Being Cardiff City manager is a way bigger job than many first realise, including dare I say it some of those who have held down the post in recent times.
Outside of the really big teams in the Premier League, few clubs get the kind of day to day, wall-to-wall coverage and scrutiny that Cardiff City do. The profile goes with the territory - this is a capital city club brimful of potential which has needed unlocking for decades, an excellent stadium, a big fan base demanding and expecting.
When Neil Warnock briefly turned that key, the Bluebirds were among the best supported clubs in the Premier League. So, outside of the top six giants, then big guns Newcastle, Everton and West Ham, the Bluebirds were neck and neck with Leicester for 10th spot in the fans' table - and regularly sold out their away allocation, too.
Not bad for a team fighting a relegation battle. Just imagine the interest should the Bluebirds one day thrive in the top flight, as Vincent Tan and previous owner Sam Hammam each insist they can.
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The reason for the preamble is to underline it takes a person with a special kind of stature, real self-belief, know-how and vision, to do this job successfully. Otherwise the pressure swallows you up. As Mark Hudson has just found to his cost. Steve Morison, Neil Harris, Paul Trollope and Russell Slade were among others who found the hot-seat simply too hot.
Which brings us onto what happens next. Within 48 hours of Morison being sacked back in September, I wrote an article headlined 'Cardiff City should consider Sol Bamba as an option for manager — he loves the club, would unite the fans and has brilliant connections'. You can read that article in full here
I felt that at the time, and still do today.
My first choice has always been Craig Bellamy, a home-town idol who would understand and deal with the demands of this particular job, perhaps supported by Osian Roberts.
But Bamba, like Bellamy, also has a gravitas that would perhaps enable the fans - and indeed Vincent Tan - to buy into a project under him. I just feel he and Bellamy would be afforded more latitude and time to deliver a vision simply because of their iconic status. It's no slight on Hudson to say he isn't quite of that level and there were always major doubts over his appointment from a large proportion of the Bluebirds fan base, anyway.
Of course, four months on from that previous Bamba article, the dynamic has altered. Cardiff are closer to League One than the Premier League. There are still 19 matches to go, and definitely worse sides than the Bluebirds in the Championship, so no need to press the panic button just yet. However, it's getting close to the point whereby a Red Adair job, of sorts, is required.
We know there's one obvious man for that task. Neil Warnock, another figure with real gravitas who dealt admirably with the pressures of the job and kept smiling throughout (the odd referee rant aside). He is loved by Cardiff fans in much the same way Bamba is.
So, are those two Cardiff legends together the way forward? Warnock to come in and galvanise this team short term, get them securing those one-nils that would see the Bluebirds quickly climb the table to a position more fitting the ability in the squad.
Bring Bamba with him, teach Sol the tricks of the management trade and groom him to take over in the summer. Or if that's deemed too early, the summer of 2024. At least we'd know there was a clear plan, vision and direction of travel.
My arguments for Bamba getting the job are the same as they were back in September. He cares with a passion about what he dubs "my beloved Bluebirds"; he has a special rapport with the supporters; he would play the modern way and give youth its head; he is bright, articulate, communicates well, commands respect, and his football knowledge and tactical awareness is evident for anyone to see when working as a TV pundit.
Where he differs to even Bellamy is in being a natural leader of men, having been a kingpin inside that Bluebirds dressing room for many years. He also has a rapport with Vincent Tan, a hugely important factor, and could learn further from Warnock about managing upstairs.
Even his fluency in so many different languages could benefit the Bluebirds because of the wide-reaching connections it gives Bamba.
From spells with PSG, Trabzonspor in Turkey, Palermo in Italy, England, Scotland, Wales, plus 46 caps for the Ivory Coast, Bamba's contacts within the game reach areas others can't. I repeat something I wrote previously - I rather like the idea of Bamba unearthing some unknown young French or African striker Cardiff pay £250,000 for, who goes on to be an absolute sensation and is sold for multi millions. Or a midfielder, defender or goalkeeper for that matter.
Clubs throughout the UK have had phenomenal success unearthing young foreign managers. This is probably as close as Cardiff would get to that kind of vision.
Given Cardiff's perilous position, Bamba would probably represent too much of a risk right at this moment in time. They need a wily old head at the helm, someone who can tighten the defence, bolster the midfield and get the win column heading in the right direction again. Hence the Warnock-Bamba present and future ticket, instead.
Warnock's record of rescuing Championship clubs from the threat of relegation in recent years is second to none.
In February 2016, he took over a Rotherham team looking absolute certs to head into League One. Warnock produced a remarkable 11 game unbeaten run that saw the Millers with a nine point cushion by the end of the campaign.
Job done.
His next assignment was Cardiff; then, as today, in deep trouble. Not only did he turn around fortunes, he even won an unlikely promotion to the Premier League.
Next came Middlesbrough, only outside the Championship relegation zone on goal difference after 38 matches and in deep, deep trouble. It was only an eight-match burst, but Warnock worked his magic once more.
Look, there are major cons to this, of course there are. Many fans believe a return for Warnock would represent a huge backward step, that Cardiff have only just finished unpicking the mess he left behind with questionable signings made during his final transfer window.
Those are fair points.
There are also fears of a return to Warnockball, just when Cardiff had finally begun to evolve their style of play.
But it wasn't always like that. Earlier on Warnock's Cardiff used to be no-nonsense at the back and a genuine set-piece threat for goals - but they also played fast, creative, thrilling football in the final third where bodies were piled forward and Junior Hoilett, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Kenneth Zohore were given the chance to come into their own.
The fans loved it. Cardiff City Stadium was rocking.
When it comes to transfer dealings, he also unearthed a few Cardiff gems. Bamba and Hoilett among them. Signed for nothing. Perhaps Warnock is better off not having money to spend, as appears to be the case with the Bluebirds at present anyway!
Warnock did a fabulous job with Cardiff for the most part. His major error was not building on the front line that destroyed Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford in the final game of the Premier season, and the stylish football deployed in that game. One by one Zohore, Mendez-Laing, Josh Murphy and Bobby Reid disappeared from the scene. In came the likes of Aden Flint, Marlon Pack, Robert Glatzel, Isaac Vassell, among others.
Cardiff badly lost their way. It became Warnockball on steroids. Horrible to watch at times.
But short term, you'd have to hope Warnock would adopt a more easy on the eye approach. To ensure the fans remained onside, he'd also have to give a chance to the home-grown young guns who came through only after his era had ended.
The Bluebirds have a good little team in the making, you know. Ryan Allsop or Jan Alnwick are okay in goal. Mark McGuinness will bolster the defence next to Cedric Kipre. Mahlon Romeo is a good right-back. Andy Rinomhota is tigerish in midfield and breaks the lines, Romaine Sawyers can link play well with his clever passing. Callum Robinson is class, Academy aces Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies possess enormous potential. Callum O'Dowda, Joel Bagan, Ryan Wintle are among others in the mix.
Knowing Warnock, he would probably insist upon a new centre-half, new centre-mid and new centre-forward, a different spine, but we'd have to see.
Yes he's 74, but he retains the football enthusiasm of a teenager. It would go firmly against the grain for Cardiff to head down this route again, but given the situation some will believe it might be the only realistic option the Bluebirds have.
But it could only be short term. There also has to be a proper plan for the future. If it were with a view to Bamba also coming on board as a coach, and then taking over, would that really be such a bad thing for Wales' capital city club?
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