Cardiff City's Malky clings on but sacking looks a formality

Cardiff City's Malky Mackay clings on but sacking looks a formality

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Sven-Goran Eriksson in frame
Cardiff Fans plan protest on Boxing Day

Stuart James

The Guardian.

The Cardiff City manager, Malky Mackay, is privately resigned to the fact he will be out of a job by the end of the weekend.
Malky Mackay is planning to take charge of Cardiff City's Premier League match at Liverpool on Saturday, when he will be a dead man walking. Adamant that he will not quit, the Cardiff manager is resigned to the fact that he will be out of a job by the end of the weekend. It is possible that he will be dismissed before the Liverpool game kicks off.

Vincent Tan, Cardiff's owner, was due to hold talks with Mehmet Dalman, the club's chairman, in London on Friday night. Mackay has not received any communication from Tan since the now notorious email that was sent to him by the Malaysian businessman earlier in the week, when the 41-year-old manager was told to resign or face being sacked.

Mackay, due a seven-figure sum in compensation if his contract is terminated, will not be walking away from the job that he has held for two and a half years.

In another remarkable development on Friday, it is understood that the Cardiff striker Craig Bellamy was asked if he would be willing to take charge of the team on a temporary basis, until a permanent manager is appointed. Bellamy, who has always spoke highly of Mackay, made it clear that he was not interested in the position.

The process of trying to find a long-term replacement for Mackay is under way. The club are sounding out candidates, with Dalman optimistic that Cardiff can land a high-profile name.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the former Manchester United striker who is in charge of the Norwegian club Molde, is one of the names under consideration. Sven-Goran Eriksson, now working in China, has emerged as another option.

It is believed that Tan is proposing to give the new manager substantial funds when the transfer window reopens, despite telling Mackay this week that "not a single penny" was available.

Mackay was due to attend a press conference at the club's Vale of Glamorgan training base on Friday morning only for David Kerslake, his assistant, to appear in his place. Otherwise Mackay has prepared as normal for the Liverpool game. He took training, held a team meeting with the players and boarded the flight to Merseyside with the squad and his back room staff. He knows that the end is in sight and it is now just a matter of when, and not if, he will leave his post.

Kerslake, who found himself in an impossible position, tried to steer the conversation away from Mackay and from what has been another farcical week at Cardiff. He said: "I am here just to talk about the Liverpool game. I came in this morning and was told to come in and do the press. Malky is in the pavilion now as we speak.

"As far as we are concerned it is just another game in which we face a wonderfully talented team. We have prepared all this week as professionally as always."

The relationship between Mackay and Tan was beyond repair before the owner sent his email which expressed numerous grievances with the way the manager operated. The document even compared Mackay's record as Watford manager with how Dave Jones performed in charge of Cardiff at that time. It should make for interesting reading for the League Managers Association.

With Mackay extremely popular among the Cardiff supporters, many of whom were already fed up with the bizarre decision-making that has been a feature of Tan's tenure.

Fans are planning to protest against the owner before the Boxing Day home match against Southampton.

Of course Malky will not quit. He will get sacked but as long as he stays on he will go out with dignity and Tan will be the fool.

I wish i could see Tan face to face and tell him what an idiot he is being - but it's gone too far now and to stick with Malky would be a sign of weakness.

3 points from Anfield and a P45 before xmas - some kind of record.

And as for the Gwyn, Mac, and the rest of the gullible idiots - i hope you are fcuking happy.

I love Cardiff City. My first job was selling programmes at the club when I was a fifteen-year-old boy. I now live in China and only get to see games at Christmas when I come home, so what I am about to propose will really hurt me but I think it’s the only thing that we can do.

This is the best time in the history of the club to be a Cardiff fan yet we are being mocked far and wide. Mr. Tan must understand that we are extremely grateful for his investment in both the club and in our community. However, we also need him to understand our collective frustration. As we have seen with many clubs who’ve gone bankrupt or had to take on massive debts at the expense of new owners, songs, scarves, message board comments and even protests achieve nothing.

I therefore propose that every Cardiff fan foregoes their ticket on Boxing Day. A stadium with only away fans will make a united statement that will resonate around the world.

I understand that some people will fear that there is no way of being sure who, come the day will join me in my absence. To make things fair, I propose that unless we get 10,000 names and emails on the below document, we all attend and resign ourselves to what may come. If however, we can get 10,000 Bluebirds to pledge to being united in our absence then let’s carry out our inaction and send a message to the world.

If we succeed, I suggest that we carry on not attending until Mr. Tan states his public support for probably the greatest manager our club has even known.

I love my club, as I’m sure you do too. Only together can we save it.

Gareth Jones
Gelefu47@gmail.com

http://tinyurl.com/BoxingDayNoShowILoveCardiff

Solskjaer has doubts about working with Tan so that could be out, more likely Sven as he needs the money and at 66 its his last chance of some glory.