Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Friday, November 4.
Colwill not ready for Sunderland but fine for World Cup
Rubin Colwill will not be ready for this weekend's game against Sunderland but is not a worry for the World Cup.
Mark Hudson confirmed Colwill is back in full training and he wants to give him minutes over the coming week, however that won't be at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
"He trained with us yesterday. That is something we have been longing for. He came through the session fine and looks to be in good spirits," Hudson said.
"We also had Isaak (Davies) join in with us yesterday, so that's a positive. But Rubin is ready to ramp right up now and it's about getting him in a place we wanted him to be. Hopefully we can get him some minutes before the World Cup.
"Because he only trained with us yesterday, I would suggest he isn't in contention for Sunderland. But he is with us and that's what we wanted. He is on the grass every day now and will be all the way up until the World Cup.
"That is something, for Cardiff and for Wales, that we should be grateful for."
Rob Page names his Wales squad on Wednesday and Hudson revealed he spoke with the national team boss at The Vale last week to allay any lingering concerns.
"He will be fit and available for that selection," he added. "I spoke with Rob Page briefly last week, we had a conversation, which was good. The physios speak regularly, I spoke with Rob and told him where we are at with Rubin. It's about getting him ramped right up and ready to go.
"It's taken longer than we would have wanted. It's something Rubin is frustrated with and so are we, that we haven't had him for selection for a while. But he looked bright and like Rubin yesterday, which is good."
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Hudson addresses decreasing fan numbers
Mark Hudson also said he dreams of a full, rocking Cardiff City Stadium but is mindful of the cost of living crisis we are currently facing amid a noticeable drop in attendance figures at home matches.
Cardiff started the campaign with more than 20,000 for the home win against Norwich City, however their most recent matches against Rotherham and Watford saw little more than 17,000 in attendance, according to the figures released by the club.
"I want to have a stadium full, that's absolutely something I want. A stadium rocking," Hudson said.
"They have been travelling all over the country to support us. Maybe after a pandemic is difficult to have the funds to do that. On Wednesday night it was absolutely torrential rain. I'm not expecting everyone to come out of the houses when you can barely see at one point.
"I understand it's difficult. The bigger picture is that we are on the back of a pandemic where funds can be tight, energy crisis, it can be tough, I understand. But I want the fans to be behind the team. Are they there and behind the team? Absolutely. I can't ask for any more.
"Financially it's very difficult to set aside funds to spend on a game every weekend and in midweek. Attendances have been good and they want to be behind the team, which they have been.
"If we talk about consistency of performances separately, we want to give them that. We are still a new group. I think consistency of performance has been good, but not results. If we take away the week we had the disallowed goal and two red cards, the consistency of performance has absolutely been there."
Whitehead confirmed and already started
The i's have been dotted and t's have been crossed for Dean Whitehead to start his post as first-team coach at Cardiff.
Hudson said on Wednesday night he hoped the appointment would be confirmed imminently and in his pre-Sunderland press conference, the interim boss confirmed the deal had been done and the former midfielder was already at work.
"Yeah it's all done," Hudson said of Whitehead's appointment. "He comes in as first-team coach. I know Dean really well, played with him, coached with him, worked together previously.
"He has not long come out of a job at Besiktas, which shows the level of him as a coach, he is highly regarded over there and they were four points off top. So he comes in. He has been in since Thursday morning, he has met everyone, the players, the staff and they are already working together in the office.
"Another character to come into a really good group."
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