Smells like team spirit

Whether a perceived lack of harmony under Jones was due to a lack of discipline or the ego and personality of the players at his disposal is difficult to gauge, but they were his players and the responsibility was his. The likes of Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas do not appear to have been stabalising influences at their new clubs either though.

An excess of loan signings is also rarely a good idea, as Doncaster Rovers are now discovering. Jones also appeared to favour reputation over youth and promise, with at best mixed results.

Mackay's ethos is the polar opposite. He's invested in hungry team players like Don Cowie and Craig Conway, made some inspired free signings with Aron Gunnarsson and Andrew Taylor with unearthing the likes of Joe Mason and Joe Ralls. He has also demonstrated an awareness of the overseas market with the acquisitions of Rudy Gestede and Filip Kiss, a market so long neglected in the past.

When he has parted with sizeable sums of money, he has spent it wisely. Jones spent big to recruit Mark Hudson and Darren Purse, leaders on the pitch but not dominant in terms of presence. He tended to favour the cut price likes of Gabor Gypes and Dekel Keinen, this was probably partly due to a lack of funds and possibly due to the success of previous cut-price acquisitions Glenn Loovens and Roger Johnson.

Mackay inherited a group of similar centre halves, with very little to choose between them all. He in turn spent big to recruit Ben Turner, who has been a colossus recently, with Cardiff keeping four consecutive clean sheets in recent weeks.

His other big signing being Kenny Miller, who like Craig Bellamy before him, is a winner and plays with the confidence and assurance of a player that has always scored goals throughout his distinguished career. It took a little while to utilise him effectively, but he has since found a rich vein of form.

The most striking aspect of Mackay's bluebirds is their industry, patience and teamwork. They all work hard for each other, appear well drilled and maintain their fitness levels for 90 minutes on a regular basis.

Despite losing against Middlesbrough at the weekend, their first defeat in 12 games, they still came managed to claw their way back from a goal down to take the lead. Also, against strong opponents in Birmingham recently, they certainly benefitted from a sending off, but they stuck to their task and even when Birmingham threatened late on, I remained confident that they would seal the victory.

Last season I would have been expecting a late lapse of concentration or fatigue to have cost us, this has only happened on one occasion this term, in the 4-3 loss at our bogey team Peterborough.

Norwich City have set the template for what can be achieved with a bright young team and an honest bunch of ambitious, well drilled players can achieve.

The current squad remains painfully thin and injuries to Peter Whittingham, Turner or Miller would cause major problems. Cardiff are lacking in wide midfielders and variety up front and I hope the board back him when the transfer window opens next month, it will be fascinating to see who Mackay would target.

Any new arrivals will have to adhere to the one for all and all for one mantra of the current Cardiff squad, bad eggs need not apply.