Erol Bulut's Cardiff City job situation as it stands amid big-club links and hold-ups

More than one week has now passed since Cardiff City's Championship season ended and the club's fans still find themselves desperate for news regarding Erol Bulut and his position as manager.

It will be a familiar feeling for Bluebirds supporters, though, given they were in this exact position 12 months ago when Sabri Lamouchi was still at the helm.

Bulut steered Cardiff to a 12th-place finish this term. It was a bumpy ride at times, but in the grand scheme of things it is progress. It is the first time the club have finished in a league position higher than the previous season since they were last in the Premier League under Neil Warnock in 2019. Bulut is also the first manager to take charge of an entire league campaign since Warnock.

Green shoots of positivity? Absolutely. A lot of improvement still needed? Definitely. But this impasse is certainly not helpful for anyone and the sooner it is resolved, the better chance 2024/25 has of being a real success. So, what's the current situation? Let's take a look...

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What's the situation?

As we understand it, a contract offer is currently with Bulut. Bulut has flown back to Istanbul to be with his family and kids and is understood to be going on a holiday with them.

Cardiff had hoped the situation would be resolved by the end of this week, but that deadline will now be missed. Bulut's coaching staff are back in their respective homes in Greece and Germany, too, while the players are also understood to be as in the dark as the supporters.

One way or another, an update is expected in the coming week. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

What's the hold-up?

Clearly there are a lot of factors at play, here. One main point of contention is the length of the contract offer. Bulut is on record as saying he wants more than a one-year deal in order to build — "I don't want to be a guest again for one more year, I want to be part of the family for the future" — while owner Vincent Tan is hesitant about offering a longer-term deal, something a succession of managers have now had to deal with.

There are other underlying issues, too, but those are all thought to be resolvable. Bulut has spoken about beefing up his coaching staff and the recruitment department in the club, while assurances will have been sought over transfers after two difficult windows — one with a partial transfer embargo and one which saw them rip up their plans two days before the deadline — were navigated last season.

One school of thought is that while solutions can be found for the above, the manager wants the security that comes with that longer contract. And you can understand it, given how often the club have pulled the trigger on managers in recent years. But there is a hope that if the two parties can overcome this length-of-contract issue then things can start to move very quickly.

Naturally, many fans will ask whether break clauses to potentially shorten a longer deal or, conversely, extension triggers to lengthen a shorter deal — whichever way you choose to look at it — have been implemented into the deal on the table. That's unknown at this stage, but logic dictates that will certainly have been discussed.

Solve that issue and the other more nuanced concerns, which can't really be placed into these sorts of contracts, can be ironed out. That's the hope from some inside the club, anyway.

Of course, you wouldn't blame Bulut for taking his time. After all, this is something the management and coaching staff wanted sorting out at Christmas. Maybe it's now his turn to take his time and mull over all the options.

Links to other clubs

As ever when these things drag on, a manager of Bulut's standing and reputation, owing to his stellar work pre-Fenerbahce and then, of course, actually managing Fener, one of the three big Turkish clubs, is going to see his name thrown into the hat for other jobs.

Indeed, Turkish press have waxed lyrical about the job Bulut has done with Cardiff this season, taking everything at face value with regards to the results and the targets which were met in terms of finishing nine places higher than last season.

But if reports are to be believed then two big European clubs have Bulut on their list of potential managers this summer.

Bulut was named in the Turkish media as a potential candidate for the Besiktas job after they decided to part ways with ex-Portugal boss Fernando Santos. Bulut said of those links: "I don't want to speak about these messages. I read many things. But I don't want to give any message to any news about other clubs. I am focussed my club here, Cardiff City, and what comes after that we will see."

However, Turkish sports newspaper Fotospor then claimed Panathinaikos could move for Bulut this summer. Reports in Greece — and elsewhere — suggest current boss Fatih Terim will vacate his position as manager and fellow Turk Bulut could fit the bill.

Fotospor report that a meeting has already been held with Panathinaikos' president, Giannis Alafouzos, and Bulut's camp over a potential deal.

The 49-year-old City boss is thought to be an attractive prospect for Panathinaikos because of his experience in Greek football with Panionios, Olympiacos, Olympiacos Volos, OFI Crete and Veria as a player. Bulut's No.2 Nikolaos Karydas, is also Greek while his goalkeeper coach, Mario Galinovic, actually played for Panathinaikos between 2004 and 2011, amassing more than 100 appearances for the club. Galinovic was also the goalkeeper coach for the club between 2015 and 2017.

On the links as a whole, Bulut added: "No comment. You can answer for yourself – take it as a yes or a no! But I've said it many times, I'd like to build here."

The cynics among us might think those links are well timed in terms of having them as a bargaining chip. On the other side of the coin, they could very much be true, too.