Cardiff City: Bulut 'stuck out' as Lamouchi successor, says chairman Dalman
Last updated on .From the section Cardiff
Erol Bulut "stuck out" as the candidate to succeed Sabri Lamouchi as Cardiff City boss, according to Mehmet Dalman.
Chairman Dalman also told BBC Radio Wales he thought Lamouchi "did a great job" as he guided the Bluebirds to Championship survival in the dying stages of 2022-23.
But he said, "the chemistry between him and the other members of the Cardiff hierarchy just didn't seem to click."
"At the end, we felt he [Bulut] was the best choice for us," added Dalman.
Former Fenerbahce boss Bulut will be unveiled at the Cardiff City Stadium on Monday having agreed to become the Bluebirds' fourth manager in nine months, following on from Lamouchi, Mark Hudson and Steve Morison.
Cardiff finished just a place above the Championship relegation zone last season having also struggled in 2021-22.
Dalman hopes the former Turkish under-21 international can bring stability to the Bluebirds.
The chairman said: "We interviewed quite a few people, and out of the bunch - and there were some really good applicants; some of the names, it was really impressive that they even considered us.
"He sort of stuck out, really, in terms of his optimism, his vision and pure commitment.
"So at the end, we felt he was the best choice for us. Not the easiest choice because when we decided that's the manager we wanted, at that point my first comment 'everybody was going to say 'who?' because he's never really been heard of before'. So fingers crossed."
Dalman added: "I certainly don't want to go through another year like last year, that wasn't very pleasant.
"We need stability in the club. I hope he will give us this stability. He is very good at working with young football players and we're hoping he will help with our academy and bring some younger blood through.
"I hope for stability and better performance all around."
Dalman says Bulut is aware of the club's transfer restrictions that have come about in the wake of Emiliano Sala's death while in the process of joining them in a a £15m transfer from Nantes in January, 2019.
Sala's plane crashed into the English Channel on 21 January 2019, killing the striker and pilot David Ibbotson.
The club is still under a transfer embargo with the EFL over the issue and cannot pay transfer fees for players until May 2024.
The club is challenging the EFL ruling.
Dalman said: "This is something we discussed with every manager we interviewed - 'you know, if you do take this job, we've got these embargoes to deal with'. So they know what they need to do."
He added: "We have been holding back recruitment because we really didn't want to bring players in without the manager in first.
"The manager has his own ideas and his own potential targets and we have a recruitment team which has targets and names for him to consider, so we will get on with that as quickly as possible."
Dalman says Bulut believes "the core" of the Cardiff team "is good".
"He feels he can get up and running pretty quickly with the targets he has in mind. But we'll see," said Dalman.
