Cardiff City new manager search Live: Updates as Steve Morison considered for shock Bluebirds return

Wales Online

20 May 2023

Cardiff City new manager search Live: Updates as Steve Morison considered for shock Bluebirds return

Cardiff City are continuing their search for a new manager after the departure of Sabri Lamouchi.

It's understood they are now considering a shock return for former boss Steve Morison.

The Bluebirds opted against offering Lamouchi a new deal at the end of the season, despite the Frenchman delivering on his brief to keep Cardiff in the Championship.

Cardiff are understood to still be searching for what would be their fifth manager since Mick McCarthy took over in 2021.

Morison is believed to be one of the candidates under serious consideration, just eight months after being sacked by the club. You can read the full story here.

Nathan Jones and Sol Bamba are the other names mentioned early on by the bookies. Previous reports had even suggested Bamba was on the verge of getting the job, having previously served as Lamouchi's number two.

However, it's understood no decision has yet been made.

Jones to Swans

This is an interesting one.

According to the Telegraph Nathan Jones is ‘expected to emerge as a contender’, for Swansea City, who are braced to lose Russell Martin to Southampton over the coming days.

Jones hasn't exactly made his affinity for Cardiff City a secret over the years, so there will understandably be plenty of skepticism on this one.

Still, stranger things have happened...

Latest odds

It's more or less as you were at the top of the bookies' favourites.

Alexander Blessin is perhaps one to keep an eye on. He's overtaken Kevin Phillips to come in fourth place now.

Bamba clearly the overwhelming favourite at this stage, with Steve Morison second on 5/2.

Sol Bamba 8/11

Steve Morison 5/2

Nathan Jones 9/2

Alexander Blessin 12/1

Kevin Phillips 16/1

Osian Roberts 16/1

Slavisa Jokanovic 20/1

Chris Wilder 25/1

Dean Whitehead 25/1

Lee Bowyer 25/1

Trust statement

A Cardiff City Supporters Trust chief has expressed his alarm at the Bluebirds' hunt for yet another manager and is calling on Vincent Tan to make a 'credible appointment.'

But in a strongly worded message, put on the Trust's official website, chairman Keith Morgan warns he is not filled with confidence about the Bluebirds owner making the right decision.

The concern set out by Morgan comes amid mounting speculation linking ex-Cardiff manager Steve Morison with a return to the club, with Tan having a soft spot for him.

Trust chair Morgan starts his open letter about what the supporters' body call 'the managerial turmoil' at the club.

In a statement on the Trust's official website, Morgan writes: "We find ourselves, yet again, without a manager having come perilously close to relegation last season. We have a team that evidently needs to be strengthened in the challenging context of an embargo.

"In these circumstances the need for a credible managerial appointment is even more critical but, without some sort of football expertise at board level, one wonders whether this is possible. Our churn rate of managers over the last season does not fill me with confidence.

"The lack of any specific information as to the reason for the current situation is unsatisfactory as far as fans are concerned and is symptomatic of the way the club is run by its owner."

Everything we know so far

For the third time in eight months, Cardiff City are on the hunt for a new manager.

Sabri Lamouchi's departure from the club may well have taken some by surprise given he delivered on his brief to keep the Bluebirds in the Championship, but ultimately he failed to do enough to convince Vincent Tan that he was the right man to take the club forward into next season.

Attention now turns to who will step in and lead the Bluebirds into the coming campaign, with the search already well underway. And, as always with Cardiff City, the speculation of recent days has been frenzied.

Latest Cardiff City manager odds

Here are the latest odds on the next Cardiff City manager, according to bettingodds.com:

Sol Bamba (4/7)
Steve Morison (2/1)
Nathan Jones (6/1)
Chris Wilder (16/1)
Steve Cotterill (16/1)
Kevin Phillips (16/1)

Another managerial change?

Cardiff's friends up the road could soon be looking for a new boss.

It's understood Russell Martin hasn't travelled to the US to hold talks with the owners as previously arranged, and there's now a growing expectation that he will be approached by Southampton as they bid to make him their new boss.

A new name?

This is an interesting one.

Football League World claim highly-rated German coach Alexander Blessin is interested in taking over at Cardiff City.

The 49-year-old spent the early stages of his managerial career at RB Leipzig before moving to Belgian outfit KV Oostende, whom he guided to a fifth-place finish during his first campaign at the club.

Blessin the moved to Genoa last week, byt couldn't keep them in Serie A, and was eventually dismissed as boss.

Should probably point out that this isn't a name we've heard...

Dalman - No one has been offered job yet

Cardiff City have emphasised they have not offered the manager's job to anyone and are undergoing a thorough process to find the right man to take the Bluebirds forward.

Wales Online understands a number of managers have expressed interest in the post vacated after Sabri Lamouchi's departure earlier this week, with some of them containing impressive credentials.

Bluebirds legend Sol Bamba and ex-Cardiff boss Steve Morison have each been heavily linked with the job in the last 72 hours, which saw their odds of landing the role slashed by the bookies.

But the club are stressing no decisions have been taken and they are continuing to speak to unnamed candidates behind the scenes before deciding upon who can take the club forward next season following a tortuous 2022-23 campaign.

Setting the record straight, Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said on Friday morning: "We have not offered the job to anybody as of yet. The interview process is going on. No decision has been made."