By Gareth James
Former Cardiff City captain Jason Perry has described his old club as a “circus” as ringmaster Erol Bulut prepares to exit the big tent.
Bulut appears to have reached the end of the road following his claim that lack of activity in the transfer market may lead him to walk away.
In a BBC radio interview following Cardiff’s 3-1 defeat at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, Bulut voiced his frustration with the club’s hierarchy, the inertia within it, and the fact he has not been able to make the changes he wanted to.
The Bluebirds’ defeat saw them slip to 14th in the Championship and they have now lost nine of their last 15 games.
“I’ve been saying it for years, Erol Bulut is finding out what every manager finds out when they step into the hotseat of Cardiff City… it is a circus above you, and there in itself is the problem at Cardiff City, and it will not change,” said Perry.
Summariser extraordinaire Jason Perry still signing photos for Cardiff fans!!
pic.twitter.com/DLDDEBLTiK— Simon Davies (@simondavies45) December 22, 2018
“(Owner) Vincent Tan said he was going to give the manager money in the January transfer window – play-offs, he was talking about.
“January is a difficult time to spend your money. You know if you’re going to spend in January, you’re going to pay over the odds. It isn’t a secret.
“If you’re not prepared to do that, you don’t get your players. So ,if you’re not going to do that, don’t say anything.”
In recent weeks, Bulut’s tone has gone from upbeat and optimistic that he would be able to make signings in this transfer window, to more cautious, to genuine bafflement, and then Saturday evening’s outburst that sounded like a resignation note.
“I am not happy with many things,” he said. “I have to decide about myself and the future with the club.”
“I will make a decision about that. I have to maybe make a decision for myself on how my future will go with the club, because I came here to change some things in a positive way.
“I don’t know (if will continue until the end of the season), I don’t know.
“From my side I can tell you that some things have to change. If not, [it is] not possible to continue like that.”
Bulut has last years players who weren’t good enough and a few from this year who are good enough but knackered. The Cardiff City board again have turned a promising situation into a complete shitshow. Surely they must look at themselves and go “oh we are here again” ♂️
— Richard Endacott (@enders1) January 21, 2024
“So we have to make many changes and if this is not changing, we will have big problems until the end of the season.
“Everyone knows (we need players), I know it, the board knows it, the fans know it, all of us, we know it.
“We have worked hard to come to this position… until now we’ve only been three points off the play-offs, but now we cannot speak about the play-offs, now we must speak about different things.”
Bulut took charge last June and immediately made an impact as he transformed Cardiff from a club that had flirted with relegation last season to one on the fringes of the play-offs.
But in recent weeks that progress has stalled, and recent results look more like relegation form with just one win six games in all competitions.
Cardiff are six points adrift of the play-off places with seven clubs between themselves and sixth-placed Coventry City.
QPR’s victory over Millwall leaves Cardiff 13 points above the relegation zone with 18 matches still to go.
Erol Bulut disenchanted with life at Cardiff City. Questioning future after Plymouth defeat, signs there post-Leeds loss over January window inactivity.
— Phil Blanche (@philblanche) January 20, 2024
The club now face three away trips – to Watford, West Brom and Norwich – in their next four matches.
Although Bulut has called for the club to allow him to bring in new players, he admitted the squad were not up to scratch after the manner in which they lost at Plymouth.
“We can speak that we don’t have enough players, yes, our squad is limited, but we have 11 players on the field who should do much more things,” he added.
“We had many chances but we couldn’t score and we made too many individual mistakes in the defensive shape, so that is why we conceded those goals.
“Of course, it’s a disappointing result, it [is what happens] If you don’t do enough work when you lead at 1-0.”
