Early planning, heel-dragging and a late bombshell - inside Cardiff City's transfer window

Cardiff City's winter transfer window proved to be far more hectic and active than many had anticipated.

But Steve Morison and his staff knew there needed to be a real injection of life into this squad as the prospect of relegation threatened during a stretch of unenviable fixtures.

Cardiff unashamedly announced early on that they were in the loan market during this window. No funds were available to spend on permanent transfers so the club set about drawing up shortlists of players available on short-term deals.

The key to it all was early planning. From the back end of December the club were adamant they wanted more pace in the side, more legs and attacking endeavour.

As well as addressing the lack of pace within the squad, the midfield was also an area of concern. That particularly important area of the squad was underperforming at the start of the season and it needed help.

The early recalls of Ryan Wintle and Max Watters were in the pipeline for some time. Morison watched both of them play following positive reports from their loan clubs and it made sense to recall them when the time arose to trigger their clauses.

Cody Drameh at Leeds United and Tommy Doyle at Manchester City were also high on Cardiff's wishlist.

Drameh was a player Cardiff identified early on and didn't foresee any issues in getting him through the door. Morison had decided that Tom Sang was a midfield player and Perry Ng was being earmarked to potentially move inside to right centre-half, which he was for the game against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

But Leeds United's injury crisis threatened to throw a spanner in he works for Drameh's deal. To Cardiff's delight, though, the youngster was forceful enough to push through a move, despite manager