Cardiff City manager Neil Harris admits ‘pressure is on’ after sixth straight loss

Harris will try to ‘galvanise’ players ahead of Barnsley

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris admits “the pressure is on” as he battles to keep his job.

Cardiff fell to a sixth straight defeat in all competitions against Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday, leaving them 15th in the Championship.

Having reached last season’s play-off semi-finals, the Bluebirds are now 13 points adrift of the top six.

“I’ve shown, in my managerial career, that if I’m given time then I can be successful,” said Harris.

“In football, we are not given time and I understand that.

“I’m being really honest with you, I feel that the pressure is on without a shadow of doubt, because of the expectation of the football club.

“But it’s not something I can control. I know that I push my staff hard and prepare in the correct manner, we don’t leave any stone unturned, but results haven’t been good enough.

“That [Harris’ future] is a question for the board.”

Harris succeeded Neil Warnock as Cardiff manager in November 2019 and led the club to the Championship play-off semi-finals last season.

This campaign, however, has been a struggle.

The Bluebirds won only three of their opening 13 fixtures, prompting talks between Harris and the club’s owner Vincent Tan about the manager’s future.

Scrutiny surrounding Harris’ position has intensified again as a result of this latest loss of form, Cardiff’s worst losing run since 2018.

Asked about his future in the wake of Wednesday’s loss to QPR, Harris said: “That’s something I can’t control.

“What I can control is picking the players up, trying to galvanise them over the next few days.

“I can control team selection and tactics leading into Barnsley next week.

“The outside noise and the questions marks over my future, I completely understand.

“I can’t control that at the moment, so I’ll leave that to the powers above me.”

Former Bluebirds striker Nathan Blake has recently argued Harris is not solely responsible for their plight and that they need a “holistic approach” to improve.

He still feels it is Cardiff’s problems lie “solely at the manager’s door”.

But after their latest loss, Blake told BBC Radio Wales: “Ultimately he’s (Harris) the man that carries the can for everything so he’s under huge pressure.”

Blake added: “It’s getting to the point where it’s almost becoming impossible for the hierarchy to keep him on because there’s such negative press and so many negative fans out there – rightly so.

“So I think he’ll have two or three more games, but he’s going to have to do something pretty sharpish.”