Tan says £15mill over budget/Ive invested £140mill in Cardif

Paul Abbandanato: Is this the beginning of the end of the Malky Mackay reign at Cardiff City?
9 Oct 2013

Tans spend so far and he wants value.

I’m guessing any decision Moody and Mackay made had to be signed off by the club hierarchy anyway. But Tan says the Bluebirds are £15m over budget “because of costs connected to new player signings.”

That, he points out, takes his total investment in Cardiff to £140m.




After a tough few days at Cardiff City for Malky Mackay, Head of Sport Paul Abbandonato looks at how close the Bluebirds boss is to the end of the line


Is this the beginning of the end of the Malky Mackay reign at Cardiff City? I pose the question with a very heavy heart, because regular readers of this column will know of the utmost admiration in which I hold Mackay.

He is the person who delivered the Premier League dream, whose organisational skills, tactics, motivation and expert man-management finally enabled the Bluebirds to shake off their promotion ‘Nearly Men’ tag.

Because of Mackay, Cardiff meet Chelsea next. Shortly afterwards Manchester United and Arsenal come to the Welsh capital.

Yet just when everything appears to be rolling smoothly, the good ship Cardiff City FC looks like it has hit the rocks.

One that could yet reach Titanic iceberg proportions if, as I fear, it ultimately leads to the departure of the finest manager the club have had since the halcyon Real Madrid-beating days of Jimmy Scoular.




Things have been rumbling behind the scenes for a while. Private issues which, for the time being at least, must continue to be respected as confidential.

But suddenly, within the space of four days, a couple of issues have hit the headlines which hardly make Mackay’s job any smoother as Bluebirds manager.

The row between Vincent Tan and the players over bonuses was an unwanted spat he had to tread eggshells over.

The loss of his right-hand man Iain Moody, to be replaced by an unknown 23-year-old from Kazakhstan, is a far more pressing matter which could have enormous consequences.

Prior to yesterday’s story, I guess the name of Iain Moody will have meant little to the majority Bluebirds fans.

Members of the backroom team rarely hit the headlines and are there to get on with their work in an undemonstrative fashion.

But, highly respected and likeable, Moody was Mackay’s most trusted lieutenant, the club’s Head of Recruitment who targeted new players and conducted the negotiations for those transfers.

Mackay frequently talked up the “excellent job” he believes Moody performed. He had – or rather still has – total trust in Moody’s judgement of a player and ability to push through a deal.

Suddenly, for whatever reason, those duties have been passed on to a bloke called Alisher Apsalyamov.

Put yourself in Mackay’s shoes for a moment. How unsettling do you think he finds that?





' The players Iain Moody helped bring to Cardiff '

Hugely, of course, posing the question of what happens as a result.

I’m not suggesting it is a resignation issue; why should Mackay walk away when he has a contract worth millions to his name?

But there will be many believing a divide has been built up between owner and manager over this and that is likely to rumble on for a while yet.

Where will it end up? I just hope it’s not with the unthinkable, but this treatment of his No.2 is deeply disturbing for Mackay.

I’m trying to put myself in Tan’s position and determine what he may have against Moody.

Well – and I’m only suggesting this for the sake of balance – let’s explore this summer’s captures.

Gary Medel, signed from Sevilla, in a record-breaking £9.5million deal has become an instant fans’ idol. Tenacious, a bundle of energy, a great reader of the game, calm and composed, he has brought experience to the midfield and does a splendid job acting as a shield for the back four.

But Medel passes square most of the time, keeping the game simple. In itself that is a strength, but would Tan be thinking that for close on £10m the Bluebirds should have a more swashbuckling individual capable of carving open defences?

I’m not saying I believe Medel was over-priced, simply trying to second guess Tan given the decision that has been made.

Andreas Cornelius arrived here a few weeks earlier for £8m, as a result of goals scored in the Danish League.

It’s hardly Moody’s fault Cornelius got injured, but again will Tan, rightly or wrongly, be questioning that fee?

Will he also be wondering about the £1.5m paid out to Derby for John Brayford, who is third choice right-back at best behind Kevin Theophile-Catherine and Matt Connolly?

