' The honeymoon period is over for Cardiff City owner Tan '

The honeymoon period is over for Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan
By Sarah Price -

Friday 08th November 2013.


A sea of Blue Cardiff City Fans, celebrate two years after their team's supposed re-brand to red, Cardiff fans stay defiant.

Malaysian multi millionaire Vincent Tan the owner of Cardiff City had a dream to turn the South Wales team he had brought into the new Manchester united - a team worthy of representing Malaysia on the world's footballing stage.

During an initial honeymoon period, Tan was welcomed as a saviour of the club that was in financial difficulties' due to an historical debt arising from the building and relocation to Cardiff City Stadium while under the tenure of Sam Hammam. However, relations quickly turned sour, when the Blue home kit Cardiff City had worn for over 100 years was replaced with and red shirt and black shorts and a badge which saw a large red dragon trampling on the Bluebird which is so synonymous with the club, together with a constant hints about a name change.
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Now the wheels have come off big time for Vincent Tan and his rebrand, a look around the Cardiff City stadium during the first ever South Wales derby in the English premiership league between Cardiff City and Swansea City, told a vivid story that couldn't be hidden by any amount of spin.
The number of red shirts worn by Cardiff city supporters while watching the derby match, were not only in the minority to traditional and rightful Bluebird blue of Cardiff city football club, The red was less in evidence than it was at the last meeting of the two teams in The championship in 2011.

Even more tellingly, is that of the red that could be seen most were rugby shirts or casual tops wore by fans who hadn't put any thought into what they wear. The fact is, most Cardiff City supporters do now and opt to wear retro Blue shirts is an indictment of the disregard and disdain the bluebird blue 'red' home kit and Vincent tan himself is held in
Relations between the Cardiff city faithful and Tan, which have been hanging by a thread since the controversial and never embraced red rebrand, with the supporters bearly tolerating it and the majority investor for the sake of the club, have come to a head after revelations surfaced after the sacking of Iain Moody, the head of recruitment and chief scout at Cardiff City,
A man who has been at the side of manager Malky Mackay for seven years, and whom he has credited with most of the clubs signings, has been at first suspended, then placed on season long ‘Gardening leave’ by Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan, over the Bluebirds’ summer transfer spending and the £35m transfer budget, a reason which was later refuted, however no other explanation was forthcoming
The bizzare however became the ridiculous when Moody’s replacement the 23-year-old Kazakhstani Alisher Apsalyamov – A friend of owner Vincent Tan’s son U-Jiun – who was previously employed by the club as a painter and decorator who has by his own admission no previous experience in football other than spending the summer helping to redecorate Cardiff City Stadium, and playing Fifa, had to be suspended by the club when The British immigration department discovered he was and had been working illegally in the UK and revoked his visa.
More revelations were to come. There have been rows between the players and Tan over bonuses that had not been paid, and Mackay had placed a ban on Vincent Tan from entering the dressing room after Tan had to be removed, after storming in at half time during the game against Newcastle United to berate the players during Mackay's team talk.
Tan, had already been attempting to interfere in MacKay's management of the squad by sending notes with suggestions for plays and substitutions to the managers dugout. Mackay had refused to even accept any of the notes and was caught by television cameras during one game screwing up and angrily discarding a piece of paper that had been thrust at him without even looking at it.
It further emerged that some of the players on Cardiff city's books were signed by Tan without MacKay's OK. Most notable of these is striker, Etien Velikonja who cost 3.6 million. He has made only three first team appearances for The Bluebirds, in two seasons, two of which were in cup competitions last season. These featured the development squad turning out for first round exits from both the Carling and FA cups, as Cardiff City poured all their energies into gaining promotion to the Premiership.
The club remains tight lipped about the matter, which was the same response made by Vincent Tan post the historic victory against South Wales derby rivals Swansea City, when he was given the opportunity on Sky Sports News to pledge his backing for Cardiff City's popular and very highly rated manager - If he feared that the recent shocking revelations and upheaval of staff, could result in MacKay walking, Tan only managed a horrified look of don't ask me that! Followed by a laughing "No Comment, No Comment, thank you, no Comment!"

