James Collins has vowed to deliver hard work and goals after the Republic of Ireland striker linked up with his former international manager Mick McCarthy at Cardiff City for next season. The 30-year-old forward has made the switch from fellow Championship side Luton Town on a free transfer and has signed a two-year deal with the Bluebirds. It’s a move that some Cardiff fans will view at face value as the acquiring of a back-up to main striker Kieffer Moore – but others will consider with alarm as the prelude to the sale of the Wales striker later this summer.

The fans are coming back to football, but for some it’s too late to say a proper goodbye. Fraser Watson reflects on a year of echoing stadia and says the real stars of the game cannot come back quickly enough. The game was essentially over, Rotherham’s fate all but sealed, but the most poignant moment was yet to come. A mere four months after undergoing chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Sol Bamba entered the fray as a late substitute for Josh Murphy.

Wales supporters watched on in excitement over the weekend as Harry Wilson and Gareth Bale both registered hat-tricks for their respective clubs at a crucial time, with EURO 2020 set to commence next month. The two players are integral for Robert Page’s side and both look certain to be central to Wales’ ambitions this summer – possibly paired up front together – so, to see them in such devastating goalscoring form must have been heartening for the stand-in manager. Bale dons the armband and offers a unique, world-class x-factor in the final third, whereas Wilson’s invention and craft is also hugely important.

Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy claims Harry Wilson could be gracing Liverpool’s team next season after the forward’s first senior hat-trick clinched a 4-0 win over Birmingham at St. Andrew’s. The on-loan Anfield forward scored twice in the first half before starting the move for substitute Mark Harris to score the third prior to grabbing the fourth to seal the Bluebirds’ biggest away win in 10 and a half years. Two of the 24-year-old’s goals were superbly-struck free-kicks while his first was hit from 22 yards with the outside of his left foot.

Kieffer Moore intends to carry the inspiration of two Cardiff City legends with him when he plays for Wales at the Euros this summer. The Wales striker moved to 20 goals for the season with a brace against all-but-relegated Wycombe at the weekend, but his duties for club and country this season are far from over. Moore wants to keep his scoring form going in Cardiff’s two remaining Championship fixtures – away to Birmingham City and at home to Rotherham – to ensure a top 10 finish before heading off to try and plunder more goals for Wales at the delayed European Championship finals.

Kieffer Moore could leave Cardiff City if he makes an impact with Wales at the Euros this summer, manager Mick McCarthy has admitted. The Bluebirds striker made it 20 goals for the season with a strike in either half in the 2-1 win at home to Wycombe before Will Vaulks was dismissed late on. That tally made Moore the first Cardiff player to reach the 20-goal figure since the late Peter Whittingham managed it from midfield in the 2009-10 season.

Mick McCarthy insists Cardiff City are playing for more than just pride even though their play-off hopes are officially over. Failure to hold on to a 1-0 lead at Brentford on Tuesday night means the small mathematical chance the Bluebirds had of climbing back into the top six have gone. But McCarthy was still pleased with his side’s performance in the 1-1 draw at the club laying fourth in the Championship and reckons players are striving to build foundations for themselves and the club for next season.

Cardiff City have four games left in this season’s Championship campaign and are already planning for next season, rather than the play-offs. The future could start tonight, when they travel to Brentford, with manager Mick McCarthy anxious to inject some young blood and fresh ideas into his line-up. Jack Price considers the options. A recent stagnation in form has left Cardiff City’s play-off ambitions in tatters, all but confirming another season of Championship football. With a play-off place now only possible through some kind of statistical miracle, the primary target at the club will be to plan for the future and look ahead to next term.

Mick McCarthy was left ‘raging’ after seeing Cardiff City throw away victory at Reading. Kieffer Moore looked to have given the Bluebirds victory with his penalty three minutes from time.

Mick McCarthy has told his players they must play for pride when they face Reading tonight – and if it’s absent there is something wrong. The Cardiff City manager has admitted the club’s chances of making the play-offs are all but gone after just one victory in their last seven matches. That sequence has left them 12 points adrift of sixth place, but McCarthy has urged his players to remember there are plenty of other considerations, including their obligations to fans as well as trying to secure further individual playing contracts.

Cardiff City this week announced they had agreed a new two-year contract with one of their most promising youngsters – 21-year-old Tom Sang. It’s a decision that underlined just how rapidly the Liverpool-born player has progressed this season, says Jack Price. Whilst Tom Sang and Cardiff City are now basking in his current successes, his fortunes have not been so rosy throughout the season. At the start of this campaign, Sang found himself a peripheral figure in the fourth tier with Cheltenham Town, a long way from where he stands today in holding down a place with a club in the Championship.

Mick McCarthy has admitted Cardiff City’s faltering promotion bid is likely to cost them their loan stars such as Harry Wilson and Sheyi Ojo. With realistic hopes of making the play-offs appearing to have gone following the 2-2 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers, the Bluebirds manager is readying himself for a summer of rebuilding. That is set to mean the departure of borrowed talent who might have stayed had the club managed to reach the Premier League.