" SUNDAY APRIL 28th 2013 UPDATE "

Excellent update - It's all coming together wonderfully for us.

Cheers Carl what happened yesterday can only be good for CCFC. Whilst we must respect VT for his amazing efforts it doesn't hurt to have a bit of gentle lobbying

A few of us from the forum attended the academy matches at Treforest this morning and as you may already be aware Sam Hammam and Vincent Tan were there to watch the youngsters in the U10’s, U12’s and u14’s also.

Unfortunately we lost all three games against Wolves this morning but for the good of our club, both a financial and further commitment point of view, Vincent Tan and Sam Hammam being together there is another step towards the long term security of Cardiff City Football Club.

Also in attendance were director Michael Isaac and chief executive/acting chairman Simon Lim and a posse of Malaysians who, apart from VT’s PA, I do not know their roles.

First off, as a result of Vincent Tan inviting Sam to the game yesterday of which we know Sam accepted and attended, an invitation was accepted by Vincent Tan from Sam to go and watch the academy kids play.

At yesterday’s match Michael Issac was waiting outside the stadium to greet Sam at 1pm and inside the foyer both Tan and his wife greeted Sam. Vincent Tan made sure his guest was looked after throughout the day and at one stage brought Malky Mackay up to the board room to meet Sam and they chatted for a few minutes before Malky went back to prepare for the game.

Both men went to a restaurant in the early evening for a meal before Vincent Tan returned for the player of the season bash.

At Treforest today both men walked and met with parents of the youngsters and chatted to the coaches from each year group, both showed a real interest in the 3 games spending 20-30mins at each.

Tan was very amicable to everybody and spoke to anybody who wished to chat to him, as far as I am aware he did not shy away from any question put to him and I was surprised at the manner of the man, I didn’t expect him to be so responsive with his replies nor did I expect the quick witted replies that he gave about a number of issues including the rebranding.

The question that I suppose is on everyone’s mind is ‘Have they come to an agreement?’

My answer would be, there has not been a ‘signed’ agreement but I would think it would be a little foolish for anyone to think that both men would be seen publicly together, especially at the game, if a deal is not very close to being finalised in writing.

The signs are there for all to see, from Sam being back at the stadium to Tan saying that Sam could help and advise him because of his football knowledge. It certainly does look extremely positive that a deal will be concluded.

The two of them, from what I witnessed, had a good relationship and a genuine one at that, I have maintained for a few years that I believed Sam Hammam will return to the club and I am still of that belief, also I have consistently stated that these two are not in a fight but have been working towards an agreement.

It is my belief that should the deal be concluded then Vincent Tan will float the club on a stock exchange, possibly Singapore.

Whilst walking toward the pitches people introduced each other and during this walk Annis was introduced to Vincent Tan, as they shook hands and whilst saying he respected some of the work Vincent Tan had done for the club, Annis was also very clear to him that he didn’t like the re-branding, Tan’s reply was that ‘red brings happiness, it is the future and it is the way forward, it stands out more than any other colour’.

Vincent Tan recognised that Annis was staunch in his love of the blue and said to him ‘you are true blue’.

Two of Annis’ children were present and wearing Blue scarves and Tan asked them if they liked the red, it was no surprise when they replied that blue was their colour.

Tan jokingly said to Annis’ children not to allow their ‘father to influence them’.

Tan and Annis chatted for several minutes about the red and blue and to his surprise Tan said to Annis ‘I am sure we can work together on this’. Annis felt that being straight with Vincent Tan and not disrespectful we had respect back from Tan as a result.

Even after two hours and very little conversation between the pair of them in that time, Tan, whilst getting in his car to leave the training ground, shouted to Annis ‘There is going to be a revolution in your house, a red one!’

Tan asked his children ‘are you now red?’ and they replied ‘no, we are still blue’.

From conversations that took place today, and before any jumps on my back again, these chats were not private and were always in front of a number of people.

Next season’s kit will be the last one produced by Puma and the home kit will be all red, I asked if there was black shorts and the reply was that the whole of the home kit was red, somebody else asked if there was any white trim and again the answer was no, it is red shirts, shorts and socks. Genesis sports who supply the kits believe it to look 'very classy'.

