Cardiff City eyeing up 51-year-old ex-Premier League manager | OneFootball

Dean Smith is on Cardiff City‘s list of candidates for their managerial vacancy, according to a report from Wales Online.

The Bluebirds are on the hunt for a new boss after owner Vincent Tan dispensed of the services of Mark Hudson over a week ago, just two months after he was named as the club’s permanent head coach until the end of the season following his previous two months in temporary charge.

A down-turn in results saw Hudson depart, with experienced figures such as Sabri Lamouchi and Valerien Ismael thought to be top contenders to replace him in South Wales.

Now though, Smith has emerged as a candidate to be the next individual to have a crack at the City job, having been out of work since late December when he was sacked from his role at Norwich after just over a year in charge.

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The 51-year-old has managed in the Premier League with both the Canaries and Aston Villa but was sacked from both jobs, although the ex-Brentford boss does have a promotion to the Premier League on his CV having won the Championship play-offs in 2019 with Villa.

The Verdict

Some will point out the way that Smith wasn’t able to get a tune out of Norwich’s side both in the Premier League and more importantly in the first half of the 2022-23 Championship season as to why he perhaps shouldn’t land the Cardiff vacancy.

But they are a different club in the sense that there are not massive expectations of them this season, so Smith could potentially go in there and quietly go about his business and look to transform their fortunes.

Smith did some solid work at Brentford before moving on to Villa in 2018, and at his best he is a seasoned Championship manager.

Cardiff look to be going for someone with experience to replace Hudson, and that’s something that Smith has a lot of, so there’s no reason why he should not be near the top of the list for Vincent Tan.