“A little bit of a sideways – or even potentially backwards step” – Cardiff City fan pundit assesses 45-year-old candidate for managerial vacancy | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Lee Bowyer is one of the names that features heavily in betting markets when it comes to the Cardiff City managerial vacancy.

The Bluebirds have been without a manager for nearly two weeks after the hierarchy’s decision to part company with previous boss Steve Morison, who lasted less than a year in charge in the Welsh capital.

Vincent Tan made the decision to part company with the ex-EFL striker though following a dismal 1-0 defeat to Huddersfield Town, leaving Cardiff 18th in the table after 10 games played.

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There isn’t a real front-runner for the job though, with interim boss and first-team coach Mark Hudson, who played 144 league games for Cardiff in his career, being given the opportunity to rubber-stamp his credentials by taking control of the team for at least a few matches.

In terms of Bowyer though, who has managed at Championship level for both Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City, FLW’s Cardiff fan pundit Ben Johnsey is not too keen on the prospect of seeing his side managed by the former England international.

“Lee Bowyer is not personally a manager I would be looking at for Cardiff City,” Ben said.

“I think while he’s a manager I rate, I think we really need to push forward on bringing in someone who’s going to be a long-term project for us and going to help to build a real quality side.

“I think that’s why it still doesn’t really make sense to sack Steve Morison if you’re going to bring someone like Bowyer in, we are trying to move forward and Bowyer feels like a little bit of a sideways – or even potentially backwards step.”

The Verdict

Bowyer’s two Championship jobs have seen him struggle at the bottom end of the league, although it can be argued that he hasn’t had the resources at either side to make a real difference.

If he were to be Morison’s replacement though, then it would feel a little bit samey and it would then not make sense as to why Morison was sacked in the first place, unless some of the story has not come out in the public domain yet.

Morison may be inexperienced in management, but Bowyer hasn’t exactly been in the game long, with 2018 being the year of his first role at Charlton.

There are definitely better names out there that Cardiff could turn to besides Bowyer, and it wouldn’t be a massive shock if his next job actually came in League One rather than the Championship.