December
Newsfile

Newsfile Archive

Rumours are abound that Lawrence is calling the shots at Ninian Park and that he is deciding who and when to substitute. Lawrence has made forrays to the bench in recent games and substitutions have soon followed. Most noticeably at Tranmere when Des Hamilton was taken off seconds after Lawrence dashed down from the stands.

Cork told the Western Mail

"It's ridiculous that people are saying Lennie is making all the substitutions for me. It's just not true. The day he does that is the day I'm no longer at this football club. So what if he came down from the stands during the game at Tranmere? People put two and two together and make 27."

It emerged after the Tranmere game that the decision to stop Sam Hammam from sitting on the bench was made by Merseyside Police and not an omission from the City coaching staff but there was a bust up over something as Sam has admitted.

"I was really angry, but for no more than 15 seconds. It's utter nonsense to suggest that Alan Cork and Ian Butterworth were sacked. It's a crazy story."

The sacking story followed a would not confirm or deny response from Sam when he was attempted to be quizzed about the allegation.

Cork hit out at the media saying

"The trouble with Cardiff City is that too many people want to write stories without telling the truth It seems that every time we have a bad game we're signing five new players and the managers are getting sacked. It's like being in a goldfish bowl. People just want to run us down all the time. We can't allow it to worry us. My job is to prepare the players for the next match at Brighton - if they haven't been sacked by then!"

Cork then got back to the matter in hand, football.

"There's still a long way to go, with 15 games yet to be played. Teams below Brighton are chipping away at their points, and I'm sure leading goalscorer Bobby Zamora will be sold before the transfer deadline because the club needs the money. They've got a lot of difficult games coming up, with a very small squad and a lot of injuries and suspensions to deal with."

(not wishing to be picky but we actually have 18 games to go).