Further embarrassment ensued at the end of the Cardiff City -- Swansea City game a group of Bluebird supporters staged a sit-in in the Canton stand. The spur of the moment protest had to be carefully and secretively organised by the Cardiff City fans rebrand protest organisation. A group which sets out to only be peaceful and use non-bullying tactics to raise media and other supporters awareness to exactly how unhappy Bluebird fans are with the erosion of the history and the fight for its restoration.

The handful of supporters quickly doubled then trebled until some 200 plus gathered to chant and unfold banners - a mass protest had been decided against for fear it would be stopped and arrests made, for half an hour the fans sang faintly audible in the background of the sky sport post match analysis, when suddenly the stadium was plunged into darkness and a loud announcement to disperse was made, commentators startled turned round live on air and looked out the window, explaining to the millions watching what had been taking place.


"What Vincent Tan doesn't seem to understand is, being a Cardiff City Fan is a way of life. Friendships are forged, with people who share the ups and downs with you, both on and off the pitch. It's a mutual affiliation that stems from belonging to and supporting your club, and that mutual affiliation is a badge of honour which is earned it cannot be bought"




A sea of Blue Cardiff City Fans, celebrate two years after their team's supposed re-brand to red (Photo: Sarah J Price / Sarah Price)

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More fanciful bullshit.

No matter how much you support the blue cause you must admit that this article is far from unbiased reporting.

"sea of Blue " ?? Looks mostly black to me..

No matter how much you support the blue cause you must admit that this article is far from unbiased reporting.

Right enough,it seems "LATEST NEWS" is trolling the internet for any old bullshit that supports the minority opinion.

No matter how much you support the blue cause you must admit that this article is far from unbiased reporting.

Right enough,it seems "LATEST NEWS" is trolling the internet for any old bullshit that supports the minority opinion.

Latest News, will put out all the News whatever is said and a fact. If u look at all its posts, it posts everything that is out and just because you prefer to read only about the Red and good stuff on Tan at this moment in time, there is none, unless you can find it, if so we will make it a sticky for you

At this moment in time the tide is changing big time, fans are standing up for their rightful colour BLUE and identity

If the Truth hurts, dont read it, end off

No matter how much you support the blue cause you must admit that this article is far from unbiased reporting.

Right enough,it seems "LATEST NEWS" is trolling the internet for any old bullshit that supports the minority opinion.

Latest News, will put out all the News whatever is said and a fact. If u look at all its posts, it posts everything that is out and just because you prefer to read only about the Red and good stuff on Tan at this moment in time, there is none, unless you can find it, if so we will make it a sticky for you

At this moment in time the tide is changing big time, fans are standing up for their rightful colour BLUE and identity

If the Truth hurts, dont read it, end off

I don't think Tan will take a blind bit of notice to anything to do with blue, he'll do what he wants.
End Of.

That goes both ways, Annis.

Whose is Sarah Price and what does she know about football in particular City. I'm just asking as there seem to be a lot these days giving an opinion and people taking it as word

Lets hope he takes note, sells and we go back to Blue. There are fans who will never give up on the Blue

More fanciful bullshit.

Like the rebrand itself then?

No matter how much you support the blue cause you must admit that this article is far from unbiased reporting.

Right enough,it seems "LATEST NEWS" is trolling the internet for any old bullshit that supports the minority opinion.

Latest News, will put out all the News whatever is said and a fact. If u look at all its posts, it posts everything that is out and just because you prefer to read only about the Red and good stuff on Tan at this moment in time, there is none, unless you can find it, if so we will make it a sticky for you

At this moment in time the tide is changing big time, fans are standing up for their rightful colour BLUE and identity

If the Truth hurts, dont read it, end off

Well said.

No matter how much you support the blue cause you must admit that this article is far from unbiased reporting.

Right enough,it seems "LATEST NEWS" is trolling the internet for any old bullshit that supports the minority opinion.

