had a transfer ban in place in the first window. For us to be 12th and never threatened by relegation all season is a massive achievement for me. Bulut's Barmy Army.

David Whitwell: Bulut should stay 100%. He has done a great job with an average squad and lots of injuries.

Elsie Aubrey: We want Bulut to stay. Come on [owner Vincent] Tan, do it and give him some money to buy some players, as our team are all rejects from other teams.

David: Bulut should stay, Tan should go.

Peter Price: Bulut has done well to stabilise the club despite the embargo and the tin-pot nature of the board, which is impotent given the ownership.

Nick Clark: Bulut has us moving in the right direction and should be given the chance to carry on.

There were loads more comments, too many to include here. If you ever want to get in touch with your views on Cardiff, you can do so by filling in this form.

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Cardiff City midfielder Ebou Adams says “the fans have said it all” after Derby County supporters urged him to stay at Pride Park.

Adams, who joined Derby on loan in January, was part of the Rams side that clinched automatic promotion back to the Championship on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Carlisle United.

Adams, 28, has proved a big hit at Pride Park and his Good Friday winning goal against Blackpool was voted by supporters as the Rams’ goal of the season.

The former Forest Green Rovers player has a year remaining on his Cardiff contract, but was serenaded by Derby fans with cries of ‘Ebou Adams, we want you to stay'. He has hinted he would like to remain at Pride Park.

"Words can't describe," he told BBC Radio Derby. "I think the fans have said it all. I've really enjoyed my time and I've loved it here. I've loved it. Honestly, I've enjoyed every single minute. Thank you to the fans, thank you to the club.

“I owe them so much. I'm happy to give them promotion, because that's the minimum they deserve. Hopefully next year they can go and do what they deserve to do.”

Adams says he is unclear on his future.

"It's never goodbye from me," he added. I don't know where I'm going to be."

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Perry Ng was the big winner at Cardiff City’s end-of-season awards dinner.

The defender, 28, was named players’ player of the year for the second successive campaign and was also voted player of the year by Cardiff supporters.

Ng is the Bluebirds’ six-goal leading scorer this season, with boss Erol Bulut revealing earlier this month that he expects summer offers for the former Crewe player.

Long-serving captain Joe Ralls received an outstanding contribution prize at the awards night, which was held at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday.

The goal of the season gong went to Ollie Tanner for his strike in the south Wales derby win over Swansea City last September.

Wales international Rubin Colwill was named young player of the year at the Championship club, while his younger brother Joel shared the academy player of the year prize with Cian Ashford.

Seren Watkins was named Cardiff City Women’s player of the season, while Emma Beynon was the players’ player of the year in her first campaign at the club.

Eliza Collie, the Adran Premier’s leading scorer as Cardiff won the title for the second successive year, won the young player of the year prize.