Cardiff City’s miserable start to the new Championship season ensured a number of disgruntled Bluebirds fans appeared on BBC Radio Wales’ Call Rob football phone-in over the weekend.

There was a feeling of cautious optimism before a ball was kicked this season after Cardiff handed manager Erol Bulut a new deal – eventually – on the back of a year of progress in 2023-24.

Cardiff’s summer transfer work was generally welcomed, yet a return of one point from the first five league games of this campaign has darkened the mood significantly.

Here is some of what the callers had to say:

Paul: It’s the running of the club. We signed this [Roko] Simic guy who went to Vincent Tan’s other club (Kortrijk). Erol Bulut is saying it’s nothing to do with him, it was the board. Well if the board are signing a player, what’s Erol Bulut doing?

I don’t understand why you’d run a club like that.

I just don’t know what’s going to happen. I know we’re only five games in, and we’ve got one point and conceded 10 goals. I’m worried it’s going to go deja vu again. We’re going to sack Bulut, get another manager and it’s back to deja vu again.

We need a director of football – we’ve needed a director of football for years. I know the players need to perform, but how can you perform when the club’s not run well?

Anne: What I didn’t like was that at the end [at Derby County on Saturday], when the boys were coming up to clap all the fans, there was a hell of a lot of booing going on.

With Bulut he’s had his time. I know we’ve all said it’s still early in the season so let’s see, but at the minute I’m feeling really done with it. There’s no confidence in this team at the minute. There’s nothing motivating them at all.

Tony: We are definitely not a team, we’re a side not a team. It’s like these players don’t know what they’re doing in training.

Paul: Total disaster from the first game of the season. You know me, I’ve been following them a long time, and there’s something wrong. I think it’s coming from upstairs and it’s affecting the playing on the field.

You can sack the manager but that won’t solve anything. There’s something drastically not right there.

When it comes to transfers, we’ve been wanting a centre-forward ever since Steve Morrison was here.

Alan: Do you think Bulut’s the man? I don’t think so, I don’t think he’s up to Championship level. I was one of those at the end of last season, I rang in and said I think Bulut should go, definitely don’t give him a contract.

I’ve got a name for you I would like to see back managing. He knows the Championship, he did well with a low budget at Preston, and that’s Ryan Lowe.

Dai: We should get rid of [Ken] Choo, [Mehmet] Dalman and [Vincent] Tan. We haven’t been a successful club since 2018. We’ve got to keep Erol Bulut.

If you get rid of the manager, then all of Erol Bulut’s players, the new manager might not like them, and we’ll be back to square one with a revolving door.

Rhys: It’s groundhog day isn’t it? You might as well just record this programme and play it cyclically every six months.