Filed under: Cardiff, Championship, Football
Another day passes and there's still no man in the Cardiff hot-seat.It's now a fortnight and counting since Dave Jones was sacked after six years at the helm, with the manager paying the price for failing to lead the Welsh side into the Premier League.
But Cardiff appear no closer to finding his replacement.
Interviews have been held with Chris Hughton and Roberto Di Matteo, who were in the top-flight last season before losing their jobs in controversial circumstances, but no announcement appears to be imminent.
Now Watford's highly-rated manager Malky Mackay, who defied the odds to mount a play-off charge on a shoestring budget with the Hertfordshire club last season, is the new favourite to land the vacancy.
Mackay has shot to the front of the wish-list from out of the blue.
Cardiff would have to pay in excess of £300,000 in compensation to land the Scot, but given Cardiff's Malaysian investors are ready for a cost-cutting exercise, stumping up that cash wouldn't make business sense given the calibre of the out of work managers.
Another strong contender to emerge in the last 24 hours is Ian Holloway.
Holloway has now entered the running and could be temped by a return down south given the number of players set to leave Blackpool upon their relegation.
Leading the Seasiders up was nothing short of a miracle in its own right, but doing it again with an inferior squad and budget would be something else.
However, like Mackay, the Bristolian wouldn't come cheap, and ironing out a compensation fee for either man would take time - and that's something that is in short supply at Cardiff.
While the clock ticks on as Cardiff's board stall on the potential new manager, some fed-up supporters have now started to vent their frustration on message boards and fans' forums.
Upon dismissing their manager, most clubs have an idea of who they want and have even lined up his successor before the actual sacking has taken place.
It won't be lost on the Cardiff fans that Nottingham Forest acted swiftly after sacking Billy Davies by making an appointment within 24 hours.
But for Cardiff, who saw bitter rivals and Premier League-bound Swansea do what they couldn't in achieving promotion, it appears a different matter all together.
After suffering successive play-off failures, the wage bill has been slashed with big-earner Michael Chopra having already been offloaded to Ipswich for £1.5million.
The out-of-contract pairing of Jay Bothroyd and Chris Burke have also played their last games for the club.
Another cog in their wheel, Craig Bellamy, has returned to Manchester City with the Premier League club believed to be holding out for £4 million rather than another loan deal for the Wales striker next season.
Yet amid the turmoil, there is still no manager.
There's no doubt pre-season is a key time for any club, a period when new signings are made as part of the rebuilding job required ahead of the new campaign.
For Cardiff, it's become an even bigger task given the upheaval in their playing squad.
And that's why Cardiff need to act fast in finding a new manager before further damage to their preparations is done.
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