It was a somber day, literally and figuratively, at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday.

The City fans who had come from the outskirts of the city that day, or even fans traveling from London’s Millwall, left their homes with the blue sky overhead as they reached the pitch, the blue turning to a dull, misty grey.

The change in weather heralded a bad day for the club. An afternoon that began with protests at the stadium goal and ended with boos after the final whistle.

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Fans are angry about the club’s situation, the team has no manager, the offense can’t buy a goal for love or money, and the Bluebirds haven’t won a football game since Elon Musk launched an $8 subscription service on the Twitter.

Most sensible fans don’t like constant criticism of their club. But now we have reached a crisis point, when “Cardiff” is no longer in the hands of getting into the relegation zone. They are three points clear of Huddersfield Town, bottom of the bottom three, but the Terriers have two games to play against the Bluebirds.

It is not unreasonable to say that the future of the club will be decided next week. They need a coach, top field reinforcements, and most importantly, some points on the board to inject some much-needed positivity into a battered fan base.

Millwall boss Gary Rowett even commented on the atmosphere, or lack thereof, at the Cardiff City Stadium during his side’s 1-0 win over the Bluebirds this weekend. He said it made it a lot easier for his team to stick to the game plan and finish the game.

The loudest screams during the match were the screams of wanting ownership and off the board, while the boos echoed at halftime and at the end.

It must be said that this is not the fault of the fans either. This is a situation that has been simmering for a long time, as they have witnessed a steady and controlled decline in recent years.

Even the positive news about young players coming onto the scene and making an impact has faded. Joel Bagan’s confidence looks extremely shaken, with Oliver Dengham nowhere to be found after back-to-back injury setbacks. Academic crown jewels Isaac Davis and Rubin Colville both stopped due to lack of playing time and their own injury issues.

Colville has played 8,910 minutes of football for the club since making his Cardiff debut, of which he has played just 2,521, meaning he has only been on the field 28.3 per cent of the time since Mick McCarthy signed him against Coventry in February 2021. presumably brought in earlier in the season to take on more of the creative load, he was barely seen. And when he plays, he’s not in the left-wing position, but that’s a completely different thing.

The Sabbath should represent a line in the sand. Dean Whitehead said the new striker was close to joining the club and a managerial appointment should be made as soon as possible to give the new boss enough time to work with the squad ahead of their next league game in two weeks.

These two additions have to be the least encouraging of this increasingly dark campaign. They also need more, more creativity and more ideas.

Whitehead is well spoken and his post-match analysis is very nice, but under no circumstances should he be given the keys to this vehicle, which in its current state will not pass through ITV. The responsibility of pulling this club out of its current quagmire cannot fall to another newcomer.

Cardiff need a coach with experience of getting teams out of this situation. Or at least someone with some experience, unlike Whitehead or Mark Hudson and Steve Morrison before him.

A financially devastating drop to the First Division is unthinkable. And there’s no guarantee Cardiff will bounce back immediately if that happens. The biggest clubs have been dragged into the third tier and have faced all-powerful battles to evade its control in recent years.

The current Cardiff team is much better than they show, we continue to beat the drum but it’s true. The summer transfer window was almost decent except for the addition of the forwards. They are undoubtedly a mid-table club and there should be a number of managers who can adapt to them, especially with some attacking signings next week.

“You guysThe hose boys are there, they’re up,” Whitehead said after the Millwall defeat. “They gave it their all. Now we need help. We need help on the field and fresh bodies, new momentum, just to get them up.

“And the support and everyone at the football club.”

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