By Jake Maddaford
Erol Bulut is still waiting for Cardiff City to tell him whether he will remain in charge at the end of the season.
The Bluebirds manager admitted he is in the dark over his future, even though the club have just one match remaining of their current Championship campaign.
“Everybody will know, but as I’ve said all along, it’s up to the board,” said Bulut after his teams had crashed to a miserable 4-1 defeat against Middlesbrough at the Cardiff City Stadium.
“Our chairman is here, and he gave the answer before.”
That answer was just as unclear after an appearance at the press conference from chairman Mehmet Dalman.
He gave a hint that Bulut’s future will be decided in the coming days, but when the manager was asked about his future, Dalman chimed in with, “Why don’t you let me have dinner with him tonight.”
Cardiff City look close to making a decision on Erol Bulut’s future with the Bluebirds manager hoping for a “positive” outcome for both him and the club ⚽#BBCFootball #CardiffCity pic.twitter.com/3xvBw4nSRc
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) April 27, 2024
If Cardiff are still undecided whether Bulut’s one season in charge will be extended, then his last home game of the season was not something he will be keen to provide as evidence in his favour.
The Bluebirds suffered an embarrassing defeat to leave their home fans with a feeling of disappointment at the end of the game.
“I’m disappointed with the score, but when I look at the number of chances we had, I’m happy with the performance,” added Bulut.
“We had enough chances to go in front.
“The turning point was the goal at the end of the first half, when they got a lucky goal inside three minutes of the second half.
“We’re missing half of the team, but that isn’t the reason we didn’t score. The players we sent out today created those chances.
“Of course, we wanted to win the last game at home, but it didn’t happen.
“The last game at home, we wanted to win in front of the fans, it didn’t happen. If we see the whole season, until now, I am personally satisfied with the season.
“I think our fans and our board are satisfied with where we are now. We have one more game left against Rotherham.
“We could have had a few points more but we have built really well and progressed as a club this season. Cardiff can only build on it.”
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1784198310393434533
Cardiff started the brighter of the two sides. David Turnbull tried to chip Seny Dieng from 25 yards out, but the goalkeeper turned his effort over the bar.
Dimitrious Goutas saw his header from the resulting corner go narrowly over the bar.
Middlesbrough then created chances of their own as Emannuel Latte Lath had a one-on-one chance saved by Ethan Horvath.
Three minutes later, Horvath nearly cost his side a goal as he passed the ball straight to Middlesbrough striker Latte Lath, who rolled it just past the post.
Right on half-time, Boro opened the scoring as Finn Azaz whipped a free kick towards the back post and Matt Clarke’s delicate touch hit the bar and went in.
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1784338255749447805
Cardiff themselves had another huge chance to equalise inside the opening two minutes of the second half, as Goutas had his header tipped onto the post by goalkeeper Dieng, before Cian Ashford blazed the rebound over the bar.
Middlesbrough then found their groove and scored three in the following 11 minutes through Azaz, Latte Lath and 21-year-old Alex Gilbert, who was making his first start of the season.
Cardiff failed to capitalise on the chances they created subsequently, only for them to finally find the back of the net in added time through Josh Bowler, following a mistake from Dieng.
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1784346616586981767
