[1] They finished in sixth position the previous season, despite being the third lowest scoring side in the First Division and being in the top ten for goals conceded during the campaign.

[5] Cardiff had undertaken a tour of Denmark at the end of the previous season and had shown interest in signing Creutz Jensen, who had impressed the club's delegation in one match.

The board secured his signing on a free transfer but he was denied a work permit by the Ministry of Labour and the move, which would have seen him become the first foreign player in the club's history, subsequently collapsed.

[7] The club had invested a significant portion of its profits from winning the 1927 FA Cup in constructing a new roof for the 18,000 capacity Grange End Stand at Ninian Park.

Hughie Ferguson, the club's top goalscorer for the previous two campaigns, opened his account from the penalty spot as the match ended in a 1–1 draw.

[4] The club's first home match of the season was against Burnley on 1 September and was preceded by an opening ceremony for the newly constructed roof above the Grange End Stand which was led by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Arthur John Howell.

[4] As of August 2020, the result remains the team's largest win in the top tier while Ferguson's tally of five is the most scored by a Cardiff player in a league match, tied with Walter Robbins and Jim Henderson.

Already without Tom Watson since the start of the season, Cardiff lost both Ferguson and Jimmy Nelson to injury in their next two games, defeats to Aston Villa and Leicester City.

With Ferguson absent, Cardiff struggled in front of goal, losing back-to-back fixtures 1–0 against Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday and dropping into the bottom six in the table despite possessing one of the best defensive records in the division.

Ferguson appeared in two further games, a 1–0 defeat to reigning league champions Everton and a goalless draw with Huddersfield Town, before again dropping out of the first team due to injury.

[14] Thirlaway and Harry Wake provided some respite for the side to end the calendar year as the pair scored both goals in a 2–1 victory in the reverse fixture against Leeds and a 2–0 win over Newcastle on 29 December.

[4] However, the club's lack of proficiency in front of goal continued to be a problem as they recorded a goalless draw with Sheffield United on 26 January, failing to score in three of their four matches in the month.

[15] Cardiff recorded consecutive 2–0 defeats against Aston Villa and Leicester in mid-February before securing their first point of the month with a 2–2 draw with Manchester United.

[4][8] Stewart made two signings during this period to try to improve the club's fortunes, adding former England international Frank Moss from Aston Villa and Jimmy Munro from St. Johnstone, the leading goalscorer in the Scottish First Division at the time.

A draw with Huddersfield on 30 March and a second defeat to Liverpool the following day left Cardiff bottom of the First Division table, two points from safety and having played two games more than the side in 20th place.

A goalless draw with Birmingham left the club's fate in the hands of the teams above them, with 20th place Burnley needing only a point from their remaining five fixtures to confirm Cardiff's relegation.

However, the opposition side caused a major upset by winning 3–0, a defeat which Christian Saunders describes in his 2013 book From the Ashes – The Real Story of Cardiff City Football Club as "one of the biggest shocks the  ...  tournament ever produced".

[4] FW = Forward, HB = Halfback, GK = Goalkeeper, DF = Defender Sources:[4][20] Relegation dropped Cardiff into the Second Division for the first time since their inaugural season in the Football League.

[23] Jennings, Hillier and Warren all left the club in January 1930 in a triple transfer to Middlesbrough while McLachlan also departed to join Manchester United.