"A hard sell" - EFL expert makes Cardiff City relegation prediction following Erol Bulut sacking | OneFootball

George Elek of the 'Not The Top 20' podcast has tipped Cardiff City to remain in a relegation battle despite parting ways with Erol Bulut

George Elek of the 'Not the Top 20' podcast has tipped Cardiff City to remain in a Championship relegation battle for the duration of the 2024/25 Championship campaign, which they have begun in concerning fashion amid the sacking of Erol Bulut on Sunday morning.

Following two previous seasons spent battling against the drop to League One, Cardiff appointed Bulut in the summer of 2023 to much excitement among supporters.

The ex-Fenerbache boss, who had built up a solid body of work in his native Türkiye, guided the Bluebirds to a 12th-placed finish in his only full season in charge, which had appeared to represent rare stability and continuity at the Cardiff City Stadium despite a significant drop-off in performances after a strong start.

Statistically speaking, Cardiff greatly overperformed and managed to score fewer goals from open play than rock-bottom outfit Rotherham United, with an absurd - if not unsustainable - efficiency from set plays providing an outlet.

The underlying truths did precious little to restrict anticipation and optimism from fans, however, who lapped up what felt at the time to a productive summer transfer window that saw the likes of Chris Willock, Anwar El Ghazi, and Alex Robertson head to the Welsh capital.

Bulut himself eventually earned a two-year contract following the conclusion of his initial one-year deal, and the popular school of thought was that Cardiff would kick on under his tuition. However, the Bluebirds have claimed just one point from their opening six Championship fixtures.

Indeed, Callum Robinson's equaliser in the South Wales Derby remains their only goal of the campaign too, with Bulut's inability to amend the side's perennial issues with both creating and putting away chances ultimately prompting the club to part ways following Saturday afternoon's 2-0 home defeat to Leeds United.

Cardiff are currently on the search for a new permanent manager, with first-team coach Omer Riza currently undertaking managerial duties ahead of Saturday's trip to Hull City.

Cardiff City relegation prediction emerges despite Erol Bulut sacking

EFL expert Elek revealed deeper concerns towards Cardiff in a previous episode, where Bulut's situation and the structure of the club's hierarchy was assessed. There, Elek expressed skepticism about just how likely it is that Cardiff will make a strategic and suitable managerial appointment.

Cardiff have fundamentally lacked strategy in both recruitment and appointments for many years; they are now looking for their 12th permanent manager in 14 years under Tan's ownership and have failed to appoint a sporting director, leading to limited footballing nous among the top-brass despite routinely having a high turnover of the playing squad.

From Mick McCarthy and Ole Gunnar Solskjær to Paul Trollope, Mark Hudson and Steve Morison, Cardiff are no strangers to being burned by managerial elections that lacked a consistent and strategic approach in the first place.

Therefore, Elek believes that such history suggests that Cardiff's 24/25 plight will continue even after the dismissal of Bulut.

"My biggest concern is that if Erol Bulut is replaced by someone else who hasn't really shown themselves to be an adequate Championship manager and hasn't got any tangible success in recent seasons, then I don't see why things could be any different," Elek explained in the podcast's latest episode, following the sacking of Bulut.

"I think there could be some complacency about the perceived strength of the squad, I'm not convinced that if you replace Bulut with someone who is an average Championship manager then they would suddenly going to get a much better tune out of them.

"I think there's a fair chance that Cardiff are going to find themselves in a relegation battle unless they hire someone who is very, very good.

"So we'll see what happens now, as we mentioned in our [previous] video, when you look under Cardiff's hires under Vincent Tan there isn't much reason to believe that they will suddenly get it right.

"I also think it's a hard sell now. That's nothing to do with Cardiff as a football club, but it's a hard sell to say to an up-and-coming manager 'come here and develop your career' because nobody has been really able to do that before and you're coming to a club who have one point after six games and are already staring down at a really long and hard season in September."

Cardiff City's issues are deeper-rooted than the manager

As Elek rightly detailed, Cardiff's historical shortcomings are indicative of inadequacies at boardroom level.

Tan can provide the transfer funds when he feels the manager in question has earned that backing - despite having his fingers burned with some significant blunders in years gone by - but Cardiff lack cooperation and involvement on the footballing side and that will make it difficult for any manager who comes in.

There is simply not enough expertise and know-how in the City boardroom, which is crying out for a technical or sporting director to oversee footballing operations.

Implementing a clear and unwavering strategy to encompass recruitment and managerial decisions is the key and Cardiff supporters will point to available managers such as Steven Schumacher and Brian Barry-Murphy as potential saviours to inherit and unlock what is still deemed to be a talented squad superior to its league position.

However, whoever the new boss turns out to be will be all too short of a helping hand. The club are lacking in philosophy and footballing infrastructure, which could well deter a potential young and progressive manager - what Cardiff need, it must be said - from being able to lay the foundations and steadily develop the squad.

The ability of the squad, which contains youthful talent in Robertson, Rubin Colwill, Will Fish, and Isaak Davies alongside experienced members with high-level pedigree such as El Ghazi, Callum Chambers, and even Callum Robinson, for example, may well put relegation fears at ease. At face value, they look too good to go down.

Only six games have been played too, affording ample time for a turnaround. But, let's not forget, Cardiff have been here before.