Cardiff City have appointed former Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi as their third manager of the season.
Lamouchi, 51, will be joined at the Cardiff City Stadium by former Bluebirds defender Sol Bamba, who will assist his former Ivory Coast national team manager.
Cardiff sacked Steve Morison in September as his successor Mark Hudson lasted just 118 days.
Dean Whitehead, Tom Ramasut and Graham Stack will still be part of the staff.
Lamouchi’s mission will be to keep Cardiff in the Championship, with the Welsh club hovering just one place above the relegation zone in 21st and winless in 11 games in all competitions.
It is understood the Cardiff board felt Championship management experience was essential, with former West Brom boss Valerien Ismael and former Norwich manager Dean Smith also linked.
Lamouchi was in charge of Forest when they were propelled into the play-offs by Cardiff and Swansea City on goal difference on the final day of the 2019-20 season.
Since then, he has managed Qatari side Al-Duhail, having worked in Ligue 1 as manager of Rennes, leading them to fifth before taking the role at the City Ground.
He had a stellar playing career during which he won silverware with Auxerre, Monaco, Parma, Marseille and El Jaish in Qatar.
Bamba returns
Bamba’s return to the Cardiff City Stadium will be popular with fans as he was a key player during his five years with the club.
Bamba made 118 appearances for the Bluebirds between 2016 and 2021, scoring the winner on his debut against Bristol City in what was also Neil Warnock’s first game in charge.
The Ivory Coast international’s immediate impact – and his relationship with Warnock – helped the club go from relegation worries to a mid-table finish, before being promoted to the Premier League.
Bamba played in every game of this successful promotion campaign and was named in the Championship Team of the Season.
While in Cardiff, he was also diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but announced he was cancer free four months later after undergoing chemotherapy.
Bamba will be joined in the Cardiff backroom by current caretaker boss Whitehead and first-team coach Ramasut, who will remain at the club.
