2015–16 Cardiff City F.C. season explained

Club:	Cardiff City
Season:	2015–16
Stadium:	Cardiff City Stadium
League:	Football League Championship
League Result:	8th
Cup1:	FA Cup
Cup1 Result:	Third Round
Cup2:	League Cup
Cup2 Result:	Second Round
League Topscorer:	Anthony Pilkington (9)
Season Topscorer:	Anthony Pilkington (9)
Highest Attendance:	28,680 (vs. Derby County, 2 Apr)
Lowest Attendance:	4,782 (vs. Shrewsbury Town, 10 Jan)
Average Attendance:	16,463
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Prevseason:	2014–15
Nextseason:	2016–17

The 2015–16 season was Cardiff City's 99th season in their existence and the 88th in the Football League, their second consecutive season in the Championship. Along with competing in the Championship, the club will also participate in the FA Cup and League Cup. The season covers the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.

Competitions

Championship

Results by matchday

Kit

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Squad

No.	Name	Pos.	Place of Birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee	Ends
Goalkeepers
1	David Marshall	GK	Glasgow	274	0	Norwich City	12 May 2009	£500,000	2018
21	Simon Moore	GK	Sandown	23	0	Brentford	29 July 2013	£150,000	2017
30	Ben Wilson	GK	Stanley	2	0	Accrington Stanley	November 2014	Free	2017
Defenders
2	Lee Peltier	RB	Liverpool	58	0	Huddersfield Town	24 January 2015	Nominal	2018
3	Fábio	LB	Rio de Janeiro	68	1	Manchester United	29 January 2014	Free	2017
4	Sean Morrison	CB	Plymouth	74	9	Reading	15 August 2014	£2,620,000	2018
5	Bruno Ecuele Manga	CB	Libreville	56	5	Lorient	1 September 2014	£4,400,000	2017
6	Ben Turner	CB	Birmingham	121	4	Coventry City	31 August 2011	£750,000	2016
12	Declan John	LB	Merthyr Tydfil	31	0	Academy	1 June 2013	Trainee	2018
16	Matthew Connolly	CB	Barnet	110	6	Queens Park Rangers	22 August 2012	£500,000	2019
28	Scott Malone	LB	Rowley Regis	56	2	Millwall	7 January 2015	£90,000	2017
29	Semi Ajayi	CB	London	0	0	Arsenal	1 July 2015	Free	2017
Midfielders
7	Peter Whittingham	CM	Nuneaton	423	93	Aston Villa	11 January 2007	£350,000	2017
8	Joe Ralls	CM	Aldershot	94	6	Academy	30 September 2011	Trainee	2020
11	Craig Noone	LW	Liverpool	134	17	Brighton & Hove Albion	30 August 2012	£1,000,000	2018
13	Anthony Pilkington	LW	Blackburn	62	10	Norwich City	15 August 2014	£875,000	2017
15	Kagisho Dikgacoi	DM	Brandfort	28	0	Crystal Palace	1 July 2014	Free	2017
17	Aron Gunnarsson	CM	Akureyri	197	20	Coventry City	8 July 2011	£350,000	2018
22	Stuart O'Keefe	CM	Eye	33	2	Crystal Palace	28 January 2015	£750,000	2018
23	Matthew Kennedy	RW	Irvine	16	0	Everton	2 February 2015	Undisclosed	2018
24	Kadeem Harris	LW	Westminster	23	2	Wycombe Wanderers	30 January 2012	£150,000	2017
27	Lex Immers	AM	The Hague	15	5	Feyenoord	21 January 2016	Loan	2016
38	Sammy Ameobi	WG/CF	Newcastle upon Tyne	38	1	Newcastle United	7 July 2015	Loan	2016
Forwards
26	Kenneth Zohore	CF	Copenhagen	12	2	K.V. Kortrijk	1 February 2016	Loan	2016
37	Tom Lawrence	LW/SS	Wrexham	14	0	Leicester City	1 February 2016	Loan	2016
39	Idriss Saadi	CF	Valence	2	0	Clermont	1 September 2015	Undisclosed	2018
Out on loan
9	Kenwyne Jones	CF	Point Fortin	67	19	Stoke City	28 January 2014	Part Exchange	2016
14	Federico Macheda	CF	Rome	31	8	Manchester United	1 July 2014	Free	2017
18	Eoin Doyle	CF	Dublin	18	5	Chesterfield	2 February 2015	£750,000	2018
36	Adedeji Oshilaja	CB	London	3	0	Academy	1 July 2012	Trainee	Undisclosed
—	Tom Adeyemi	CM	Norwich	23	1	Birmingham City	7 August 2014	£882,000	2017
—	Adam Le Fondre	CF	Stockport	25	3	Reading	28 May 2014	£2,170,000	2017
—	Filip Kiss	CM	Dunajská Streda	36	1	Slovan Bratislava	1 July 2012	£500,000	2016
—	Joe Lewis	GK	Bury St. Edmunds	4	0	Peterborough United	25 May 2012	Free	2016
—	Etien Velikonja	CF	Šempeter pri Gorici	5	0	Maribor	25 July 2012	£1,574,373	2016

