Neil Harris surprised by Cardiff City summer decision as he lays out Vincent Tan's demands

The former Bluebirds boss oversaw a narrow 1-0 defeat at his old club

Neil Harris has told the next Cardiff City manager exactly what to expect from owner Vincent Tan and believes the Bluebirds' win over Millwall last night affords the club time to make a "calm decision" over appointing Erol Bulut's successor.

Calls for a decision to be made more hastily would have amplified had Cardiff not come away with a victory over Harris's Millwall at Cardiff City Stadium. The Bluebirds remain rooted to the bottom of the table, but did eventually achieve their first win of the campaign at the eighth time of asking.

Their shocking start to the season saw Erol Bulut get sacked 10 days ago. The club are currently looking for a new manager, with chairman Mehmet Dalman and CEO Ken Choo both in attendance at Cardiff City Stadium last night.

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The Bluebirds have fallen way short of where they expected to be this season. After finishing 12th last year, the hope was that they would kick on and trouble the play-off places. The last time they were in the top six, of course, Harris himself was in the Bluebirds dugout, back in 2020.

Speaking about the current predicament at Cardiff, Harris said after the match: "There's a lot of people I stay in contact with here. It's the demand that comes with managing a club in the capital city of Wales.

"Cardiff has had success over the last 20 years in promotions to the Premier League and good Championship periods. The demand is, not only by the fan base but by the ownership as well, to be in the top half or top six of the league to try and fight to get back into the Premier League.

"Obviously it's been a poor start to the season and as I've found myself, after a poor run, change happens. We accept that as managers.

"When you step into the hot-seat here, you know what the demand is. I am always disappointed when I see managers leave here, because sometimes you like to see people be given a bit more of an opportunity to extend their stay, to try and prove people wrong.

"But on the flipside, Vincent is a bloody good bloke who has put a lot of money into the football club. And his demands are high. Erol will know that and now he's gone.

"I'm pleased for Omer to get an opportunity. I'm delighted for him. I'm disappointed that his first success has come against us! But that now buys a bit of time to make calm decisions for the football club."

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Harris used his contacts at Cardiff to help his own team in the summer, bringing in Ryan Wintle on loan after Bulut had deemed him surplus to requirements.

Wintle had been a prominent figure for the Bluebirds over the last few seasons, wearing the captain's arm band on numerous occasions and he even signed a new long-term deal a year ago. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

And Harris admits he was taken aback to learn that the club had made the midfielder, who has made three substitute appearances for the Lions so far, available for transfer.

Asked if he was surprised that Cardiff sanctioned an exit for Wintle, Harris replied: "Yeah, I was. But that's football. You can't always have a settled squad or a combination, sometimes players need to change, sometimes managers feel like they need to make a change.

"Ryan became available and we were pleased to take him. He is a player I've liked for a long time. I've followed him since he came in here [at Cardiff]. I was delighted.

"His opportunity to be in the starting XI has not come yet, but that's because we've played so well. When he's come on he's made an impact, he's been very good for us. And he's been excellent in training."

On the game itself, Harris added: "I’m disappointed because that was our worst league performance of the season. It was poor.

"We’ve got a small squad with a lot of young lads and we’ve asked a lot of them because we can’t make wholesale changes but that’s the first time we haven’t hit the level needed.

"We haven’t had the points so far that our performances have deserved and we should be higher in the league, but we’re not.

"Cardiff were the lowest performing and lowest scoring team in the division but we massively helped them. If you’re not going to be fluid enough to break them down and win the game, then at least don’t lose it by conceding from a soft-piece.

"It was a great cross from Joe (Ralls) and a good header from Perry (Ng) but it was soft to concede from a set-piece. That gave Cardiff confidence and belief and we just didn’t react accordingly. We could have scored at the end and we had one off the line but those are the fine margins in the division."