By Graham Thomas
Omer Riza was not in charge of Cardiff City for the last South Wales derby, but he insists he knows all about the rivalry with Swansea City.
Riza actually held the Bluebirds’ post-match press conference back in August after the 1-1 draw at the Swansea.com Stadium.
But that was only because the then assistant manager’s own boss, Erol Bulut, was sent off after a push-and-shove contest with some of the Swans’ players over a ball that had gone out of play.
Riza did okay that day behind the mic – as he has done since – and as he prepares for Saturday’s lunchtime derby in the capital, he continues to make far more sense than Bulut, who often seemed to speak in riddles.
The question before that early season game was why Cardiff had so often under-performed in derby matches in recent years? It had even been suggested by some pundits and former players that the contest meant far more to Swansea than it did to Cardiff.
It was an accusation fueled by comments from some former managers that the derby was “just another game” and signified nothing more than an opportunity to earn three points.
Cardiff City’s Omer Riza left ‘devastated’ by shock family tragedy ahead of South Wales derby https://t.co/Ml5xvyQ0FN pic.twitter.com/36ZXKdVXsz
— Cardiff City Online (@CardiffCityLive) January 17, 2025
Riza appears to have been well-briefed on a more acceptable stance and is clear his team will be up for it – that there is more at stake here than just priceless points in their battle to avoid relegation.
Asked if he felt the derby has meant more to those in the white corner than the blue corner, Riza says: “That might have been the case, but I can’t talk about the last 10 years, I can only talk about this season.
“We’ve drawn with them away from home and we need to be better at home, so we’ll be going into this game looking to win.
“I want to win every game anyway, but this game, I know it’s different. I know it means a lot to a lot of people and I know it means a lot to the players.
“It certainly means a lot to the fans, and it’s bragging rights for the two teams, and we want to take those bragging rights on Saturday. So, we’ll be up for it
“I’ve been here now for six, seven months and I know that the game against the Jacks can cancel out a few losses.”
Riza’s own derby experiences as a player are modest. Cambridge United v Peterborough, Hereford against Shrewsbury, and Histon versus Cambridge are big deals on their patch, but they are not El Classico, or even El Taffio.
Trabzonspor (another of Riza’s former clubs) have a hot little Turkish rivalry against Samsunspor – the Battle of the Black Sea – but it’s not quite got the eyeball-puling power of the Istanbul Turkish derbies.
Back to the Welsh derby and relatively speaking, the 1-1 draw in August was an impressive improvement for Cardiff, given their previous recent record of derby disasters.
They had lost 2-0 at Swansea last season, and although Ollie Tanner inspired a 2-0 home win, the four games prior to that had all been won by the Swans with an aggregate score of 12-2.
Liam Cullen scored for Swansea five months ago and the West Walian has a record of contributions that back-up his own claims that this fixtures stirs him like no other.
Cullen has scored three goals in his four games against Cardiff and has spoken before about the motivating force of wanting to be a local hero to his mates.
“The anticipation is different. The excitement is different. There’s that extra little edge to this game, especially for someone like me,” says the Wales striker, who also scored twice for his country against Iceland at the Cardiff City Stadium in November.
“There are a lot of things that I take into consideration going into this game and they only motivate me.
“This fixture definitely means the most to me, because this game means the most to all the fans.
“Two years ago, we had only won four games out of 20 when we went there. We were actually watching it back the other day and the way we passed the ball away from home, it didn’t look like a team that had gone through the spell that we’d gone through.
“The kit men – Sean and Mike – put the game on the screen. They and the chef are real driving forces in terms of reminding the lads what it means, showing them previous games and goals, and the way the lads have celebrated.
“I think it’s definitely important for the lads to see that because we want to create more memories for us and the fans.”
