“We made a joke about it” – Sol Bamba explains the real reason why he re-joined Cardiff City | OneFootball

Sabri Lamouchi’s managerial tenure at Cardiff City has got off to a disappointing start, suffering 1-0 defeats at Luton Town and Hull City ahead of hosting Middlesbrough this weekend.

Lamouchi’s assistant manager is Bluebirds legend Sol Bamba, and the Ivorian is bound to lift the mood in the camp in South Wales in the short term.

Supporters would have been pleased to see Bamba back involved at the club in some capacity, but it is only a coincidence that the former centre back’s first assistant manager role is at Cardiff, as he explained when the 38-year-old appeared on .

He said: “I’m glad you ask the question because that gives me the opportunity to tell everyone.

“It was planned before, I’ve known the gaffer for 11 years, I played under him and when I decided to stop (playing) last season, he said to me straight away – ‘as soon as I get a club you’re coming with me because I know what you can bring and I know you want to learn as well. If it’s England – perfect, if it’s Cardiff – even better.’.

“At the time we made a joke about it.

“We nearly went to Galatasaray in Turkey and to Strasbourg in France, and fortunately they decided to go for other managers and we ended up at Cardiff.

“I said it was fate and I’m happy personally, the gaffer is happy too, but, it’s just worked perfectly really, but it was planned for me to work with him.”

It is lovely to see Bamba referring to the appointment as fate, and maybe he could have been tempted even if he was currently in work in the Super Lig or Ligue 1 when Mark Hudson was dismissed.

The Verdict

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There is rarely room for sentiment in football, and Lamouchi and Bamba are right up against it in aiming to keep Cardiff up in the second tier this season.

Blackpool will put up a fight under Mick McCarthy, there is a chance that Huddersfield Town can make a good fist of it under new management, while Rotherham United had an exciting January transfer window and have picked up under Matt Taylor.

Defensively there are no issues in the Welsh capital at the moment and that should at least simplify Lamouchi’s job a touch, knowing that an improvement in the final third should see them pull away from trouble, only time will tell if they can achieve that.