Flight of the Bluebirds

On August 17th, Cardiff City FC will walk into West Ham United's Boleyn Ground as the forty sixth club to compete in the Premier League.  Since its founding in 1992, only seven of the clubs that were present in the League's inaugural season have never been relegated.  For the rest, it has been different variations of the same theme; you fight your way to the top, you get knocked down, and you try to claw your way back up again.

As we wait for Cardiff City's debut Premier League season to begin, let us take a moment to recap where they have been and how they got here.  This is a story about falling off the summit of Adversity Mountain and spending fifty years climbing back up.  This is Cardiff City's path to Premiership.  This is the flight of the Bluebirds.

We could start this story in 1899 when the Riverside Cricket Club formed Riverside AFC, a soccer club meant to keep their athletes in shape during the off-season.  Or we could start this story in 1908, when Riverside AFC was rebranded as Cardiff City FC, a reflection of Cardiff itself having just become a city in 1905.  But in the interest of time and symmetry, let's start with Cardiff City in the 1950s.

From 1952 to 1961, Cardiff City spent seven of ten seasons in the English First Division.  This was the Premier League of the time, so we'll just call it Tier 1 to keep things simple.  In the 1961/62 season however, the Bluebirds finished twenty first out of twenty two clubs.  This poor showing meant the end of Tier 1 competition for the Bluebirds and the beginning of a five decade-long slump.  They would spend twenty one of the next twenty three seasons as a Tier 2 club with two brief dips into Tier 3 territory.  Then in 1984, things started to get really ugly.  

The period between 1984 and 1987 could fairly be called "hitting bottom" for Cardiff City. In the 1984/85 season, they finished twenty first out of twenty two clubs.  This resulted in relegation from Tier 2 to Tier 3.  But then the unthinkable happened.  In the following season, the Bluebirds finished twenty second out of twenty four Tier 3 clubs.  That's right, double relegation and Cardiff City's first ever appearance in Tier 4.  Just so we're all clear that this really wasn't a fluke, they then finished thirteenth out of twenty four clubs in their 1986 Tier 4 debut.  This was the lowest point in club history and unfortunately mediocrity would become the Bluebirds new normal.

Beginning with that awful 1986 performance, Cardiff City spent the next fifteen years as a Tier 4/Tier 3 bubble team.  When the Premier League was born in 1992, where were the Bluebirds?  They were busy duking it out against the scrubs of Tier 4.  

Then finally, forty years since their last Tier 1 appearance, Cardiff City had a breakthrough. In the 2002/03 season, they placed sixth out of twenty four Tier 3 clubs.  A sixth place finish doesn't mean automatic promotion, but Cardiff City managed to win the playoffs and claim the third promotion slot into Tier 2.  This victory would prove to be the start of their ascent to Premiership.

From 2003 to 2009, Cardiff City was a continuously-improving Tier 2 club.  And the next three seasons after that period were fingertip brushes with the brass ring.  They went like this:

• 2009/2010:  Fourth place in Tier 2, could have been promoted but lost in playoffs
• 2010/2011:  Fourth place in Tier 2, could have been promoted but lost in playoffs
• 2011/2012:  Sixth place in Tier 2, could have been promoted but lost in playoffs

The 2012/2013 season was Cardiff City's Andy Dusfresne moment; climbing out of a five decade-long tunnel of stink.  The Bluebirds finished first out of twenty four Tier 2 clubs for a clean automatic promotion into the Premier League.  

What are Cardiff City's  chances of surviving more than one season in the Premier League? That's a question to be pondered in a future entry.  For the moment, the club, the fans, and (some parts of) the nation of Wales are relishing the Bluebirds return to Tier 1 and watching the recruitment of new players excitedly.

Cardiff City's journey down Struggle Street was filled with traffic and potholes and jack-knifed tractor trailers.  You can view their complete performance history by season on the Cardiff City Online News website (safe for work).  In this brief recap, I neglected to mention that this particular segment of Struggle Street was also littered with toll booths. And to get past them Cardiff City needed money;  lots and lots of money.  The Bluebirds did not ascend to the Premier League on their own; they had help along the way.  Enter new club owner Vincent Tan.  Enter...the dragon!

Stay tuned for next week's post and thank you for reading Dragon and Bluebird.