Jay Bothroyd says old club Cardiff City must aim for the Premier League following their rapid return to the Championship.
The Bluebirds will be back in the second tier next season having bounced back from relegation in 2024-25 by winning automatic promotion from League One.
Former striker Bothroyd reckons Cardiff are playing "a great brand of football" under Brian Barry-Murphy – and says relegation 12 months ago has turned out to be a blessing.
"Seeing Cardiff go down to League One was devastating for me but I look at it now as probably a good thing because they had time to rebuild – new management, new players," Bothroyd told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
"Now they are back in the Championship and they have to push on because Cardiff are a big club.
"They can't be down at the bottom of the league. They have to be competing each season, whether it's for the play-offs to get into the Premier League or for automatic promotion. That's where Cardiff need to be."
Cardiff's promotion means there will be six Welsh derbies in the Championship next season, as they compete with Swansea City and Wrexham.
Bothroyd, who played for the Bluebirds between 2008 and 2011, says he will "definitely be down there supporting the boys" when Barry-Murphy's side take on arch-rivals Swansea.
"They were the best times, playing in the derbies against Swansea. It was just massive," said the former striker, who won his only England cap while with Cardiff.
"Turning up at Swansea's stadium, the atmosphere in the crowd, it was unbelievable."
