Mark Robins and Steve Cooper mooted as Cardiff City eye new manager | OneFootball

FLW's Bluebirds fan pundit would like to see one of Steve Cooper or Mark Robins appointed as boss, but would also be happy to see Riza take the job

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Cardiff City interim manager Omer Riza has been backed to take the job full-time by our Bluebirds fan pundit, but Steve Cooper and Mark Robins have been named as top choices for the role if either is receptive to taking it.

It is now over two months since ex-Cardiff boss Erol Bulut was relieved of his duties in the Welsh capital, but caretaker manager Omer Riza is still in charge, and the Bluebirds do not look any closer to appointing a new man anytime soon.

Speculation over Bulut's successor remains rife, but Riza, who was previously a first-team coach under the Turkish boss, has done his chances of landing the job full-time no harm in the meantime, with a six-game unbeaten run that included wins over the likes of Norwich City and Millwall, however, some patchy recent form may have called his managerial credentials into question.

The 45-year-old flew out to Malaysia for talks with Cardiff owner Vincent Tan over the international break to lay out his vision for the club moving forward, but they do not look any closer to a decision as yet, with fans still in the dark over who their next permanent manager is going to be.

Cardiff fan pundit offers Omer Riza verdict alongside Steve Cooper and Mark Robins admiration

The Bluebirds had just one point when Riza took over after Bulut's sacking, but he has led them out of the relegation zone with some key wins, while imposing his style of play with ease, despite the uncertainty around his immediate future.

Following his talks in Malaysia with owner Tan, the former Watford coach admitted that he has "loved every moment" of his tenure, while the likes of Callum O'Dowda and Callum Robinson have each previously backed him to take the job full-time.

Cardiff's recent form has taken a slight dip, though, with losses to Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers, and while our Bluebirds fan pundit, Jack Price, would be happy to see Riza take over on a permanent basis, he has also identified Steve Cooper and Mark Robins, who were each recently sacked from their respective roles at Leicester City and Coventry City, as ideal appointments if either wanted the job, after we asked him who his current number one choice for the role is.

“I still think Omer Riza deserves it. A lot of fans have turned against him a bit, due to the recent performances and results," Jack told FLW.

“If we were to appoint him full-time, I would be more than happy.

“I think I would rather the progression and continuity that we have begun to see under Riza, than someone like Slaven Bilic who has been touted and I think would be a bit of a backwards step.

“Alternatively, we’ve got Steve Cooper, who is known to be a Cardiff fan. I believe his dad played for us.

“The caveat to that is that his assistant is Alan Tate, and obviously Cooper’s ex-Swansea link, so that would be an interesting one.

“I feel really bad for Riza, with the uncertainty and lack of clarity on his situation, and probably the lack of reward for him as well.

“I wouldn’t take Slaven Bilic. I’d want to keep Riza on instead.

“But, if there is a way of getting Mark Robins or Steve Cooper to be on board, then I would be all for that.”

One of Robins or Cooper would certainly be a dream appointment for Cardiff in the coming weeks, but whether either manager has the desire to take the Bluebirds away from the bottom three in the Championship this season, so soon after their respective sackings, remains to be seen.

Cardiff criticised for the wait to appoint a new permanent boss

It is very unusual to go as long as Cardiff have without a permanent manager, particularly with the stakes as high as theirs are at the bottom of the second-tier, and the longer the wait goes on, the more fans will become increasingly restless at the uncertainty surrounding the job.

Vincent Tan has had his fair share of controversies over the years while owner of the Bluebirds, and Jack has criticised his board's poor planning following Bulut being relieved of his duties, especially given that the Turkish boss was only handed a two-year contract extension to stay on in the Welsh capital in the summer.

He said: “The current uncertainty around the manager at Cardiff is calamitous, really.

“It’s a damning indictment of the lack of footballing nous and strategy at boardroom level.

“It’s the drum I keep banging, but it’s very clear, and I think that we didn’t have a contingency plan for sacking Erol Bulut.

“I think sacking Bulut was the right decision, of course. I’m not going to go into any revisionism here.

“But to go over two months with an interim boss is almost entirely unheard of, particularly when you are at the wrong end of the division.

“I feel as though Sunderland did something similar last season, but as we all know, they are a club with a plan.

“Where I’m at with this, ultimately, we’re an absolute state at boardroom level."

It is still massively unclear who Cardiff will hire as their next full-time boss, but the situation clearly needs to be resolved soon before they head into a busy winter schedule and a key January transfer window, and a potential relegation scrap as the season goes on.