Cardiff City Rocked By Russian Snub

Cardiff City bosses Dave Jones and Peter Ridsdale wasted much of yesterday, transfer deadline day, chasing what turned out to be a lost cause in London.


Alexey Smertin, former Russian captain and Chelsea, Portsmouth and Fulham midfielder was seen to be the ideal candidate to solve our midfield injury problems. Jones and Ridsdale agreed a move with Roy Hodgson (which even saw Fulham pay a sizable chunk of his wages) but whilst Cardiff City representatives travelled to London to attend a work permit interview – Smertin had already decided not to move to South Wales.


It seems practically impossible that Smertin and his agent allowed the proposed move to continue that far if he was not keen so a late U-turn appears the more likely decision – again.


Missing out on Smertin is a blow, but it appears that every ‘plan B’ dreampt up by Jones/Ridsdale is a loan option – we still await names but once again we are told we are chasing ‘quality’.