Relegation a learning curve, says Solskjaer

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted that Cardiff City will learn from their relegation from the Premier League when they bid to come back up.

Cardiff were condemned to demotion to the Championship on Saturday by virtue of a 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United and Sunderland’s 1-0 victory at Manchester United.

Shola Ameobi put Newcastle ahead in the first half, with late goals from Loic Remy and Steven Taylor piling the misery on the Welsh club as their return to the second tier was confirmed.

Solskjaer was understandably downbeat about his failure to keep Cardiff in the Premier League, but is confident they can use the experience of this season to their advantage when competing for promotion next term.

“The realisation that we’re down is very, very disappointing, and probably the hardest moment of any of these players’ careers and mine as well,” he said.

“It’s been lurching, we’ve been fighting against relegation, now that it’s happened we’re disappointed, it’s a quiet dressing room.

“It’s never nice to be relegated, you’ve just got to show that you can bounce back up, we’ve been now four seasons before this season at the top of the Championship.

“It’s a club that’s very used to challenging for promotion, and that’s we’ve got to use to our advantage, then we’ve got to use this season as a learning experience.”

Solskjaer is keen to discuss plans for 2014-15 with controversial owner Vincent Tan and is adamant he will face down the disappointment of the drop.

“The sooner we can get the plans are agreed, then we can move quicker with the decisions we need to make,” the Norwegian added.

“You’ve just got to face the facts. I face it (relegation) head on, I knew what I was coming into, I didn’t make the impact I hoped for and I believed in, but that will be something for me to chew on in a little while.

“I’ve had times in my career when I was a player that was disappointing, you’ve just got to stand up and fight for yourself and fight for what you believe in.”