" CHAIRMAN OF THE CARDIFF CITY 1927 CLUB LONDON "

The Times.


The row over Cardiff City's decision to change the club's colours from blue to red this week should reverberate with all supporters. We have all become marginalised and powerless to act against the wishes of wealthy owners, often based far away, who have no consideration for our history or long-term future.

Cardiff's Malaysian owners want the colours changed as part of a supposed multimillion-pound investment that will help to take the club into the Premier League.

They did a U-turn after a fans' revolt when the plans were revealed last month, claiming that Cardiff's future was in peril without the money and that we would have to accept it while looking down the barrel of a gun.

That smacked of blackmail for some fans, who felt they were being railroaded by threats of administration or worse if they didn't toe the line. Others believe it is economic reality and said that the club can play in pink so long as the team are strengthened and we can compete against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City in the future.

To many, a significant part of Cardiff City has died this week. There is a revolt brewing in the fanbase, but no one voice to rally behind. The Supporters' Trust, the Supporters Club and internet messageboards are pulling in different directions, split by an acceptance of, or opposition to, the club's spin.
Some fans campaigned for change, which has hurt the most. It is souring lifelong friendships and turning supporters away from their club. Even some supporters of Swansea City, our rivals, have understood and empathised with our anger.

Fans feel they were not consulted at any stage and the club's hierarchy were insensitive to our history, identity and memories. When the decision was rubber-stamped this week, the board alluded to widespread fan support based on private correspondence, opinion polls from local media and the Supporters Club. But the questions were skewed and samples not conclusive. Why not canvass the 16,000 season ticket-holders with an honest set of questions to gauge opinion?
The offer of a £100 million investment has been bandied around, but about £40 million of that has gone in already and there are no precise details on the rest. Ask fans of Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth and even Liverpool about similar promises. What exactly are we signing ourselves up to? Will it come back to haunt us? No one knows.

The club have given no clarity. A big decision should have required the club to show evidence to support the logic of their plans. We were told that the commercial opportunities offered by playing in red are greater in Asia, but no facts were provided. Some marketing experts in the British media have poured scorn on the owners' claims and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that this is the whim of a billionaire not used to justifying himself to mere customers. Vincent Tan, the owner, is a billionaire, so he knows business, but not football.

Sign up to a wealthy owner and you sign away your rights as fans. Disgruntled Manchester United fans have adopted their club's original Newton Heath colours -- green and gold -- at games. Blackburn fans are disillusioned with Venky's, the Indian owners, and Chelsea fans opposed Roman Abramovich over his desire to buy from them the freehold of Stamford Bridge. Where does it end?

We have lost faith not just in our club but in modern football. The game used to be about sharing identity, ecstasy and pain. Now it is a case of accepting the assurances of money, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

• Matthew Gabb is chairman of the 1927 Cardiff Supporters Club, but is writing in a personal capacity.

Excellent post, completely agree with the guy

There's a lot of good Pro Rebranding posts out there as well!

He speaks sense. People of a certain opinion all need to pull together in spite of things that have happened in the past

He speaks sense. People of a certain opinion all need to pull together in spite of things that have happened in the past

Adam, do you mean every City fan because the way I see it nobody wants red, some are accepting it - big difference, but I do agree and I spoke to different people today and said that despite people's past relationships I think now would be a good time for many to get together and discuss the whole affair and I mean discuss from both sides and see what, if anything, can be done without affecting the future of the club.

Excellent article. Agree with every word.

the voice of wisdom

Great post

Well written great article by TVB

Agree with it all.

the voice of wisdom

Norman Wisdom ..............Mister Grimsdale

I think your 1927 Tee Shirts will look nice in red Matt.

He speaks sense. People of a certain opinion all need to pull together in spite of things that have happened in the past

Adam, do you mean every City fan because the way I see it nobody wants red, some are accepting it - big difference, but I do agree and I spoke to different people today and said that despite people's past relationships I think now would be a good time for many to get together and discuss the whole affair and I mean discuss from both sides and see what, if anything, can be done without affecting the future of the club.

Many people are rejoicing in the situation, both directly and indirectly.

On both forums (and indeed in person) I have seen people not just accepting it, but actively rejoicing in it as if the move to red alone is something to celebrate. Indirectly too, we see fans on both boards rejoicing and "hollering" with delight at seeing certain supporters feeling the need to hand in their season tickets and exile themselves from the club - I would have thought that even people who merely accept the changes would be far more compassionate when it comes to a matter like this.

Well written but mostly anecdotal.Theres nothing in there that would sway me at the moment.Lovely title though,another very important pro-blue

There's a lot of good Pro Rebranding posts out there as well!

Who cares?!

There's a lot of good Pro Rebranding posts out there as well!

Who cares?!

Me!

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

I don't think anybody wants the full re-brand Ian, but we all want the investment!

The question is, will those who are vehemently against the re-brand, give VT a chance to sort out the Langston debt, the money owed to PMG & Ray Ranson, turn the debt into equity and hopefully some decent signings for Malky?

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

I don't think anybody wants the full re-brand Ian, but we all want the investment!

The question is, will those who are vehemently against the re-brand, give VT a chance to sort out the Langston debt, the money owed to PMG & Ray Ranson, turn the debt into equity and hopefully some decent signings for Malky?

Personally I feel the re-branding will be a total flop where it is designed to make an impression. The Red Dragon of Cardiff will not win over the Red Devil of Man Utd. To me it is obvious Vincent Tan does not know his football or the behaviour of the football fan. That is every football fan knows about Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, perhaps Bayern Munich and to break into that group you need to win top trophies for a couple of generations. Changing the colour of our shirt will not give him what he wants

.

