Cardiff City: Neil Warnock struck promotion prize with shock League One double-transfer swoop | OneFootball

Neil Warnock struck gold in the summer 2018 transfer window with Cardiff City

Cardiff City hardly navigated the 2018 summer transfer window in the fashion of a team with designs on promotion to the Premier League but Neil Warnock worked his magic once again to deliver the grand prize against all odds.

The Bluebirds finished 12th in the previous Championship campaign after Warnock alleviated growing fears of relegation to League One following his October arrival. Mid-table appeared to represent a solid indicator of where Cardiff were at under Warnock at the time, but the Yorkshireman elevated the Bluebirds and sprung one of the greatest second-tier surprises in recent history.

Cardiff would go on to achieve promotion in second place behind Nuno Espiritio Santo's big-spending Wolves, who boasted the likes of Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota that term, beating off competition from the likes of Aston Villa, Fulham, Middlesbrough and Derby County - all of whom had superior budgets and, on paper, playing squads too.

Neil Etheridge, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing were low-key Neil Warnock signings at Cardiff City

Cardiff's transfer activity in the summer of 2017 hardly made waves - if only the rest of the division knew what Warnock had in store, though. The marquee signing was Lee Tomlin's arrival from Bristol City, but the mercurial playmaker only kicked into gear after Warnock was replaced by Neil Harris two years later.

Elsewhere, Cardiff signed Danny Ward, Omar Bogle, Callum Paterson, Loic Damour, Lee Camp, Neil Etheridge, and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. With the exception of Camp, all of those players went on to play roles in Cardiff's eventual promotion, but none were more prominent than the influences of Etheridge and Mendez-Laing.

The pair were picked up for free from Walsall and Rochdale respectively in a double-swoop, which was announced at the end of May. Etheridge had a mixed reputation at the Bescot Stadium and Mendez-Laing, who had bounced around the lower leagues before settling down at Rochdale, was an impressive performer by third-tier standards but, at the age of 25, was running out of time to make good on his initial promise shown at Wolves.

Etheridge and Mendez-Laing did not feel like underwhelming signings, per se; rather they did not seem to represent too much of a statement of intent.

Few could have predicted what was to follow, though, as they both blossomed into stars and underpinned Cardiff's promotion success months later.

Neil Warnock struck gold with Neil Etheridge, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing double-swoop at Cardiff City

Etheridge would go on to establish himself as Cardiff's first-choice goalkeeper for the next two seasons, starting with the promotion campaign.

The Filipino international played in all but one of their 46 games that season and was among the finest shot-stoppers on offer in the Championship, keeping 19 clean sheets in the process.

Etheridge vindicated Warnock's show of faith not only at Championship level but in the Premier League too, where he earned national plaudits for often keeping Cardiff in games and was a driving force behind the Bluebirds coming agonisingly close to silencing the doubters and sealing survival.

He lost his way the following year but remains fondly remembered by supporters to this day and turned out to be an inspired acquisition by Warnock.

Mendez-Laing, meanwhile, started his Cardiff career like a house on fire, scoring four goals in his first five league matches, including a stunning brace in the 3-0 win over Villa in August. The winger was unstoppable that month, with his lightning speed, tricky feet and power all proving too much to handle for Championship full-backs.

It remained that way for much of the season, even though the goals dried up. Mendez-Laing only scored on two more occasions in league action but his ability to lead transitions - a historically vital formula behind any successful Warnock side - and constantly make things happen in the final third was a constant force.

Mendez-Laing also impressed in the Premier League, albeit from a smaller, injury-imposed sample size.

He performed adequately in a distrupted 2019/20 campaign as Cardiff were denied an instant return to the Premier League through the play-offs, but saw his time in the Welsh capital brought to an abrupt end when his contract was terminated heading into the following season, a consequence of serving a second suspension for cocaine use.

The pair would have doubtless liked to have enjoyed finer third and final seasons with Cardiff, but their respective influences in the first campaign helped to deliver the prize nobody would have dared to expect and Warnock deserves immense credit for unearthing two integral diamonds in the rough.