Cardiff City will be hoping to have a positive season in 2021/22 as the forthcoming Championship campaign edges closer.

The Bluebirds finished just outside the play-offs last season after Mick McCarthy came in and hit the ground running in South Wales.

The task will now be for City to kick on, recruit well and have a good pre-season in order to stand them in good stead over the course of 2021/22.

Mark McGuinness, James Collins and Ryan Giles will be champing at the bit to make an impression under McCarthy as they look to push for promotion.

If they do get promoted, then some players will write themselves into City folklore, and here, we take a look at the best Cardiff City XI containing only English players from the last 15 years.

Do you agree with our team? Who would you pick?

The goalkeeping position is one that's tough to call right away.

In the last 15 years, Cardiff have had some excellent goalkeepers. Scotland international David Marshall stands out the most, with the veteran shot-stopper starting in-between the sticks during some pretty good times for the Bluebirds.

Neil Etheridge would have also been a contender for this spot having been integral in their promotion-winning campaign in 2017/18, but as he represents the Philippines, we cannot include him here.

Instead, we have gone with Alex Smithies, who has been first-choice shot-stopper for the last two seasons now.

He is a steady performer at this level and has done a decent job in goal for the large part.

Again, another tough decision is to be made at right-back.

If he wasn't Scottish, then Kevin McNaughton would undoubtedly be a main choice to start in this team having been a fantastic servant during his time in South Wales.

Instead, we are going to go with Lee Peltier - the man who made 163 appearances for Cardiff during his time with the club.

He was integral under Neil Warnock, and he has now reunited with his trusted defender at Boro having recently joined the club in the summer.

Morrison has been an excellent servant for City.

The 30-year-old joined the Bluebirds from Reading in 2014, and has since made 276 appearances for the club.

Perhaps what's more impressive is the fact that he's scored 30 goals for the club, too, contributing to 10 goals and scoring seven the year they went up under Warnock.

He's been a fantastic defender and thoroughly deserves his place in this team.

We've chosen Mark Hudson to be Morrison's defensive partner.

Hudson spent five years in South Wales, joining Cardiff from Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2009.

Hudson won one promotion with the Bluebirds in 2012/13, winning the club's Player of the Year award in what was a magnificent campaign for them.

He was also a key player in the team which went on a run to the League Cup final in 2011/12, and his performances were a joy to watch at times.

Completing the back-line is Joe Bennett.

Bennett was another key player for Cardiff during a lengthy stay in South Wales, racking up 177 assists for the club.

He was influential in their promotion-winning campaign and ended up winning numerous plaudits for his attacking output.

He was let go at the end of last season, of course, and at the age of 31, he's now looking for a new club.

Moving into midfield, and again, there's plenty of competition.

Aron Gunnarsson, Victor Camarasa and Gary Medel are among the foreign players who would feature, but in terms of English, there are also some good options.

Joe Ralls is certainly one. The midfielder has spent a decade in South Wales and been a great servant for the Bluebirds, making 279 appearances in total.

Now 27, we are seeing a really mature player in Ralls, who scored five goals and added four assists in the Championship last term.

The late, great Peter Whittingham thoroughly deserves his place in this team.

Whittingham made 457 appearances for Cardiff in all competitions, spending 10 years at the club after joining from Aston Villa in 2007.

In those 457 games, Whittingham garnered 96 goals and 93 assists, scoring 12 goals and registering 15 assists in the Championship in 2011/12.

He was always a standout performer for the Bluebirds, not just in the Championship, but in the Premier League too.

He undoubtedly deserves his place in the team.

Noone was a tricky winger for Cardiff during his time with the club, but we have put him in midfield to fit him in here.

The Liverpudlian made over 170 appearances for the Bluebirds and produced a series of good performances for the club.

His seven goals and eight assists were key as Cardiff won promotion to the Premier League in 2012/13, and he always chipped in with a healthy number of goals and assists year upon year.

Chopra enjoyed plenty of success in front of goal for Cardiff.

The 37-year-old scored an impressive 63 goals in 159 games for the Bluebirds, scoring 22 goals in 2006/07 which was his best campaign.

He formed a great partnership with the likes of Jay Bothroyd in attack, and his goals were crucial for the Bluebirds over the years.

He was a fantastic servant and seemed to score goals whenever he went, including at the likes of Ipswich and Sunderland.

Bothroyd was one of those strikers to form a lethal strike partnership with Chopra at times.

The London-born striker scored 45 goals in 133 appearances for the Bluebirds across all competitions.

He scored 18 goals in only 37 games in the Championship in 2010/11, which led to him joining QPR after he attracted admiring glances.

He hit double figures for three successive seasons in South Wales, and left having been a key player for the club.

The likes of Kieffer Moore and Craig Bellamy would feature in this team if they weren't Welsh, but we have gone with Englishman Fraizer Campbell here.

Campbell may never have been as prolific as the other two strikers during his time at Cardiff, but his seven goals in 12 games in 2012/13 to help them get over the line.

The following season in the top-flight, he scored six goals and registered five assists to help them stay in the Premier League.

He's now at Huddersfield Town and scored 16 goals in 52 games for Cardiff overall.