"I would rather Ramsey" - Cardiff City urged not to appoint 37-year-old ahead of League One | OneFootball

FLW's Bluebirds fan pundit has given his views on whether the club should hire Bournemouth assistant Elphick as their new boss

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Cardiff City have been told not to appoint AFC Bournemouth assistant head-coach Tommy Elphick as their new manager after the 37-year-old was installed as the new bookies' favourite to take over as their new boss earlier this week.

The Bluebirds endured a dismal Championship campaign over the last nine months, and their poor season ended with relegation to League One last month as they dropped into the third-tier for the first time since 2003.

Cardiff went through three different managers, with the latest being Welsh legend Aaron Ramsey in an interim role, who was unable to help them avoid the drop. The 34-year-old seems unlikely to stay on, with aspirations to play at the 2026 World Cup, and so the pressure is on for the club's hierarchy to bring in a new, full-time boss soon.

Cardiff fan pundit makes 'wouldn't want' claim as Tommy Elphick emerges as bookies' favourite

Erol Bulut began the season in charge at the Cardiff City Stadium, but he was relieved of his duties in the Welsh capital in September and replaced by assistant coach Omer Riza, who was unable to turn their fortunes around before also being let go with the club one point adrift of safety with just three matches left to play in mid-April.

Veteran midfielder Ramsey stepped up to take charge of his boyhood club, but was unable to guide them to safety as their relegation was confirmed with a goalless draw against West Brom on April 26.

It promises to be a summer of real change at Cardiff this summer, but before major squad adjustments are made, chairman Vincent Tan needs to appoint a new head-coach that he feels can take the club straight back up to the Championship in 2025/26.

Elphick retired from playing in 2021 after a sixteen-year career that saw him feature for the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth, and has been an assistant coach at the latter since 2022 alongside both Gary O'Neil and current boss Andoni Iraola.

He is a highly-rated coach who may well be looking for a next step into full-time management soon, but despite no concrete reports linking him to the job, BetVictor have recently listed him as the favourite to take over in South Wales, as per WalesOnline.

FLW's Bluebirds fan pundit, Matt Hall, thinks Elphick being given the job would be interesting due to the potential to follow in the footsteps of Birmingham boss Chris Davies, but does not want to see the 37-year-old appointed due to his inexperience in such a role and the lack of power he would hold over issues at boardroom level that need solving.

“Tommy Elphick…he is a difficult one to judge. If he were to be appointed, I don’t think he’d get a negative or positive reaction, there would just be an intrigued reaction," Matt told FLW.

“I think Tommy Elphick is someone, obviously, currently assistant to Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth...I think everyone will agree that watching them feels like watching what Cardiff should be.

“High pressing, pace out wide, direct but also good on the ball, and that is the ideal Cardiff way if there was to be a way of playing.

“Whether he can translate that into us, it’s hard to ever know. You’ve got Chris Davies at Birmingham, who was Ange Postecoglou’s assistant, but then you’ve got other examples where it definitely does not go well.

“Omer Riza is the most recent example of that for us. I think the problem we would have with Elphick is the same problem we would have had with Aaron Ramsey, in that they have never managed before, so can they handle the way the structure of the club works?

“Personally, I wouldn’t want (Elphick), because if you are going to go for an inexperienced manager, I would rather Ramsey, who gets the club and has the power to make the changes we need in the boardroom.

“Upstairs needs fixing as much as downstairs, and I don’t think Tommy Ephick would have the gravitas to be able to make those sorts of changes.”

Cardiff need to act fast to appoint a new boss - Elphick would be gamble in their position

Cardiff's recent on-pitch decline has been a clear indication of mismanagement at board level over a number of years, but with owner Tan clearly not ready to give up achieving long-term success at the club just yet, supporters are simply going to have to trust in him and his associates in appointing the right man as manager this summer.

They are already going through the right processes to bring in their new coach, with a recent report from WalesOnline revealing that the Bluebirds have enlisted the help of leading global sports agency Wasserman to draw up a shortlist of potential candidates to take charge.

With that in mind, they should be well on their way to making an appointment before the summer transfer window is in full swing, and Football Insider have claimed that Salford City manager Karl Robinson is in the frame for the vacant position after decent spells in charge of MK Dons, Charlton Athletic, Oxford United and now at the Ammies.

As aforementioned, Elphick is yet to be officially reported as a contender for the job, and while he would be an intriguing and exciting hire due to his highly-rated nature as a coach, his lack of experience as the main man in the dugout is sure to work against him in this instance.

Cardiff have already been burned by appointing an assistant coach in Riza, so despite Elphick previously claiming that he would like to land a manager's job at some point after he stood in while Iraola was suspended from the touchline in December 2023, it does feel unlikely that the Bluebirds' hierarchy will roll the dice to bring him in ahead of one of their biggest seasons in years.

Instead, a more experienced, elder-statesman-like figure does seem like the route that they should be going down in order to galvanise and motivate a struggling group of players to compete at the top of League One next season, but as ever with Cardiff, a shock decision can not be ruled out by any means.