The current badge is on the new kit, I just want to clear that up as there was a suggestion by another poster that we were reverting to our ‘traditional’ badge.

The kit was supposed to have gone on sale yesterday in the club shop but due to the suppliers in Turkey not being able to fulfil that deadline it didn’t happen but they will go on sale at the very earliest possibility.

With regards to the away kit or 2nd kit as we know it, Simon Lim was keen to stress that there is no such thing as a 2nd kit but after the home kit the other options are named ‘alternative kits’, next season we will have two alternative kits of which one will be blue and the other yellow.

The shirt sponsor will be Malaysia again next season.

The academy youngsters played in our red home kit but Tan asked why we had no sponsor on them and asked that this to be rectified. Tan suggested we should have a scoreboard at the training ground, to which a few parents agreed, he said we can get it sponsored so it does not cost us a penny.

Vincent Tan requested a photo with each City team (each time inviting Sam into the picture), he chatted with each of the kids and the pair of them were high fiving the youngsters.

Vincent Tan asked for a photo to be taken with the U10’s team in front of the academy building and noticed that the old badge was still on the front of the building and turned to Simon Lim and asked for it to be changed within two days, whilst smiling.

The club will not tour Malaysia this pre-season but will return to the training base in Switzerland. Vincent Tan said that should we stay in the Premier League next season then a tour to Malaysia would definitely take place for the following pre-season and he went further and suggested that we should also tour Thailand and possibly Korea (for Kim), I did make it clear that we should stay away from the North though.

We learned today that if any work is done on adding seating to the stadium ahead of next season then it must be completed before the first home game of the season and that we are looking at adding more seats before any plans of a stadium expansion, which would go ahead should we stay in the top flight next season. So we will be just over 27,000 for next season.

We spoke about players being linked to us on a daily basis and it was made clear that no talks have yet got underway with any player or agent, so at the moment all the names linked to us are purely speculative.

Vincent Tan was knowledgeable about the league positions of teams at the top and bottom of the Championship and we chatted about Hull and Watford and he certainly grasped the impact of results and goal difference etc.
Without a doubt he is learning fast about the game, so much so that he was explaining some of the laws of the game to one of his companions.

Paul Guy was not at yesterday’s game and I understand (and this did not come from today’s conversation’s) that PMG’s time with Cardiff City is pretty much done.

After visiting Treforest Vincent Tan headed off to see a site regarding our proposed new training ground.

As I have said above I was surprised at how easy going and relaxed Vincent Tan was and he was not the character I expected to see, I didn’t expect the jokes, the light humoured sarcasm nor did I think he would appreciate the quips that came back at him but he took it and gave it, it is evident to me that he has the bug for Cardiff City and intends to be around for some time yet.

floating us on the stock exchange could bring in some major money for us and pay off all creditors how much are we really worth as a premiership team ,with our assests of owning our own stadium ? 100 ,maybe 200 miliion ?

Not sure about the potential of a float in Singapore. Manchester United were going to do so recently and withdrew because of a very poor level of initial interest. If the real thing with their background and fame couldn`t do it , I am not sure that we could be any more successful.

I briefly spoke to Tan yesterday aswell before the awards and agree with your views on him Carl,very surprised how relaxed and responsive he was with fans both pro and anti-red.
I expected him to have security that rivalled the pope to be honest

Are you really surprised.Just goes to show you can't believe the bullshitters on here with their own agendas.

Nice update and a inside to VT's Life, he wants the best for the club and looking out for us. i think we all will embrace the red in the future seasons and lets get behind the boys ready for next season, plus nice hearing future plans.

Embrace the red?! Never in a million years!

Tan must feel honoured meeting Annis did he buy a book

Keep the black shorts surely

All red will look cheap - Like Liverpool

Tan is a genius. Kill two birds with one stone. Settle a debt with Hammam and use Hammam to work out how to win over the discontented blue supporters.

Fair play, it's easy to see how such a deluded man has earned his wealth. He knows how to play the game.