Appearances and goals for the club are up to date as of 7 May 2016.

Statistics

|-|colspan=14|First team players out on loan:|-|colspan=14|Loan Players who returned to their parent clubs:|-|colspan=14|First team players that left the club:|}

Goals record

Rank	No.	Po.	Name			Total
1	13	MF		9	0	9
2	7	MF		6	0	6
	10	FW	Joe Mason	6	0	6
	11	MF		5	1	6
5	9	FW		5	0	5
5	27	MF		5	0	5
7	4	DF	Sean Morrison	3	0	3
8	5	DF		2	0	2
	17	MF		2	0	2
	22	MF		2	0	2
	26	FW		2	0	2
	28	DF		2	0	2
	33	FW	Tony Watt	2	0	2
14	3	DF		1	0	1
	8	MF		1	0	1
	16	DF		1	0	1
	19	FW	Alex Revell	0	1	1
	38	FW		1	0	1
Total				55*	2	56

Total includes 1 own goal

Disciplinary record

Rank	No.	Po.	Name							Total
Rank	No.	Po.	Name
1	3	DF	Fábio	8	1	0	0	1	0	9	1
1	2	DF	Lee Peltier	9	1	0	0	0	0	9	1
3	13	MF	Anthony Pilkington	9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
3	16	DF	Matthew Connolly	9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
5	7	MF	Peter Whittingham	8	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
6	4	DF		5	0	0	0	1	0	6	0
7	8	MF	Joe Ralls	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
	11	MF	Craig Noone	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
	38	MF	Sammy Ameobi	4	1	0	0	0	0	4	1
10	28	DF	Scott Malone	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
11	17	MF	Aron Gunnarsson	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
11	22	MF	Stuart O'Keefe	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
13	1	GK		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	6	DF		1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	10	FW	Joe Mason	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	15	MF	Kagisho Dikgacoi	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	16	DF	Matthew Connolly	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	19	FW	Alex Revell	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	33	FW	Tony Watt	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	37	FW		1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Total				79	4	0	0	2	0	81	4

Suspensions served

Date	Matches Missed	Reason	Opponents Missed
2 May 2015	3		Fulham (H), QPR (A), Blackburn (A)
3 October 2015	1	5×	Preston (A)
19 September 2015	2		Charlton (H), Brighton (A)
23 January 2016	1		Huddersfield (A)
13 February 2016	3		Brighton (H), Middlesbrough (A), Preston (H)
8 March 2016	3		Reading (H), Derby (A), Burnley (H)

Contracts

Number	Position	Name	Contract length	Status	Expiry Date	Ref.
55	RB		1 year	Extended	June 2016
—	CM	Tyler Roche	1 year	Extended	June 2016
—	CM	Macauley Southam	1 year	Signed	June 2016
60	LB		1 year	Extended	June 2016
—	CB	Curtis Watkins	1 year	Extended	June 2016
30	GK		2 years	Signed	June 2017
17	CM		3 years	Signed	June 2018	BBC Sport
—	CF		3 years	Signed	June 2018	Cardiff City F.C. Official Site
8	CM		5 years	Signed	June 2020	BBC Sport
16	CB		years	Signed	June 2019	Cardiff City F.C. Official Site

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
1 July 2015	CB			Free transfer	Cardiff City F.C.
24 July 2015	CB	Jordan Blaise		Free transfer	Cardiff City F.C.
26 August 2015	CB		Unattached	Free transfer	Cardiff City F.C.
31 August 2015	CF			Undisclosed	Cardiff City F.C.
4 September 2015	LB			Undisclosed	Cardiff City F.C.

Loans in

Date from	Position	Until	Ref.
7 July 2015	WG	End of season	Cardiff City FC
23 November 2015	CF	16 January 2016	BBC Sport
21 January 2016	AM	End of Season	BBC Sport
1 February 2016	CF	End of Season	BBC Sport
1 February 2016	LW	End of Season	Wales Online

Out

Date	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
9 June 2015	GK	Charlie Horton		Free transfer	BBC Sport
15 June 2015	RB			£1.4m	BBC Sport
26 June 2015	CB			Released	Cardiff City F.C.
1 July 2015	RM	Anthony Bell		Released
1 July 2015	CM	Jaye Bowen		Released
1 July 2015	CF	Gethyn Hill	Merthyr Tydfil	Released
1 July 2015	CF			Released	^[1]
1 July 2015	GK	Joe Massaro		Released
1 July 2015	CF			Released	Cardiff City F.C.
1 July 2015	RB			Released	Cardiff City F.C.
1 July 2015	LB	Kane Owen		Released
1 July 2015	DM	Ben Watkins	Free agent	Released
1 July 2015	CB	Bradley Wickham	Free agent	Released
1 July 2015	CM	Bradley Williams	Free agent	Released
1 July 2015	CB			Free transfer	BBC Sport
3 August 2015	CB			Free transfer	Cardiff City F.C.
31 August 2015	CF			Undisclosed	Cardiff City F.C.
28 January 2016	CF			£3m	BBC Sport
1 February 2016	CF		Milton Keynes Dons	Free	BBC Sport
1 February 2016	CB		Unattached	Free	Cardiff City F.C.

Total income: £4,400,000

Loans out

Date from	Position	Name	To	Date until	Ref.
14 July 2015	CM			End of season	Cardiff City FC
24 July 2015	CB			3 January 2016	Cardiff City FC
3 August 2015	CF			End of season	BBC Sport
7 August 2015	LB			January 2016	BBC Sport
19 August 2015	CM			End of season	Cardiff City F.C.
22 August 2015	LW			21 August 2015	Cardiff City F.C.
24 August 2015	GK			End of season	Cardiff City F.C.
31 August 2015	CF			End of season	Cardiff City F.C.
1 September 2015	CF			End of season	Cardiff City F.C.
1 September 2015	CF			3 January 2016	Cardiff City F.C.
29 September 2015	CB			25 October 2015	Cardiff City F.C.
13 October 2015	RB			2 January 2016	Cardiff City F.C.
13 October 2015	CM		Newport County	2 January 2016	Cardiff City F.C.
20 October 2015	GK		AFC Wimbledon	14 December 2015	BBC Sport
11 November 2015	FW			23 January 2016	Cardiff City F.C.
18 November 2015	CB			23 December 2015	BBC Sport
26 November 2015	CB	Semi Ajayi		5 January 2016	Sky Sports
5 January 2016	CF			End of Season	Cardiff City F.C.
25 January 2016	RW			End of Season	BBC Sport
18 February 2016	LB			End of Season	BBC Sport
10 March 2016	CM	Tommy O'Sullivan	Newport County	End of Season	BBC Sport
11 March 2016	CF			End of Season	BBC Sport
14 March 2016	CB	Deji Oshilaja	Gillingham	End of Season	BBC Sport

Fixtures and results

FA Cup

See main article: 2015–16 FA Cup.

League Cup

See main article: 2015–16 Football League Cup.

Overall summary

Summary

Games played	46 (35 Championship, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup)
Games won	16 (17 Championship, 0 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
Games drawn	17 (17 Championship, 0 FA Cup, 0 League Cup)
Games lost	14 (12 Championship, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
Goals scored	57 (55 Championship, 0 FA Cup, 2 League Cup)
Goals conceded	53 (50 Championship, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup)
Goal difference	+4
Clean sheets	16 (15 Championship, 0 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
Yellow cards	81 (79 Championship, 0 FA Cup, 2 League Cup)
Red cards	4 (4 Championship, 0 FA Cup, 0 League Cup)
Worst discipline	Fábio & Lee Peltier (9, 1)
Best result	W 4–1 vs Brighton & Hove Albion (20 February)
Worst result	L 2–0 vs Hull City (16 September) L 2–0 vs Derby County (21 November) L 2–0 vs Leeds United (8 March)
Most appearances	Matthew Connolly (45)
Top scorer	Anthony Pilkington (9)
Points	68

Score overview

Opposition	Home score	Away score
Birmingham City	1–1	0–1
Blackburn Rovers	1–0	1–1
Bolton Wanderers	2–1	3–2
Brentford	3–2	1–2
Brighton & Hove Albion	4–1	1–1
Bristol City	0–0	2–0
Burnley	2–2	0–0
Charlton Athletic	2–1	0–0
Derby County	2–1	0–2
Fulham	1–1	1–2
Huddersfield Town	2–0	3–2
Hull City	0–2	0–2
Ipswich Town	1–0	0–0
Leeds United	0–2	0–1
Middlesbrough	1–0	1–3
Milton Keynes Dons	0–0	1–2
Nottingham Forest	1–1	2–1
Preston North End	2–1	0–0
Queens Park Rangers	0–0	2–2
Reading	2–0	1–1
Rotherham United	2–2	1–2
Sheffield Wednesday	2–2	0–3
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–0	3–1

Club staff

Backroom staff

Position	Name
First-team manager	Russell Slade
Assistant manager	Scott Young
Head coach	Paul Trollope
Goalkeeper coach	Martyn Margetson
First-team coach	James Rowberry
Head of Medical	Hywel Griffiths MCSP HCPC
First-team physiotherapist	Adam Rattenberry MCSP SRP
Head of Fitness & Condition	Lee Southernwood
Strength & Conditioning Coach	Mike Beere
Club doctor	Dr. Len Nokes
Performance & Recruitment Analyst	Graham Younger
Opposition Analyst	Martin Hodge
Kit & equipment manager	Ian Lenning

Board of directors

Position	Name
Chairman	Mehmet Dalman
General Manager	Ken Choo
Finance Director	Richard Thompson
Non-Executive Board Members Football Club ^[2]	Steve Borley Derek Chee Seng Chin Mehmet Dalman Michael Filiou Meng Kwong Lim Michael Isaac Vincent Lye Ek Seang
Non-Executive Board Members Cardiff City (Holdings) ^[3]	Danni Rais
Club Secretary ^[4]	David Beeby

Notes and References

News: Retain List 2015/16 . Cardiff City Football Club . Official Site . 5 May 2015 . 5 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150505213526/http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/article/retain-list-201516-2442677.aspx . 5 May 2015 . dead .
Web site: Football Club Directors. 25 August 2015.
Web site: Holding Company Directors. 25 August 2015.
Web site: New Club Secretary. 25 August 2015.