After the sacking of Erol Bulut in September, Omer Riza has been interim manager at the Cardiff City Stadium ever since.

It was not a surprise, in truth.

After overseeing Cardiff City’s worst start to a league season in 94 years, Erol Bulut was sacked from his role as manager on September 22nd.

Just six league games into the 2024/25 Championship campaign, the numbers were stark: five defeats, a South Wales derby draw, 13 goals conceded, and just a solitary goal scored.

While the sacking itself came as little surprise to many connected to Cardiff City, there will be few who are pessimistic enough to claim to have seen that start coming.

The Start, and End, of the Bulut Reign

Having arrived in the summer of 2023, Bulut took over a squad that had battled relegation from the Championship for the previous two seasons.

Add to the fact that the Bluebirds were placed under a transfer embargo during the summer 2023 transfer window because they defaulted on payment of the transfer fee for the late Emiliano Sala, and Bulut had his work cut out.

Bulut solidified the side significantly and despite the unattractive football – the only teams with a worse goal-difference than Cardiff’s -17 were Huddersfield Town and Rotherham United who were both comfortably relegated – City found themselves safely in midtable come the end of the 2023/24 season.

It must also be added that the fans were vocal during the latter stages of last season, asking the board to extend Bulut’s initial one-year contract, something that they held off on completing until June when the Turk signed a new two-year deal.

Eye-catching signings such as Chris Willock, Calum Chambers, and Alex Robertson had added to the positive mood amongst City fans.

However, it does not take a genius to work out that the length of time taken to make a decision on Bulut’s future would eventually work against him when Cardiff suffered their worst start in almost a century.

All these events leave the current situation at the Cardiff City Stadium: English coach Omer Riza is the interim manager.

Who is Omer Riza?

London-born Riza had a modest playing career in England and Turkey – the country of his descent – before turning to coaching.

His first experience of management came in 2017 when he had a brief spell as caretaker manager at Leyton Orient before leaving to take a role in Watford’s academy.

As well as his job at Watford, in September 2019 Riza started coaching England U16s as part of the FA’s 2019-20 Elite Coach Placement Programme.

In October 2023, Riza became Watford’s U23 head coach and in March 2024 was left “hurt and very disappointed” when he was passed over for the first team managerial role following the sacking of Valerian Ismael.

It was reported that Riza, who holds a UEFA Pro Coaching Licence, felt he deserved to succeed Ismael, as the continuity candidate at Vicarage Road, but Watford went on to appoint Tom Cleverley as their new head coach instead.

Riza lost his job with the Hornets when they sacked Ismael as manager. Having left Watford after six years, he joined Cardiff’s first team coaching staff under Bulut over the summer.

Commitment and Desire

Riza gave a clear indication of his commitment to his new role at Cardiff when he posted on LinkedIn in June.

“Started my new chapter and I’m very excited,” Riza posted.

“The manager and staff, players [and] fans have been great.

“When you look at what you want to achieve, you think of all the things that you need just to be able to function in the elite environment.

“Fundamentals like tactical, strategical, understanding of delivery to peers and players. Working relationships within the small teams to become a total team.

“Preparation, organisation, communication.

“Honesty, humbleness, respect, humility and hard work… key in my life and it will never change as it was how I was raised.”

While it is clear that Riza is a good communicator and can clearly express his footballing and professional ideas, Cardiff fans care much more about his results on the pitch than his words off it.

Slow Start

‘The Riza era’ at Cardiff got off to a poor start, with his side losing 4-1 at Hull City, despite some positive signs, most notably the clear desire to keep more of the ball.

Three days later and Cardiff had their first league win of the season: a battling 1-0 home victory over Millwall.

Speaking after the game, Riza was clearly relieved not only for the club, but also himself and his chances of continuing in the role. A 1-1 draw at Ashton Gate in the Severnside derby, though, gave no further clues about his future.

Going into a two-week international break, many expected Cardiff to make a decision on who would take over as permanent manager.

Rumours of Mark Hughes, Nathan Jones, and Steven Schumacher swirled, but Cardiff did not make a hasty decision, meaning Riza would continue his audition.

Plymouth Argyle: A Turning Point?

Riza had overseen an improvement in the team’s performances, although given how terribly Cardiff had played up until that point there was little risk that they would get much worse.

However, a 5-0 win over Plymouth Argyle changed the mood significantly. Goals from Robertson, Rubin Colwill, Anwar El Ghazi, Callum Robinson, and Chris Willock hauled themselves off the bottom of the Championship.

They were helped by a first half red card to Plymouth midfielder Ibrahim Cissoko, while manager Wayne Rooney had to watch from the stands.

At the time of writing, Cardiff have not decided on who will replace Bulut in the dugout, and it is now over a month since that call.

But with the search for his permanent successor dragging on, interim manager Omer Riza was eager to further his case to get the job, having been so keen for a chance in the hot seat in the past.

Whether he gets the job or not, this last month has been an improvement for the Bluebirds, something that was badly needed after their worst start in 94 years.

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