Ideally, I would have delayed this piece by a day so that it could include something about City’s first pre season match against FC Midtjylland which is taking place this lunchtime with a 12.30 kick off, but, I don’t think I’m going to have the time to write anything tomorrow morning, so I have to stick with what has become a normal Saturday morning routine in recent weeks.
The reason why I say it’s unfortunate that there won’t be anything on today’s game is that I can never recall a time in previous years when, well into July, I had so little to report in one of these reviews.
There have been a couple of things to note on the club’s website. Firstly, the club’s away kit for the coming season goes on sale for the first time at today’s game – it’s ecru, not white!
Predictably, there’s the usual price that cannot be justified for shirt, shorts and socks, but, unlike the home kit, there is a mitigating factor in that it’s a nice ensemble – well, I like it anyway! Unfortunately, just like with the home kit, there appears to be nothing on it commemorating the centenary of our FA Cup win. However, as I’ve heard it suggested that there may be something in the pipeline for us to wear a kit in our FA Cup games along the lines of Southampton wearing a very similar kit to the one they won the FA Cup in fifty years ago for their games in that competition, I should tone down any criticism of the club until we know what all of the kits we will wear in the coming season look like.
Secondly, I hope to find the time in the next couple of days to watch Straight Back Up which is a near two hour long review of our 25/26 season produced by the club – hopefully, I’ll be able to give an opinion of it on here next week.
Lastly, it’s still so quiet on the transfer rumour front, both incoming and outgoing. With Australia out of the World Cup, I had hoped that we’d have news by now about midfielder Cammy Devlin who it seems pretty well accepted now that we have a bid in for. There has been some info released on the player’s future in the last couple of days, but only to say that he has turned down an offer of a contract to stay with Hearts. So, we do know that Devlin will be on the move, but, a personal view is that, when you consider some of the clubs who are, reportedly, in for him, the chances of him ending up at Cardiff are slim to non existent.
If we really do have a contract offer in for Devlin, then it’s understandable why there is nothing coming to light about a Ryan Wintle replacement as it would appear that he is our first choice for that role. However, the only other rumour to surface in the past week that I’m aware of concerned a player who could be seen as a replacement, albeit a very inexperienced one, in the Wintle role.
George Hemmings is a nineteen year old central midfielder with Aston Villa who made a couple of substitute appearances for them in the Premier League last season and also gained Europa League experience.
Although you’d normally question whether a nineteen year old could hold down a regular place for a side in the second tier, it must be said that there are Villa fans who are arguing that he’s already good enough to come in and play a more regular part in their senior side in the upcoming season.
Another reason to feel that this is something of a long shot is that Sheffield United and Derby, both more established in the Championship than us now, are reportedly interested in Hemmings and this video by a Derby fan has the most action I could find of him.
Again, I’ll be surprised if Hemmings ends up at City in 26/27, but what I would say is that, based on that very limited video evidence, he does seem to be the sort of player BBM might go for.
