Shearer for Cardiff City? No.....it's got to be a bad dream......?

Note to self: Don't pre-record the Tuesday Night Sports Show when Cardiff City are about to appoint a manager.  Hindsight is wonderful, isn't it? One Monday pre-record and a night watching Take That at the superb Millennium Stadium and Cardiff City have all but appointed Alan Shearer as their new boss.  This is where someone usually pipes up with 'Well stranger things happen at sea'. Nonsense; strange things appear to be happening right on my doorstep.

Let's be clear from the start; this isn't some anti-English rant (I hail from West London, although 13 years in Cardiff has awakened my Welsh half (thanks mum!)), nor is it a dislike of his Match of the Day punditry. This is more a case of utter disbelief at the Cardiff City board. Are you seriously considering employing a man to manage our club with just 8 games experience, albeit at Premier League level? A 12% win ratio is hardly a glowing endorsement; who's he got doing his figures? George Osborne?

If this appointment turns out to be true it'll come a shock to fans of Cardiff City.  The man who turned around Newcastle's fortunes after Shearer's 12% successful spell, Chris Hughton, will have been overlooked, as will Malky Mackay, Roberto Di Matteo and even (ahem) Martin O'Neill.  How can Shearer possibly understand the Championship, easily the most competitive league in British football?  Where's his track record of turning round a club which has lost half it's squad and a respected, if rather spent manager, in Dave Jones?

Another point to consider.  Shearer's appointment will almost certainly mark the end for Craig Bellamy who is currently in Sierra Leone at his foundation. With the latter reportedly priced at a reasonable £4m and apparently money in the pot, City will be turning down the services of a fans' favourite.

Writing this blog at just past midnight on Wednesday morning I'm hoping to wake to find it's all been a dream; a strange hallucination brought on by having to listen to Take That all evening, but I fear this is all too real. Dear Cardiff City Board, If you want us to challenge for Premier League football anytime before the decade is out, please appoint a manager with a better than 12% win ratio.

Sleep well.

Posted in: