Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Friday, June 16.
Whitehead leaves for Watford
Dean Whitehead has left Cardiff and has been named assistant head coach at Watford.
There had been doubts over whether Whitehead would stay on following the dismissal of Sabri Lamouchi at the end of last season, especially when his former manager at Besiktas, Valerien Ismael, got the top job at Watford.
Whitehead had a contract only until the end of last season and it always seemed likely he would leave. And that is the case, with Watford announcing Ismael's coaching staff today. For the latest Cardiff news sent straight to your inbox, sign up here.
The Hornets announced that Whitehead would take the post as assistant head coach, Omer Riza has stepped up from the youth team to be a first-team assistant coach, while Jack Riley has been named as the club's video analyst.
As for Cardiff, well they are due to announce their own coaching staff in the coming days following Bulut's arrival back in Cardiff today
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Gabbs: Bulut has obvious pedigree but Cardiff won't be easy
Former Cardiff defender Danny Gabbidon believes Erol Bulut will have to draw on all of his experience from coaching at big clubs in Turkey if he is to manage the tricky job which awaits him in the Welsh capital.
Speaking on BBC's EJFOF, Gabbidon admitted he didn't know anything about the new manager when his name was announced, branding it "very Cardiff City at the moment".
He added: "I hope he can come in and continue some of the work that (Sabri) Lamouchi did second half of the season. He has managed Fenerbahce. So he obviously knows what he's doing, one of the biggest clubs in Turkey. That job, from what I hear, came a little too soon for him and he had some problems with managing some of the bigger players. We all know how fazing being a manager or player in Turkey can be!
"But he's obviously got a bit of pedigree. But he's not coming in to a very easy situation. The club has got the transfer embargo, not going to be able to pay money for players. He is going to inherit a squad that still needs a bit of work in terms of a philosophy and style on the pitch.
"It's not going to be an easy job for him, but hopefully he can come in and take the team to the next level. For me, I think the squad of players there last season underachieved. You look at what Luton and Coventry did last season, Cardiff fans saying the squad wasn't good enough, I don't fully agree with that. I think the squad was better than where they finished in the league, particularly when you compare it to other teams in the Championship.
"All I hope is that he can coach. I hope he is a manager that can get on the training pitch, on the grass and get the best out of the players. That's the only way Cardiff will have success. If a manager can come in and get the best out of the players, get a style of play, whether it's possession, counter-attacking, whatever it is. I think he's more defensive."
Bluebirds turn out for Wales
A number of Cardiff's under-19s players turned out for Wales under-19s in their defeat by Sweden last night.
Rob Edwards' side took on the Swedes at Leckwith in a friendly match and the starting XI had a distinctly Bluebirds flavour.
Isaac Jefferies, Dan Barton, Will Spiers and Tanatswa Nyakuhwa all started for the young Dragons, with Japhet Matondo among those coming on from the bench.
Wales take on Sweden in another friendly on Sunday, with Cole Fleming, Jake Dennis and Trey George all also in the squad hoping to force their way into the XI.
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Cardiff City Women report back for pre-season
Not resting on their laurels, double-winning Cardiff City Women reported back for their first day of pre-season yesterday.
The Bluebirds won the league and Welsh cup last term and will be competing in Europe this season as a result.
And manager Iain Darbyshire has brought his squad back in early in order for them to undergo fitness tests ahead of what is expected to be a demanding season.
Re-turfing CCS has been a 'massive investment' by the club
A complete re-turfing of the playing surface at Cardiff City Stadium has been a "massive investment" by the club, said head groundsman Liam Smith.
A time-lapse video was released by the club today which showed the work which has gone into completely ripping up and re-seeding the pitch at Cardiff ahead of Wales' Euro qualifier against Armenia tonight, which you can follow here.
Smith reckons 1,000 tonnes of sand has been ripped out and re-filled in order to get it ready for tonight and the results are pretty impressive.
“We had a really tight turnaround," Smith said. "After the last game of the season here, we had Hewitt Sportsturf come in and strip the existing pitch out, taking around 1,000 tonnes of the previous base of sand for the turf.
"They then renewed all of the irrigation and brought in the new sand to get the levels right, adding new surroundings to the pitch as well, which includes both artificial grass and 4G turf.
“The pitch itself is 3% artificial, and it was brought in by a company called Grassmax Systems, who worked with Hewitt throughout the process. They’ve worked for a number of other clubs such as Paris Saint Germain and Leicester City.
“It’s been a massive investment from the Club to install this new pitch. They say that it should last ten years, the last one was used for around 15. We did a good job on that last pitch, and if we have a similar duration of time on this new pitch as we expect, then the investment will have paid off."
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