Cardiff Press Conference

Re: Everyone's got their own breaking point

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25464611

the video of the press conference is on here

 

Re: Everyone's got their own breaking point

Why should I give a flying tuck about a foreign football team like Cardiff city

 

Re: Everyone's got their own breaking point

I think we could use Blackburn as an example on how the majority of our fans would be react to dodgy owners.
I bet they wouldn't fill their ground week in week out if they got promoted again with the current owners.

 

To put that statement in context, it was at a time when a huge sigh of relief was evident.

Leading up to that, the club had months of high court appearances with regards non-payment of taxes & the HMRC were pushing for liquidation. We then had a proposal from the Malaysians to invest £100m in the club with regards to wiping existing debt, improving the infrastructure from the Academy through to trianing facilities, stadium improvements & team strengthening. The caveat was that they wanted to change the kit colour, as it was "lucky" in Asia - and more marketable. There was uproar and wide condemnation from fans. In a statement the following day, the Malaysians had taken the reaction on board and pledged to remain in blue - but all investment was to be stopped, including the £1.2m/month they were pumping in to keep the club afloat. Basically, that would have been it. We were too far gone to "simply" go into administration. People had a re-think, aired their views across various media and influential fans got word to the Malaysians that the colour change would be accepted (albeit reluctantly) in return for the investment to keep us alive. The Malaysians accepted, hence the statement above.

However, times change. Vincent Tan now owns 97% of the shares and, therefore, the debt - so can't walk away as he could easily have before i.e. with little financial impact. He'd be turning his back on £100m+, and billionaires are not that daft - even him. There's a ground swell of opinion down here at the moment that Tan will get a full-on backlash to the latest shenanigans. Unfortunately, as usual, it's the fans that suffer - and for all the "we'd never let it happen at our club" etc, in reality there's very little you can do about it.

 

Re: Everyone's got their own breaking point

Spot on Kev. The name change would be the tipping point for me & I feel for the Hull City fans at the moment. Really don't think I could stomach that - no doubt I'll get to test that with this (latest) lunatic in charge

 

I wouldn't count on that

 

In all fairness, Jeff

I'm an old stick in the mud traditionalist. I want us to stay at Oakwell and develop the ground over time. I want us to play in red ad infinitum. I don't want us to change our name, ever. I believe just because something's new doesn't mean it's better. I've nothing against looking to the future, just don't jettison the past because it's inconvenient and unfashionable. Others think differently.

 

See his agent's touting him about again then, got to get his 10% .

He ultimately failed miserably during his time here, miserably being the operative word as he did nothing but moan in the whole time he was here. It was everyones fault except his - and I listened with interest when hearing (virtually word for word) the same excuses being trotted out at Hillsborough.

 

Re: We were hindered there

...Ninian Park was not capable of being developed adequately. There's the main Cardiff-Paddington train line behind the stand, housing to both ends and a main road to the front of it. The sale of that land to Redrow and the donation by the Council of a new site across the road helped fund the new stadium. We couldn't have affordedtens of millions to complete improvements to NP and the capacity would have been limited to 12000 - we were in the last year of an agreement with the FL to allow standing within the ground.

Ultimately, I believe Tan is trying to sell the club. He's increasing capacity (steelwork is going up now) to 33000 in this phase, 42k in 3 years with huge corporate facilities - including conference facilities that the City of Cardiff ahs been crying out for. He's developing a £15m training facility. All tangible assets on the balance sheet. He's touting floating on the Singapore stock exchange in the summer - looking at the bouyant Asian market. And I'll bet that the first thing a new investor would do is change the kit colour back to get the fans on board.

 

Re: We were hindered there

I realise your situation with regards to the old ground was different to ours, mate. I was speaking about our specific situation at Barnsley. If there were to be extremely drastic changes at our club which I felt were to it's detriment, I'd question whether I'd want to be a part of the new set up.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a dinosaur.

 

Re: Thing is

...at the end of the day, these guys are temporary - my love of the club is permanent and unconditional. In my opinion, it's difficult to look at objectively if it's not happening to you. Think we all look at certain situations and think "nah, I wouldn't put up with that". But people do.

But, like I've said, the name is sacrosanct. Take that away & I'd not be able to associate myself with the club as far as I'm concerned - it just wouldn't be "my" club.

 

The club's had it's heart and soul ripped out. But whilst ever 20 odd thousand turn up each week the madness will continue. I remember the proper Cardiff City, The Bluebirds at Ninian Park. Earnshaw, Thorne, Leo Fortune West et al when we played them in the old Division Two. It was an intimidating place to go but I repsected their strong sense of identity and how they were that bit different to the rest of the clubs around the league. The different songs, traditional ground and passionate fans stood out against what was a pretty boring league. To see them now is mind boggling, playing in red, weird. I suppose loads of fans will be happy with the top flight football but I do wonder how many Cardiff fans yearn for the days of Ninian Park.... albeit not in the Premiership.

Btw, Hull could be the next 'project' to go badly wrong.