Latest News, will put out all the News whatever is said and a fact. If u look at all its posts, it posts everything that is out and just because you prefer to read only about the Red and good stuff on Tan at this moment in time, there is none, unless you can find it, if so we will make it a sticky for you

At this moment in time the tide is changing big time, fans are standing up for their rightful colour BLUE and identity

If the Truth hurts, dont read it, end off

The truth never hurts Annis.I'd just like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my opinion so when I see something that I consider to be utter shite I can express an opinion without the fear of getting banned

As for my personal opinion.I've been watching the city for a similar amount of time to you(my first game Vs aston villa in 73 I think)and in my opinion we've had owners that make Tan look like a fairy godmother.I look at it this way,the moment Tan stepped in the door it was/is only for a finite amount of time.When he goes he said he will leave the city in better condition than when he walked in.when you think about it he must do to get his dosh back.I think that day is well worth the wait even if its 6-7 yrs.The trouble I've got with the current Blue movement is that they seem to want it now regardless of any potential damage it may cause to CCFC.I ask this:Can any of the BU guarantee the city's future,can you?If so how?I think the time is coming when we can survive without Tan but until then I feel just as importantly as you do to do my bit for the future of the city in my own small way as you do.And part of it commenting on crap like the OP.

WE've got the same aims just a different way of going about it.

More fanciful bullshit.

Sneggy your constant negs are just childish mate.

More fanciful bullshit.

Sneggy your constant negs are just childish mate.

Not the way I see it.But I can't help myself when crap like this is posted.Many people see me as pro-Tan but I'm not or ever have been but because I'm not spitting my dummy out over the colour change they think I'm Tans best friend.I am however pro-CCFC and sometimes in life you've got to swallow the short term shit for the long term well being.

The author says that the red was less in evidence than it was when the teams last met in the Championship in 2011.

Last time we played Swansea in the Championship our colours had not yet been changed and we were still playing in blue.

Facts like that are easy to check.

Great article!

I'm glad that Tan is being rightly openly questioned. What he did with the rebrand was totally ridiculous and unacceptable.

Where is the article from Annis?

More fanciful bullshit.

Sneggy your constant negs are just childish mate.

Not the way I see it.But I can't help myself when crap like this is posted.Many people see me as pro-Tan but I'm not or ever have been but because I'm not spitting my dummy out over the colour change they think I'm Tans best friend.I am however pro-CCFC and sometimes in life you've got to swallow the short term shit for the long term well being.

Anything posted that's not pro Tan you jump on, that makes you pro red in my book, however you want to spin it

Who is the quote from at the end?

What strange article!

More fanciful bullshit.

Sneggy your constant negs are just childish mate.

Not the way I see it.But I can't help myself when crap like this is posted.Many people see me as pro-Tan but I'm not or ever have been but because I'm not spitting my dummy out over the colour change they think I'm Tans best friend.I am however pro-CCFC and sometimes in life you've got to swallow the short term shit for the long term well being.

Anything posted that's not pro Tan you jump on, that makes you pro red in my book, however you want to spin it

Ha,ha I 've never seen anything pro-Tan posted on here but can you guarantee the future of CCFC if Tan should walk tomorrow,no?,well don't worry because your in good company.Show me with concrete evidence that CCFC would be OK if you hounded Tan out and I'll get BU tattooed on my arse and walk down Queen St naked.

The OP's brain could use a re-brand; the use of English there is beyond dreadful. Laughable. When Tan leaves, we'll be back in blue and the club will be sustainable. I'm more than willing to put up with the red in the short-term to keep our books in the red (financially!!!) for the long-term. Honestly, less happy with him trying to play manager than the colour of our shirt.

I hope we will change back to blue but i hope Tan stays..

The red was less in evidence than it was at the last meeting of the two teams in The championship in 2011.

Gave up reading at this point. If she cant even get simple facts like this right then her article has no credence.

Totally agree with you sneggy , tan will only be here for short term ,and we'll be premier league.this is a big deal to those of us who stood on the bob bank soaking wet on February evenings watching us get beat by the likes of Swindon town ..I'm pro blue,but for Christs sake I wish people would stop trying to make themselves popular by jumping on the anti red bus.we,ll probably be back in blue in a few years..again I repeat I don't live in wales, I mix in English company, and no one is taking the piss out of the club only small town moaners

The OP's brain could use a re-brand; the use of English there is beyond dreadful. Laughable. When Tan leaves, we'll be back in blue and the club will be sustainable. I'm more than willing to put up with the red in the short-term to keep our books in the red (financially!!!) for the long-term. Honestly, less happy with him trying to play manager than the colour of our shirt.

