# 1970–71 Cardiff City F.C. season

The 1970–71 season was Cardiff City F.C.'s 44th season in the Football League. They competed in the 22-team Division Two, then the second tier of English football, finishing third.
The club's season was disrupted by the sale of John Toshack to Liverpool in November, breaking up the Toshack-Brian Clark strike partnership which had scored countless goals for the club in recent years. Despite this the team reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup before losing 2–1 on aggregate to Spanish side Real Madrid, after winning the first leg 1–0 at their home ground Ninian Park, a result that has since gone on to become one of the most famous moments in the club's history.

## Players

First team squad.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| -- | GK | SCO | Jim Eadie |
| -- | GK | ENG | Frank Parsons |
| -- | DF | ENG | Gary Bell |
| -- | DF | ENG | David Carver |
| -- | DF | WAL | Steve Derrett |
| -- | DF | ENG | Brian Harris |
| -- | DF | SCO | Don Murray |
| -- | MF | SCO | Ian Gibson |
| -- | MF | WAL | Barrie Jones |
| -- | MF | ENG | Peter King |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| -- | MF | WAL | Leighton Phillips |
| -- | MF | ENG | Mel Sutton |
| -- | MF | ENG | Bobby Woodruff |
| -- | FW | ENG | Ronnie Bird |
| -- | FW | ENG | Brian Clark |
| -- | FW | WAL | John Parsons |
| -- | FW | WAL | Nigel Rees |
| -- | FW | WAL | Derek Showers |
| -- | FW | WAL | John Toshack |
| -- | FW | ENG | Alan Warboys |
Key: ‡ On loan from another club * First appearance(s) for the club
* # = Squad number
* Pos = Playing position
* P = Number of games played 10
* G = Number of goals scored
* GK = Goalkeeper
* DF = Defender
* MF = Midfielder
* FW = Forward
* = Yellow cards
* = Red cards
* † Permanent player left club during the season
* ¤ Loaned to another club for part or all of season
Correct as of May 1971. Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances in parentheses where applicable.
| Pos | Name | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | | |
| Pos | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Europe | Europe | Other | Other | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline | Notes |
| GK | Jim Eadie | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Frank Parsons | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | David Carver | 42 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 58 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Gary Bell | 42 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 58 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Steve Derrett | 5(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6(1) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Brian Harris | 25(1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4(1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Don Murray | 42 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 58 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Ian Gibson | 40 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6(1) | 4 | 54(1) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Peter King | 41 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6(1) | 2 | 56(1) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Leighton Phillips | 29(1) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3(2) | 1 | 7 | 0 | 41(3) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Mel Sutton | 41 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 54 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Bobby Woodruff | 33(3) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 48(3) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Ronnie Bird | 3(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7(3) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Brian Clark | 33(2) | 15 | 1(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5(1) | 4 | 6 | 3 | 46(4) | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | John Parsons | 1(2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(1) | 2 | 3(3) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Nigel Rees | 9 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 14(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Derek Showers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | John Toshack | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Alan Warboys | 17 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 0 |

## League standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Leicester City (C, P) | 42 | 23 | 13 | 6 | 57 | 30 | 1.900 | 59 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 2 | Sheffield United (P) | 42 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 73 | 39 | 1.872 | 56 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 3 | Cardiff City | 42 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 64 | 41 | 1.561 | 53 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 4 | Carlisle United | 42 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 65 | 43 | 1.512 | 53 | Qualification for the Watney Cup |
| 5 | Hull City | 42 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 54 | 41 | 1.317 | 51 | |

### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Ground | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | W | L | D | W | W | D | D | L | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | L | D | L | W | L | D | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | W | L | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | W | L |
| Position | | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |