months earlier. Cardiff City During Jones' first season in charge of Cardiff City, they achieved a respectable 11th place in the Championship. Re-building over the summer of 2006, Jones forged a talented side who found themselves at the top of the Championship. However, after a strong start, poor form later in the season led to Cardiff City finishing the season in 13th. On 29 September 2007, Jones was sent to the stands during a league match against Barnsley after criticising referee Phil Dowd over a penalty decision. He was formally charged with misconduct on 2 October. Jones countered by claiming that, "I was angry with the referee because I think he was the only person in the stadium that didn't think it was a penalty. He didn't make a big call." He also complained that Dowd ordered him into a section of the stadium containing Barnsley fans and feared that his safety had been put at risk. He faced an FAW hearing about the incident and was found guilty, resulting in a two-match touchline ban, which he served in the Championship match against Plymouth Argyle and the third round FA Cup tie against Chasetown. On 9 March 2008, Jones led Cardiff to their first FA Cup semi-final tie since 1927 after beating Premier League side Middlesbrough 2–0 in the quarter-finals. On 6 April Cardiff City beat Barnsley 1–0 at Wembley Stadium to book an FA Cup Final place against Portsmouth. Cardiff City lost the Final, played on 17 May 2008, with the only goal of the game being scored by Nwankwo Kanu for Portsmouth after 37 minutes. The start of the 2008–09 season saw veterans Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Robbie Fowler and Trevor Sinclair released and the sales of some of the team's biggest assets in Glenn Loovens and Aaron Ramsey. Despite this Jones brought in several new faces and by November Cardiff found themselves in a play-off spot, earning Jones the Championship manager of the month for October. However, after spending the majority of the season in a play-off position, the side missed out on the final day of the season after suffering a 1–0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday. Despite missing out on the play-offs, Jones had led Cardiff to their highest league position for 38 years. The start of the 2009–10 season saw Cardiff in top form beating Scunthorpe United 4–0 putting them top. In the first five games