Again, I’m not saying for one second I believe Moody and Malky were wrong, I’m just wondering if Tan will be viewing it that way.

He has to be thinking something, because why else would he make such a radical decision which could upset the best manager City have had in decades.

Of course, there have been many, many Bluebirds transfer plusses.

Jordon Mutch and Kim Bo-Kyung being the obvious two. Signed for a positive snip, they are each worth multi-millions in the transfer market after the way Mackay has moulded them so splendidly.

Theophile, who cost just £2m from Rennes is another; he already looks the best right-back the Bluebirds have had since the days of Mark Delaney.

Fraizer Campbell cost £650,000. After his goals against Manchester City, Mackay reckons he was worth more like £6m.

The thing about transfers is that everyone will have different views about a player’s worth.

I’m guessing any decision Moody and Mackay made had to be signed off by the club hierarchy anyway. But Tan says the Bluebirds are £15m over budget “because of costs connected to new player signings.”

That, he points out, takes his total investment in Cardiff to £140m.

For that sum of money, I guess as owner you are perfectly entitled to call the shots.

But sometimes those shots have repercussions and the sidelining of Iain Moody surely will.

At some point Malky Mackay will leave. Whether it happens next week, next month or next year, this week’s events could be viewed as the moment when we saw the embryonic beginning of the end.

Words just cant describe how thick this man is, Why on earth is he unsettling all the hard work Malky, Backroom staff & players have done so far??

Our club is heeding for a big fall, everything us going tits up! I'm just guna enjoy this season, because by the looks of things we will be back in the lower leagues soon enough, which does not bother me as I like away days against teams in the champ and they don't cost a bomb. The debt problem is also spiralling by the looks of things, things are not looking gd

Where's the quotes? People will realise Malky has to go to Tan with a dossier etc on why Tan should fork out this much money. After about what 6 or 7 games in, Tan isn't going to jump the gun soon. Stop believing everything you f*cking see

Tbh I don't care how much money he's put in to the club he's slowly screwing us up Tan OUT

My biggest concern for the club was to lose MM. Cannot believe Tan the unsentimental businessman would not see MM as a key asset as even if his knowledge of football is poor, then he would have had advice. Its clear he wants total control of the company, both in its financial model, boardroom and key staff. I've done some work for a couple of Malaysian firms and from experience, my take is that VT expected a Man City type result every week due to his perception of his high level of investment. My business experience with the Malaysians is that they can be unrealistic on expected outcomes based on perceived 'high investment' in Western businesses. He is making a massive, massive mistake in placing any risk on MM leaving. I hope this all blows over but if all this is true, if I were MM I would have a bolt-hole lined up as his tenure will be made into a farce. Don't blow it VT.

15m over budget, moaning how much he spent but continues to buy borley out?

Postby TopCat CCFC » Wed Oct 02, 2013 2:19 pm
Speaking to the National News Agency of Malaysia, Tan said:

'If our team's performance is good until January, then there is no need for me to buy new players. We also can't afford to buy star players since we have financial constraints compared with other EPL clubs.'

how did we overspend? who is in control of finances if not tan? Did Moody have his bank card or something?
what a load of guff......the club is worth more than 140 mill in the prem anyway so whats he moaning about. It wont be worth that much in the championship vincent.....

MM now evens with William Hill to be next Prem manager to leave. Ever known the bookies to get these things wrong?! We'll never know the full facts but once there is a breakdown in trust and integrity, it's almost impossible to repair the damage. Malky in his heart will want to stay but I'm not sure that his head will agree.
There is a mystique around VT which places him in a cultural time warp light years away from real footballing folk. Red for success, any other colour for failure. I'm not sure CCFC can move forward based on its owners strange superstitious behaviour.
However we can't forget how his money saved the club from potential liquidation and I think he loves to remind us all of his benevolence! We are being fattened up for the next Eastern European oligarch. The roller-coaster ride could be very bumpy, messy and embarrassing.
Spare a thought for the players and coaching staff. Let's rally behind them and support them more than ever before.