Who says we'll be back in blue when the seats (at least some) are red. The branding is all red. The kids have red shirts, the global media are used to red, and most importantly, a decent proportion of Cardiff City fans don't really care anyway, as long as they can watch the premier league.

What you don't fight for, you don't get!

The OP's brain could use a re-brand; the use of English there is beyond dreadful. Laughable. When Tan leaves, we'll be back in blue and the club will be sustainable. I'm more than willing to put up with the red in the short-term to keep our books in the red (financially!!!) for the long-term. Honestly, less happy with him trying to play manager than the colour of our shirt.

Who says we'll be back in blue when the seats (at least some) are red. The branding is all red. The kids have red shirts, the global media are used to red, and most importantly, a decent proportion of Cardiff City fans don't really care anyway, as long as they can watch the premier league.

What you don't fight for, you don't get!

I think there's a chance we could go back to blue in the near future but as soon as the seats go red i think that's the end of it unfortunetly..
Lots of of fans care about the blue but some not as vocal as others..

tan can do as he pleases..and so can everyone else, if you want to wear red,, then carry on its your choice..thats the beauty of free choice.. as for me.. i have always been blue, and i will stay that way...i dont really care what others want to wear..my daughter 15 wore red,, i think thats more a fashion thing for her. My father like me, long time supporter prefers blue.. simples

The OP's brain could use a re-brand; the use of English there is beyond dreadful. Laughable. When Tan leaves, we'll be back in blue and the club will be sustainable. I'm more than willing to put up with the red in the short-term to keep our books in the red (financially!!!) for the long-term. Honestly, less happy with him trying to play manager than the colour of our shirt.

Who says we'll be back in blue when the seats (at least some) are red. The branding is all red. The kids have red shirts, the global media are used to red, and most importantly, a decent proportion of Cardiff City fans don't really care anyway, as long as they can watch the premier league.

What you don't fight for, you don't get!

I think there's a chance we could go back to blue in the near future but as soon as the seats go red i think that's the end of it unfortunetly..
Lots of of fans care about the blue but some not as vocal as others..

If people dont give a shit about the shirt I hardly think the seats will matter, especially as we are selling out every game no fucker can see them anyway.

That's a fine picture,basically just because I'm in it and in blue of course

Its not so much a case of the honeymoon period being over but we are now in the divorce courts. The proof that fans have reacted against Tan is evident and undenyable. The sad days when Tan gave away the scarves and turned the stadium red have long gone and a reversal has now taken place during the past few weeks. This will however not please the hoards of fans who bought into Tans red vision who are probably feeling a little foolish right now due to the tide turning towards the blue and the failure of the rebrand as a whole.

It is understandable why the red shirts have sold and this is partly down to the fact that Tan has tried his best to eradicate blue from the club shop thus leaving fans little choice other than to to buy red. There is always the pressure of having young Kids who naturally would want to support the team colours and buy the latest shirt without a care or interest in the politics behind it.
I have never understood why a grown man would want to wear a red top. When I see them at the stadium I just have a little chuckle to myself and regard them more as a curiosity. Some of these red shirters will have bought out of ignorance and others will purchase them in the belief that their team now play in red and think it the right thing to do in order to support their team. The more ignorant fans will have bought out of being sold the red vision and would sell their gran if it meant watching premier football. After all is said and done these are my fellow fans and whether I like it or not it is their choice and I have to accept it.

Unfortunately our fan base is split and there is no denying this but there is a steady stream of fans distancing themselves from Tan and finally seeing him for what he is. Although certain pro blue groups have done well to raised the profile of the blue campaign, it would appear that the biggest recruiter for the defections we are seeing is that fans can now see through Mr Tan and they do not like what they are seeing.
I am confident that we will not see the return of the stadium being a sea of red wearing fans and its about time that Tan admits the rebrand is not working. The only way forward now for Tan to gain some respect is to either revert back to blue or sell up. He could of course do nothing but his credibility will only suffer further as a result.