Cardiff City: ‘Who Dares Wins’

Who Dares Wins An article by Cardiff City fan Tim Edge on the board’s decision to grant Dave Jones a managerial lifeline:



Rule number one when dealing with a failing venture: you can`t keep doing the same thing time after time and hope to get a different result: something has to change.




Now the Board have delivered the dreaded vote of confidence to their beleaguered manager how can Dave Jones effect the change necessary to reverse his fortunes and secure his future at the club?




First he has to get lucky. In 1966 Jimmy Greaves` injury rescued a misfiring England, propelling Geoff Hurst into the spotlight. The rest as they say is history. In 1990 Bobby Robson discovered his best formation (3-5-2) by accident and only after a player`s revolt. Galvanised into action, his team missed out on the World Cup Final only by the width of a post.




Secondly he has to get happy. This is a man for whom the word ‘lugubrious` was surely invented. Who was it that said of Sven-Goran Eriksson that ‘when we needed Winston Churchill, we got Ian Duncan Smith`? It is surely time for Jones to abandon his favourite habit of circling the wagons and show some inspirational and bold leadership.




Thirdly he has to take risks; to dare to fail at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Ledley to partner Rae, Whittingham in on the left, Robbie and Jimmy to the bench, a pacy loan signing to compliment the more robust talents of Steve Thompson. What price Earnshaw on loan from Derby?




In reality Jones`s fate is probably already sealed with only a combination of compensation phobia and the lack of an available replacement preventing the trap door from springing-open on this occasion. In such circumstances what has he got to lose by being bold? Who knows, it might even save his job.