Congratulations to Steve Morison, Tom Ramasut and Mark Hudson. Cardiff’s progress over the last few months has been a real team effort and it's my personal belief Morison’s new deal is a deserved reward for the hard work of all three.
The uncertainty surrounding Morison’s future was becoming an issue and it was starting to feel like everything else was on hold while that situation remained unresolved. Now that we know who the manager is until at least the summer of 2023 and, with a 16-point buffer and 11 games left to play, in which division they will be playing next season, planning can begin ahead of a pivotal summer.
The priority has to be deciding which of the 10 players currently heading out of contract will be offered new terms and which will be allowed to depart as free agents. That long-running saga will be no easy task.
I think most supporters would like to see Joe Ralls stick around. He has been in and around the first team for 10 years now and you don’t just throw away that sort of service. He is still only 28 and for me remains an important player. I'd find it very disappointing if he left, especially with so many other midfielders likely to depart.
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Leandro Bacuna and Marlon Pack, who have fallen out of favour in recent weeks, presumably look set to leave, but Will Vaulks, who has played well in their absence, is a Welsh international and the right side of 30, so maybe another that they might want to keep hold of.
Age is not on the side of Sean Morrison or Aden Flint, who are 31 and 32 respectively, but they play in a position where that is an asset as much as a weakness. A demonstration of that was provided on Tuesday. The rapid Isaak Davies found himself one-on-one with 36-year-old Derby centre back Curtis Davies. There should only have been one winner, but Davies senior used all his nous to close down the space and block the path of his young namesake.
Morrison is captain and remains a key player, but may not play again this year, and Flint has had a good season. Maybe it will be a choice between the two or maybe each will leave, but with Ciaron Brown also heading out of contract, all three departing would leave the centre of Cardiff’s defence looking very vulnerable.
Alex Smithies turns 32 later this week and is still a key performer, but he is also a high earner with a very competent deputy in Dillon Phillips.
I’m gutted at how things have panned out for Isaac Vassell, who looked exactly the kind of explosive striker that Cardiff needed when he arrived, but his quest for fitness has been largely unsuccessful and Josh Murphy, who is currently struggling with injuries on loan at Preston, will surely also depart.
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There are two ways to look at this situation and both are valid.
Firstly, this cannot be allowed to happen again. These 10 players represent an outlay of around £30m in transfer fees and there is a very real chance all that money is about to walk out the door. Assets depreciate and that is the nature of the market, but this is no way to build and maintain a squad. Cardiff have wasted a horrendous amount of money in recent years and hopefully that is now very much a thing of the past.
The more optimistic take is that this presents Cardiff with a great opportunity to rebuild a leaner, more sustainable squad. Once the unwanted players and loan signings all leave, a lot of replacements will need to be recruited. That is a daunting task, but it could also be an exciting one. There will be a lot of free agents on the market and the hope will be that the Kieffer Moore money may be made available, too.
Morison has received deserved plaudits for the way he navigated the January transfer window, but the loan market is very different to the permanent market. Real quality is harder to find and most of the players flooding the market are usually available for a reason. Whether that be their salary, age, or fitness concerns, there will be strings attached to most of them and the real gems will be wanted by everyone.
Thankfully, Cardiff’s approach to the transfer market appears to be far more sophisticated and thorough than it used to be, so I’m excited to see what Morison and his team has in store. At least he has a chance now. The longer his future remained up in the air, the greater the chance that the best players would already be accounted for.
Morison will also soon have to tackle the next set of players heading out of contract in 2023. That 10 includes Isaak Davies, who is surely in line for a new deal after a brilliant breakthrough season.
Of course, in line with all this is what happens on the pitch and with everything still to play for, standards cannot afford to drop. It has been a long, hard campaign, but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.
Currently 18th, Cardiff should have designs on a mid-table finish because the higher up the table they get, the more attractive they will be to potential transfer targets and the more confidence builds for next season.
Cardiff have made a habit of finishing campaigns strongly in recent years and hopefully this year will be no different. With Morison now a fixture for the foreseeable future, the first piece of the puzzle is now in place and a new picture can begin to emerge.
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