Monday 11 February 2019 00:01, UK
Neil Warnock has abandoned plans for Cardiff to take a mid-season break so that he and his players can reflect on the Emiliano Sala tragedy in privacy with their families.
Following Saturday's crucial 2-1 victory at Southampton they are without a fixture until they host Watford on February 22, and Warnock had been preparing to take his squad to Tenerife ahead of the run-in that will determine whether they succeed in preserving their Premier League status.
Sala's body was recovered on Wednesday in the crashed plane that had been taking him to Cardiff, and though his team have responded admirably in the circumstances since the plane went missing on January 21, the manager believes that they will benefit from time with their families.
Captain Sol Bamba previously revealed some of their players had become fearful of flying since the incident and the 70-year-old Warnock said: "The club gave me permission to fly out to Tenerife, to take them all for four days.
"But after what's happened over the past two weeks, I'd rather cuddle my kids and see my missus because it's been a long two weeks. I've never known anything like this in my life and I've seen most things.
"They'll all be reflecting on what's happened and your family is more important than football isn't it? They are all booking different flights and some of them aren't going anywhere. I'm going somewhere near Swansea, me, for two nights.
"(Victor Camarasa's) going back to Spain for a few days, that'll be good, he'll be having treatment on his calf and he'll be training with his fitness guy over there and in nicer weather with his family.
"[Sala's death] brought everyone together, the performances and the fans and the lads and everyone around the club have been amazing at this difficult time.
"It has been really difficult but the boys have stuck together with everyone around the club.
"The most important thing was for the family to mourn. Knowing that now, hopefully the pilot will be found and his family can mourn. It has been difficult but we have stuck together and our gaffer said after the game, 'This one was for Sala'."