Lets all admit to some truth here.

Do we want the the money? Hell yes.

For anything? Hell no.

Most of us remember watching city lose in front of 1500 or so fans at Ninian park. It is what made us.
We are Cardiff City. The Bluebirds.

Do I want the Premiership? Hell yes.
At any cost? Hell no.

It is time we owned our club. Convert debt to shares and give supporters the chance to buy it.

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

I don't think anybody wants the full re-brand Ian, but we all want the investment!

The question is, will those who are vehemently against the re-brand, give VT a chance to sort out the Langston debt, the money owed to PMG & Ray Ranson, turn the debt into equity and hopefully some decent signings for Malky?

Personally I feel the re-branding will be a total flop where it is designed to make an impression. The Red Dragon of Cardiff will not win over the Red Devil of Man Utd. To me it is obvious Vincent Tan does not know his football or the behaviour of the football fan. That is every football fan knows about Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, perhaps Bayern Munich and to break into that group you need to win top trophies for a couple of generations. Changing the colour of our shirt will not give him what he wants.

I think you've got to aim as high as you can Ian, but I'm not sure that even VT was aiming as high as your list of high profile club levels!

There's a lot of good Pro Rebranding posts out there as well!

Who cares?!

Me!

So what's the point of commenting with something like that on threads that are pro-blue?

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

I don't think anybody wants the full re-brand Ian, but we all want the investment!

The question is, will those who are vehemently against the re-brand, give VT a chance to sort out the Langston debt, the money owed to PMG & Ray Ranson, turn the debt into equity and hopefully some decent signings for Malky?

Personally I feel the re-branding will be a total flop where it is designed to make an impression. The Red Dragon of Cardiff will not win over the Red Devil of Man Utd. To me it is obvious Vincent Tan does not know his football or the behaviour of the football fan. That is every football fan knows about Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, perhaps Bayern Munich and to break into that group you need to win top trophies for a couple of generations. Changing the colour of our shirt will not give him what he wants

.

this is how i see it.do you think the red is to get the chinese on side then float it on the chinese stock market?

Probably the best piece of read in the matter.

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

I don't think anybody wants the full re-brand Ian, but we all want the investment!

The question is, will those who are vehemently against the re-brand, give VT a chance to sort out the Langston debt, the money owed to PMG & Ray Ranson, turn the debt into equity and hopefully some decent signings for Malky?

Personally I feel the re-branding will be a total flop where it is designed to make an impression. The Red Dragon of Cardiff will not win over the Red Devil of Man Utd. To me it is obvious Vincent Tan does not know his football or the behaviour of the football fan. That is every football fan knows about Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, perhaps Bayern Munich and to break into that group you need to win top trophies for a couple of generations. Changing the colour of our shirt will not give him what he wants

.

this is how i see it.do you think the red is to get the chinese on side then float it on the chinese stock market?

Absolutely.

DoI thinkit willbe a big fail, absolutely.

All those people I know who I consider as Cardiff City through and through just don't want it. One or two have accepted it but you can see they don't want it.

I don't think anybody wants the full re-brand Ian, but we all want the investment!

The question is, will those who are vehemently against the re-brand, give VT a chance to sort out the Langston debt, the money owed to PMG & Ray Ranson, turn the debt into equity and hopefully some decent signings for Malky?

Personally I feel the re-branding will be a total flop where it is designed to make an impression. The Red Dragon of Cardiff will not win over the Red Devil of Man Utd. To me it is obvious Vincent Tan does not know his football or the behaviour of the football fan. That is every football fan knows about Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, perhaps Bayern Munich and to break into that group you need to win top trophies for a couple of generations. Changing the colour of our shirt will not give him what he wants

.

this is how i see it.do you think the red is to get the chinese on side then float it on the chinese stock market?

Absolutely.

DoI thinkit willbe a big fail, absolutely.

totally agree.there will be a few people make a few quid out of your club before it goes bozz eyed and then i think the real trouble starts

100% agree

I also agree with the comments from the 1927 club but my question now after all the moaning from people like me about the changes is .What can we do about it ?Powerless is the way i feel what can I do and to hand my club over to fans who are so desperate for prem league and success goes against what I thought was a Cardiff fan I haven been wrong for 34 years just the last 5 years .

This fans are entitled to an opinion but to me having the identity and soul of my club is worth so much more then any amount of money and I mean that 100 %.All i can say about the other fans who are happy with all this is they dont understand what being a true Cardiff fan is all about and I never thought i would say that about are fans.

There will be a few people making a few quid out of your club before it goes bozz eyed and then i think the real trouble starts

The thing that some of people are missing here mate, is that the trouble started a long time ago!

Some people have already forgotten that when the Malaysians came in 2 years ago, we were going out of business and being run by what some people still call, "The real Dick Turpin!"

There will be a few people making a few quid out of your club before it goes bozz eyed and then i think the real trouble starts

The thing that some of people are missing here mate, is that the trouble started a long time ago!

Some people have already forgotten that when the Malaysians came in 2 years ago, we were going out of business and being run by what some people still call, "The real Dick Turpin!"

i know it did mate.doesn,t need to be escalated though.we,re in the brown stuff with owners who actually DID back the manager with large amounts.way too large amounts.70kpw for hleb etc.all reliant on staying in the prem.you know the rest.