As much as the mood has undoubtedly improved this season, the root causes of Cardiff’s recent troubles have not simply disappeared.

Tan remains a divisive figure, as do chairman Mehmet Dalman and chief executive Ken Choo.

They were the target of numerous protests last season, some of which saw hordes of supporters marching to Cardiff City Stadium, holding banners and singing songs demanding that Tan and his fellow board members leave.

Some of the ill feeling can be traced back to Tan’s highly controversial rebranding of the club’s colours from red to blue in 2012, even though he reversed the decision three years later.

More recently, the anger relates to his perceived lack of interest, with Tan having not attended a home game for more than two years.

Then, perhaps most damningly, there is the way he, Dalman and Choo have run the club.

Fans, former players and pundits have all highlighted the startling lack of football knowledge at board level, with no layer of expertise between Tan and the many managers he has hired and fired.

Cardiff at least tried a new method in their appointment of Barry-Murphy, forming a one-off sub-committee which included the club’s academy manager Gavin Chesterfield, former Swansea City sporting director Mark Allen and members of the Wasserman agency. However, the final decision still belonged to Tan.

“They didn’t plan to get relegated,” says Perry. “And in hiring Barry-Murphy, is it really a thorough process that we’ve got to the outcome of getting him? I don’t think so.

“It’s a filtering system, a few people narrowing it down to five choices, and those five choices go then to the owner.

“The problem will always be the owner, simply because he hasn’t got that knowledge to pick out of those five. Nathan Jones was in there [on the shortlist], there were others who weren’t similar to Barry-Murphy.

“I’ll only start calling it a process if Barry-Murphy goes and the next appointment is very similar. Then it becomes a process, get another coach who puts a team out that we can identify with as supporters and is also successful.

“But you must have knowledge of what you’re looking for. The same problems are here at this club, and they need to change for us to have success continuously.”

Given how well the Barry-Murphy appointment has gone so far, then, might Tan be convinced to use a director of football or similar on a permanent basis?

“The total opposite,” Perry says. “I think he’ll get carried away, so much so that it will reinforce his own opinion of himself, that he is the right man because of what we’re seeing now.

“He will not look at the process and put his hands up and go, ‘possibly we’re fortunate here because it wasn’t our first choice’.

“You have to be honest, reflection is a key part of football or any big business, but when you reflect you have to be honest and you have to look at your skillset. Then you have to either improve that skillset or you bring somebody in that has those skills. Unfortunately, at City we don’t have that and that is my concern.”

There is no guarantee of an instant return to the Championship. It took Cardiff 18 years to get back to that level when they were last relegated to the third tier in 1985.

Of the 30 teams to have been in the Premier League and relegated to League One, six have never made it back to the Championship.

Given how Cardiff are going this season, they should not add to that number.

Promotion will not fix everything, though.

“I came into this season determined to enjoy it,” says Perry.

“We’re doing well, playing a brand that we identify with and everybody’s happy.

“But you’ve only got to look around the football club and I still see the same mistakes.”

The Ben, Will and J D Hayes team at Lindsay Park believes the Blue Diamond Stakes dreams for their two-year-old Eurocanto are realigned properly now.

Post his scratch from the January 24 Blue Diamond Preview (1000m) at Caulfield, the colt was dispatched for more trials.

Eurocanto had gate issues that day, resulting in a barrier scratch.

To resume racing, the two-year-old required a clean bill from vets after being diagnosed lame in the near fore on race day, plus a stewards-approved jump-out trial.

Eurocanto delivered in that trial last Friday at Flemington, running second over 800m to Don’t Hope Do.

J D Hayes shared relief at having the Blue Diamond aspirant primed again, with a start confirmed in Saturday’s Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) at Caulfield.

Hayes would prefer Eurocanto approaching the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on February 21 at his third run this term.

The stable drew encouragement from his Flemington performance.

“He trialled really well against the older horses, and he’ll be taking his place,” Hayes said.

“He’s back on track and I thought it was a good trial.

“He passed with flying colours, and he was on his best behaviour and hopefully he stays that way.”

Eurocanto’s sole prior race was a win in October’s Listed Maribyrnong Trial (1000m) at Flemington.

