Cardiff City's top 9 best managers in order of games won (Ranked) | OneFootball

Highlights

Cardiff City have had mixed successes over the last few years, with promotions and cup finals being marred by relegation, scandals and tragedy.

With recent appointments like Mark Hudson and Steve Morrison failing to make their mark on the Cardiff City Stadium, it has been a while since the Bluebirds have seen their manager bring success to the club.

Erol Bulut will hope he can be the man to bring Cardiff back to the Premier League, but even if he earns a surprise top-six finish this season, he will be nowhere near the best manager in the club's history.

Here we will look at the nine managers in the history of Cardiff with the most wins to their name, going all the way back to the pre-war days at Ninian Park.

9 Lennie Lawrence

Hartlepool United assistant manager Lennie Lawrence is among one of the best managers in the history of Cardiff.

The Englishman played football semi-professionally in his career, but managed a number of EFL clubs after retiring, including Cardiff, Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough.

by beating QPR in the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium. He stayed another two years at the club,

Over two spells at the club, Eddie May won 68 matches as Cardiff boss. This included a three-year spell between 1991 and 1994, as well as a short two-month spell the following year.

He led the club to the Division Three title in 1993, as well as the famous win over Manchester City in the FA Cup in 1994, where Nathan Blake fired home to knock out the top tier side.

May was nicknamed "The Ayataollah" by Cardiff fans, and sadly died in 2012 at the age of 68.

7 Jimmy Andrews

In his 212 matches in charge of the Bluebirds, Jimmy Andrews managed 70 wins. This was a 34% win rate, but still enough to have him on the list of the Cardiff managers with the most wins in history.

Andrews achieved two Welsh Cups and a Third Division runner-up prize during his four-year spell at the club, including three campaigns in Europe in the Cup Winner's Cup.

Sadly, he was sacked in 1978 and retired from management, moving into a scouting role at Southampton instead.

6 Bill Jones

Taking charge of the club from 1958 to 1962, Bill Jones won 73 of his 190 matches of manager at Cardiff.

The former Newport County and Barry Town player joined the Bluebirds in July 1958, first as a caretaker manager before taking the role permanently.

Jones achieved promotion to the First Division in his second season at the club, but was sacked following relegation back down to the Second Division.

5 Frank Burrows

While he also managed their bitter rivals Swansea City, Scottish defender Frank Burrows also had two spells in charge of Cardiff City.

He won 100 games in his two appointments as Bluebirds manager, first from 1986 to 1989, and then again from 1998 to 2000.

Burrows helped guide Cardiff to two different promotions, alongside spells at clubs like Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion.

Over his two spells as the manager of Cardiff, Cyril Spears managed nearly 300 games for the Bluebirds, winning 110 of them. He was appointed manager of the club before World War II, staying with the club until the war ended.

Spiers left to join Norwich in 1946, but returned to Wales for his second spell in charge in 1948. During his time as manager, he finished as runner-up in the Second Division in 1952, winning promotion to the top division.

3 Dave Jones

The most recent manager on this list is Dave Jones, who spent six years in charge of the Bluebirds between 2005 and 2011.

His 132 wins as Cardiff boss saw him regularly challenging for promotion to the Premier League, with his play-off final loss to Blackpool in 2010 being the closes he ever came.

Jones' biggest achievement was taking the club to the FA Cup Final in 2008, where a single goal by Portsmouth's Kanu sunk the Bluebirds during a competitive afternoon at Wembley Stadium.

2 Jimmy Scoular

Scottish manager Jimmy Scoular lead Cardiff City to the semi-finals of the European Cup Winner's Cup in 1968, where they were defeated by Hamburg in a two-legged tie.

Scoular managed the club from 1964 to 1973, presiding over seven Welsh Cup victories and numerous European campaigns for the Bluebirds.

The Scot managed Cardiff for 468 matches, winning 175 of them as the manager, with the second-most wins of any City manager in history.

1 Fred Stewart

Given that he spent 22 years at the club, there was unlikely to be any other Cardiff manager with more wins than Fred Stewart.

The Englishman took over at the club in 1911, and lead the Bluebirds to some of their biggest ever successes. Stewart helped the club to promotion to the First Division, as well as winning the FA Cup Final against Arsenal in 1927.

Stewart led Cardiff to their highest ever finish when he guided them to second place in the First Division in 1924. He ended his career with 224 wins in 605 matches in charge of the Bluebirds, even with World War 1 stopping football during his tenure.