"I have heard" - Exclusive: David Prutton makes Tommy Elphick claim as Cardiff City manager search goes on | OneFootball

Bournemouth coach Tommy Elphick has been linked with Cardiff City, despite having no senior managerial experience.

Cardiff City are on the hunt for a new manager to replace Aaron Ramsey, who finished the season as manager on a caretaker basis.

The Bluebirds have recently been relegated to League One and have seen Bournemouth coach Tommy Elphick, who has no prior experience of being a manager, touted by bookmakers as a possible option.

After a few years spent at the bottom end of the Championship table, the Bluebirds will play their football in the third tier for the first time since 2003.

Given that this is unprecedented territory for Cardiff, their next managerial appointment is crucial in ensuring a swift return to the Championship.

Sky Sports pundit David Prutton spoke exclusively to FLW and gave his view on whether he thinks Elphick would be the right man to take the Bluebirds in the right direction.

Elphick's playing experience could put him in good stead

Bringing in a manager with no senior experience is a big risk, especially when considering the fact that they have just been relegated. Prutton spoke about what he knows about the potential future Cardiff man.

Many will remember Elphick from his playing days at Bournemouth, with whom he currently coaches.

He said: "I've heard very good things about his coaching, about his sensibilities on the touchline and on the coaching staff. A good player, a great example of a player that made the absolute most of what he had, a real leader of men both on and off the pitch, and he is obviously trying to transfer that into his post-playing career."

Elphick may want to scratch the managerial itch

Being a coach at a club where you have made over 140 appearances and are considered an icon of the club sounds like a perfect deal in many ways, which is exactly the situation that Elphick is currently in at Bournemouth.

Prutton insisted that however good his role is now, he may have the urge to go into management and be the main man at a club.

He said: "It is a nice number that he is on, very well liked at Bournemouth. You think that type of role, he can nestle in there for however long he wants, but maybe that itch that he wants the scratch of being the main man out there is something that he can't turn down. Cardiff City are a huge football club that has found itself in the wrong division after it had slowly circled the drain for the last few seasons with managerial appointments and changes that haven't reaped the rewards they would have wanted, i.e. get to safety."

The risk that comes with bringing Elphick in may make success even sweeter

While it would obviously be a risk to bring someone in with no senior managerial experience, Prutton insisted that taking a risk is not necessarily a bad thing and could actually make any sort of City success under Elphick feel even better.

"There will be bigger, slightly more established managerial names," he said. "Anyone that is going in would be a risk, just like a transfer is, but if you've got a young, hungry, ambitious manager with his first step out onto the touchline onto his own that drags Cardiff City back into the Championship, then it will be a wonderful appointment. This one is one of those where the whole risk/reward element of it could be a wonderful thing for Cardiff."