Tonight's Cardiff City news as club told letting Bulut go would be 'mistake' and boss makes Ramsey admission

Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Friday, April 19.

'Letting Bulut go would be a mistake'

Allowing Erol Bulut to leave at the end of his contract would be a "mistake", according to former England international Carlton Palmer.

The Bluebirds manager has three games remaining on his current contract and, at time of writing, owner Vincent Tan has not communicated whether he wants the manager to stay or leave at the end of the season.

It has dominated conversation among City supporters in recent months and as we reach crunch point, fans are falling either on the 'Bulut In' or 'Bulut Out' side of the fence. Palmer has made his feelings clear, too.

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“Cardiff City, sitting mid-table in the Championship on 59 points, they have been on a bit of a bad run, only two wins in their last six games, and four defeats in those games," he told Football League World.

"But the manager, Erol Bulut, has done a great job in keeping them there, and his contract is set to run out at the end of this season, and he is attracting interest from Besiktas, who are one of the clubs tracking him and are very keen on him.

“I would think that Cardiff would wait until the end of the season and the manager and the club will sit down and see where they can go forward. I think it would be a mistake for Cardiff to let him go given the job that he has done, they were perilously in danger of getting drawn into a relegation battle and were down the bottom, and he has managed to pull them up, and with three games to go, they are looking at a mid-table finish.

“It would not take an awful lot in the transfer window in the summer, to maybe get Cardiff pushing for a play-off place next season. So I am sure they will sit down and have that conversation, and I am sure Cardiff will want to keep him for as long as possible.”

Bulut: I'd rather Ramsey not play for Wales this summer

Erol Bulut believes Aaron Ramsey should forget about international football this summer and concentrate on getting ready for Cardiff next season.

Ramsey has had a rotten season with regards to injuries, suffering knee, calf and now hamstring problems concurrently throughout the campaign.

The latest injury, Bulut revealed, was a grade two hamstring tear, which rules him out of the rest of the campaign. Bulut said the problem will sideline him for a minimum of three weeks.

"He had a grade two strain which means three weeks minimum, which means the season is finished for him," said Bulut. "A long time he has been away. For a long time, many of our main players have not been with us. This breaks our neck this season.

"We are in a good run then we get injuries. It's not easy to replace them."

This latest problem throws his involvement in Wales' summer game against Slovakia on June 9 into doubt. And Bulut admitted he'd rather Ramsey not be involved after his injury-ravaged campaign.

"I think for him, we have to be honest, he had an injury, he came back and got another injury and now he needs to get fit," Bulut added.

"I think he needs to prepare himself for the new season and not think about the national team, whether he will play or not. Health is most important for a football player, so he needs to focus on getting fit and starting the new season well with Cardiff City."

Russell Martin: Bluebirds clash is 'dangerous'

Southampton boss Russell Martin believes Cardiff not having anything to play for makes them a "dangerous" proposition for his side.

The Bluebirds were comfortably beaten in the reverse fixture at St Mary's and come into this clash with 12 injuries and around 14 senior players available. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

Couple that with Bulut's situation still up in the air and the club not fighting against relegation nor battling for promotion and punters will give Cardiff little chance this weekend.

However, Martin is taking no liberties. When asked whether Cardiff having nothing to play for gives Saints an advantage this weekend, ex-Swansea boss Martin said: "No, I think it's dangerous. I think that nothing to play for thing is just a bit of a throwaway comment in football.

"There are thousands of people there watching them. Some people will be out of contract, some people will be on loan, and some people will be given opportunities maybe at this stage of the season that haven't had many.

"So there's always something to play for, always, individually and collectively. I don't see that coming into it.

"And also teams play with real freedom sometimes when they maybe don't have much to play for in terms of promotion or relegation. We saw Watford come here last week to our place.

"They played brilliantly at Ipswich on Wednesday but didn't get the result and then you think, oh, well, there's nothing to play for.

"So it was a really tough game. It's a bit of a throwaway statement in football. Every game is tough in this division and this will be a tough one."

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U21s side offers first-team clue

Cardiff City named a youthful under-21s team for their clash with Crewe this afternoon, with notable omissions pointing to who might be involved against Southampton tomorrow.

Left-back is a real problem area for Cardiff this weekend, with Jamilu Collins a doubt and Callum O'Dowda, Josh Wilson-Esbrand and Perry Ng all missing through injury. Luey Giles was omitted from Darren Purse's squad this afternoon, meaning he could be in with a shout of a first-team debut.

Joel Colwill, Cameron Antwi, Raheem Conte and Cian Ashford were also not involved for the under-21s, while uncapped defender Dylan Lawlor, 18, who travelled to Millwall as a reserve last weekend, was also missing.

Prutton predicts a Saints win

Former Southampton midfielder David Prutton is backing his old side to come out on top during the clash in the Welsh capital this weekend.

Few are giving Cardiff much hope and neither is pundit Prutton, who thinks Saints will edge it this weekend.

“What was seemingly a very straightforward end to the season with regards to being in the play-offs has been blown apart with those weekend results.," said Prutton in the Sky Sports Championship Predictions podcast.

“That quirk of the schedule, with regards to fixtures, and given the amount of games they’re going to play before Ipswich Town gets back into Championship action, could mean we’d have a different top two, a different complexion to it, when they start playing again.

“So, they needed to get their job done, they did that very late against Watford, they did that very straightforwardly against Preston. I’m declaring them well and truly back in the shout for top two. I’m going to go Cardiff 1-2 Southampton.”