Cardiff have endured a poor last couple of seasons but it’s nothing in terms of where they’ve been at points in the past.
Surviving last season only due to Reading’s six-point deduction, Erol Bulut will be keen to turn their fortunes around after a dismal last campaign – which he has done so far with 10 points on the board from just seven games.
But whilst the club haven’t had the best run, it’s a far cry from their previous adventures which saw the club in the doldrums of the footballing pyramid. Football League World takes a look at their six worst managers in rank of win percentage.
6Bartley Wilson
Wilson was Cardiff’s manager in the 1930s, and, amazingly was one of the founders of Cardiff City in 1899 – then known as Riverside AFC.
Overseeing their election into the Football League, Wilson took charge in 1933 after a 22-year spell from Fred Stewart but with just eight wins in 30 games, he resigned in March 1934.
5Billy Ayre
Ayre reportedly found out about being promoted to manager whilst driving in January 2000 but his tenure was a car crash.
19 games resulted in just five wins, and they were relegated after a run of four losses in their final six games before he was replaced at the start of the 2000/2001 season.
4Terry Yorath
Yorath perhaps cut a controversial figure despite being born in Cardiff – as he had a playing career for Swansea, alongside managing them whilst he was Wales manager.
However, Cardiff fans won’t have had any other choice but to put up with their new boss when he was appointed in November 1995.
Yet 43 games later and with just 10 wins, Yorath was sacked – with Cardiff relegated as a result. He finished on 23.26 percent of his games ending in wins.
3Mark Hudson
Hudson was a player for Cardiff from 2009 until 2014, winning promotion to the Premier League in 2013 – and he returned to the Welsh capital in 2021 as a first-team coach.
An interim manager spell followed the sacking of Steve Morison, though he was given the job permanently after studying the ship over Christmas.
But despite his best efforts of going unbeaten in his first three games, just 11 points followed in his remaining 13 games saw him sacked with a 22.22 percent win ratio.
2Jimmy Goodfellow
Goodfellow took over the Bluebirds on a caretaker basis alongside Jimmy Mullen in March 1984, and did a generally decent job at stabilising the ship in South Wales, dragging the club to a 15th-placed finish.
But a horror start to the new campaign at Ninian Park saw the club win just one of their opening seven games, and Cardiff never quite recovered as they finished six points adrift of safety.
1Paul Trollope
Trollope, born in Swindon, joined Cardiff as a coach, but when Russell Stade moved into their head of football role at the end of the 2015-16 season, it meant Trollope endured his first managerial role since leaving Bristol Rovers almost six years before.
But things went pear-shaped for the former Wales international. He won just two games in his time at the Cardiff City Stadium, leaving the club 23rd at the start of October.
A 2-0 loss to Burton Albion saw him lose his job, and with just a 16.7 percent win rate, he is officially the worst boss in Cardiff’s history.