Cardiff City: Neil Warnock may never live down Fulham, Bobby Decordova-Reid call | OneFootball

Bobby Decordova-Reid and Neil Warnock never clicked at Cardiff City

Neil Warnock will be eternally adored at Cardiff City, and for good reason.

The revered Yorkshireman secured a record-breaking eighth EFL promotion by guiding the Bluebirds to the Premier League in second place behind the glitz, glamour and might of Nuno Espírito Santo’s Wolves side in the 2017/18 campaign.

Cardiff had an inferior wage bill, budget and, on paper at least, playing squad to many sides within the top-half of the division that term, but managed to upset the odds in archetypal Warnock fashion. Less than two years before their promotion was sealed at home to Reading on the final day, though, Warnock had inherited a Cardiff squad left second from bottom after 11 games in the 2016/17 term.

That makes the unprecedented promotion which followed all the more impressive, of course.

Warnock was still able to weave his wand in the Championship at the ripe old age of 69, but cracking the top-flight had always proved elusive, and despite his best efforts, Cardiff were promptly relegated - although they did put up a considerably stronger fight than almost anybody had predicted with myriad mitigating factors going against them.

There were some uncontrollables. However, a tinge of regret may always remain over Bobby Decordova-Reid, who many supporters believe was underused by Warnock.

Cardiff City, Neil Warnock may regret situation involving Fulham and Bobby Decordova-Reid

Cardiff spent rather modestly during the summer after achieving promotion, with a clear vision to operate within their means and ensure a strongly-competitive Championship squad in the event of relegation.

This saw the likes of Josh Murphy, Greg Cunningham and Alex Smithies arrive in the Welsh capital alongside Decordova-Reid, who joined in a deal worth £10 million after scoring 19 times for rivals Bristol City the previous season.

It was hoped Decordova-Reid would become the talismanic figure up top that the likes of Kenneth Zohore and Gary Madine had both failed to prove. But, despite being signed as one of the most expensive acquisitions in Cardiff's history, Decordova-Reid struggled to enforce himself in Warnock's side.

He made 27 Premier League appearances, but just 16 of those were starts spread across 1,422 minutes of top-flight football.

The Jamaican forward was often a bright spark when he did feature, though; with pace, flair and excellent close control at his disposal, his diminutive stature and ability to drift past opposition defenders meant he was actually a much better fit playing off the shoulder or in attacking midfield, and he finished as Cardiff's joint-top scorer with five goals at a rate of 0.32 per 90 minutes.

But he never seemed to fit the system or score all too highly in Warnock's thinking, and the nadir came when Cardiff travelled to already-relegated Fulham at the end of April. The Craven Cottage clash was one Cardiff simply needed to win in their battle to stay in the Premier League, and the side's fate was all-but-officially sealed when they lost 1-0.

The sequence of events during the match remains a sore spot among supporters to this day. Warnock brought on both Danny Ward and Rhys Healey, who had a grand total of three Premier League appearances between them, before finally deciding to introduce Decordova-Reid with just three minutes to spare when Cardiff had already been downed by Ryan Babel's strike.

Bringing on Healey, who is now with Huddersfield Town alongside Ward, in place of Victor Camarasa was a questionable call in itself, but the decision to leave it so long to introduce Decordova-Reid was a damning indictment of Warnock's reluctance to trust him and inability to get the best out of the talented forward.

That match virtually sent Cardiff back down to the second tier and one must wonder how differently the season could have played out if Decordova-Reid had received more opportunities and was brought on earlier - or started altogether - at Fulham.

Barring their defeat to the Cottagers in the play-off semi-finals the following season, Cardiff simply haven't come close to returning to the Premier League. Decordova-Reid, however, has carved out a solid career at the highest level and that may only amplify the regret.

Bobby Decordova-Reid has kicked on since leaving Cardiff City for Fulham

While there was natural hope and expectation of Decordova-Reid igniting the Championship, he clearly never saw eye-to-eye with Warnock and would leave the club just a year after joining to sign at Fulham, coincidentally enough.

In all fairness, Cardiff were able to recoup their money by collecting £10 million from the Cottagers, but that did precious little to suppress the nagging feeling of what-if.

The 36-cap Jamaica international scored six times to help Fulham back to the promised land at the first time of asking - at Cardiff's expense, of course - and proved to be a solid, semi-reliable goalscorer for three Premier League campaigns in between one more season in the Championship, in which he played a starring role to win his second promotion in west London.

Decordova-Reid made more than 200 appearances for Fulham before leaving on a free transfer to join Leicester City last summer.

It hasn't worked out quite so well for the 32-year-old there just yet and he could well find himself playing back in the Championship once again next season, but he's still managed to carve out a very strong career and that only further shows the flaws in Warnock's calls, most notably of all the decision to haul him into action late against Fulham when it mattered most.