By Graham Thomas
For someone who spent 20 years as a striker, Omer Riza didn’t make that many appearances.
Just 136 in all, throughout a gently meandering career that took him from Arsenal to Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super League, via a few stops in between, and eventually ended at Harlow Town.
In short, despite being a solid enough pro, he wasn’t played very often.
Now, though, he’s really being played . . . played big time, by Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan.
Imagine having a job where the boss gets fired and the owner asks you to fill in.
You step up, make various improvements, performances and results at the workplace go up, and the company owner is both pleased and relieved.
So pleased, that he invites you over to his house “for a chat.”
You return home feeling pleased and optimistic about getting the job full-time. You got on well enough, the owner seems to like you, but there’s also a nagging something at the back of your mind.
Did he actually offer me a job? Did he actually give any firm indications about the future? How long is this “stand-in, interim” thing actually going to go on for?
Stop the silence. Cardiff City’s board must afford fans and Omer Riza the respect of speaking out about the current situation. The ‘pressure cooker’ is taking its toll.
Everyone is feeling around in the dark. Shed some light, it’s the least fans deserve.https://t.co/46JVDq84T6
— Glen Williams (@GlenWilliams12) November 28, 2024
After taking over as Cardiff manager following the sacking of Erol Bulut, Riza lost just one of his first seven matches in charge and obtained four victories – a remarkable turnaround for a team that had earned just one point from their first six matches.
At that point he was “called in” by Tan – meaning a long haul trip to Malaysia, seemingly to be told the job was his, or told it wasn’t, that they were looking for someone else.
Instead, he was told neither, but kept on as “interim,” the term the club prefers to use rather than “caretaker.”
Since then, with confusion and uncertainty piped into the dressing room like a bad smell, the Bluebirds have lost three and drawn one of their last four games.
The last of those was a nervy and anxious 2-0 home defeat to QPR, the team who arrived at the Cardiff City Stadium bottom of the Championship and without a win since August.
Like many candidates for the job, Riza has strengths and weaknesses.
He has undoubtedly improved Cardiff’s attacking game, their fluency, and their appeal on the eye in the view of supporters.
He has also been quick to make selection changes that have given opportunities to those who were sidelined by Bulut.
But his weakness is his track record, which is mainly that of assistant roles to other managers or in charge of age-group teams.
Either way, Tan, plus those who run the club on his behalf, now know all this. They have the evidence to make a decision.
The fact they haven’t points to a strange mix of cynicism – towards Riza and the club’s fans – and naivety in believing a drifting club with no certainty is going to avoid being relegated come the end of the season.
Riza has been understandably cautious of suggesting any hint of criticism towards Cardiff and Tan, aware, no doubt, of how notoriously thin-skinned the distant owner can be.
But he did admit after the QPR defeat that not only is the uncertainty taking its toll on him, but it may well have seeped into his players and their performances.
“There might be a hang-up in respect of instability and uncertainty and stuff like that, but I’ve spoken to the players and told them, whether it’s me or whether it’s somebody else, you have to be able to do your job and perform and play and enjoy.”
Asked why he felt the club had not made any call, Riza suggested a few possibilities for the inertia.
“There could be a whole range of scenarios. It could be they’re waiting for a manager at a certain date.
“Or, it could be that they’re waiting to see if I’m good enough to do the job for a longer period of time. It could be they are waiting to see if I’m tactically good enough.
“It could be a whole range of things. But, if I continually think about these things all the time, I think I’ll just drive myself crazy.
“And I’m trying not to do that because then I can’t focus on what I need to do.”
Omer Riza Makes Bold Bid For Cardiff City Job By Throwing Ball In Court Of Vincent Tan
Cardiff face Coventry City away on Saturday, a fixture that now looks far more of an ambush waiting to happen since the Sky Blues announced it would be the first in charge for their high profile new manager, Frank Lampard. Bookmakers DragonBet make Cardiff 7/2 underdogs to win, with Coventry now firm 8/11 favourites and the draw priced at 11/4.
What Riza is discovering as an “interim” at Cardiff City is what every other manager of recent times has known – managing the players is the easy part.
It’s managing Tan that really tests the mettle.