Leading into the January 24 attempt, he trialled third at Flemington on January 2 and won at Werribee January 16.

“I don’t think he will be lacking anything for fitness on Saturday,” Hayes said.

In the Prelude’s colts and geldings’ bracket, Eurocanto is Lindsay Park’s lone runner, as Jacaranda, Medicinal and Portinari enter the fillies’ side. Punters can find plenty on the racing betting markets for the Blue Diamond Prelude.

The post Take two for Eurocanto first appeared on Just Horse Racing.

The baseball world is mourning the loss of a player who made history with the Detroit Tigers.

Mickey Lolich, remembered as the Tigers’ hero in the 1968 World Series, has died, the Tigers announced. He was 85. Lolich is the last MLB pitcher to win three games in the World Series. He was named World Series MVP that year.

The Tigers said Lolich’s wife informed the franchise that Lolich was recently in hospice care. The cause of death was not released.

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In this Oct. 3, 1968, file photo, Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers pitches during the second game of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Mo. (AP Photo/File)

Lolich is No. 23 on the all-time career strikeouts list with 2,832.

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Lolich was an unlikely star of the Tigers 1968 title run. During a reunion of the World Series team, he recalled how manager Mayo Smith had sent him to the bullpen for much of August. He returned to the Tigers’ starting rotation and was 6-1 in the final weeks.

“I was having a few problems, but I had been a starting pitcher ever since 1964,” said Lolich, who was upset about the bullpen move. “I remember telling him, ‘If we win this thing this year, it’s going to be because of me.’ But I was only talking about the season. I wasn’t talking about the World Series.

“I got my revenge back in the World Series.”

Mickey Lolich, pitcher of Detroit Tigers, poses for a photo in March 1968.  (AP Photo, File)

Lolich pitched Game 7 after only two days rest. He figured he would get a Corvette from General Motors for being the Series MVP but had to settle for a Dodge Charger GT because Chrysler was the sponsor in 1968.

“Nothing against Chargers, nothing at all,” Lolich said in his book, “Joy in Tigertown.” “It’s just that I already had two of them in my driveway.”

Since Lolich, only two pitchers have won three games in a single World Series — Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2001 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025. But they pitched fewer innings and got their third victories in relief.

Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates March 30, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

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In a statement, the Tigers expressed condolences to Lolich’s family and said his legacy “will forever be cherished.”

After his baseball career, Lolich went into the doughnut business in the Detroit suburbs, making and selling them for 18 years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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WWE CCO Triple H is leading the creative side of the business. Often, thanks to Unreal, HHH is seated at the table with writers, pitching ideas. The concern is who he passes the baton to in his absence. Now, it seems the former WWE head writer has a clear vision: Robert Roode.

In a post on X, Vince Russo has sung Roode’s praises. He states that the former US Champion is the only guy who stands out in management. The retired Canadian wrestler currently works for WWE as a match producer. Robert,, better known as ‘Bobby’ is a real and pure professional who carries himself perfectly. If it were for Russo being the decision-maker, Roode would lead WWE into the future.

The veteran took a moment to humble the former NXT Champion, too. Russo cites him as certainly not the Greatest Worker in the History of the Business. However, neither is he a gimmick nor an ego-maniac and surely not a ‘Walrus’. Roode is the GUY.

The 49-year-old was still pretty much active till mid-2022. However, later that year, Roode underwent neck surgery. In May 2023, he underwent another. In the next few months, he took on the role of a match producer and retired from wrestling.

Robert Roode’s resume in WWE

The first title Roode won was the NXT Championship. Known exceptionally for his workhorse nature and technical abilities in TNA, the Stamford-based promotion trusted him. Within a year of his debut, he defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the NXT title in 2017. Later on the main roster, he won the US Championship in 2018 in a tournament.

Later that year, the Glorious star captured the RAW Tag Team Championships with Chad Gable. Roode and Gable defeated Authors of Pain. Next year, he teamed up with Dolph Ziggler, Dirty Dawgs. They defeated Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman for the same titles. In 2021, his last reign as a ‘Dirty Dawg’ came as he held the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.