Why its important Cardiff City are relegated
Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:03 am
Article from the Premier League Owl
It’s very fashionable to deride a foreign owner, and view anything that he does as suspicious or wrong, but in Vincent Tan’s case that’s probably an apt response.
The mitigation to all of the negative press invited on Cardiff City in recent years is, of course, that he is the first owner to deliver Premier League football. While that may be an asterisk next to the sackings of Malky Mackay and Iain Moody, and the decision to re-brand the club, it’s not as significant as Tan clearly believes it to be.
Yes, the club get to play a more glamorous set of fixtures, and receive a huge financial boost for doing so, but at what price has that really come?
It’s just a division, and within the context of a football club’s history, it’s really not overly-significant.
Before the recent game with Liverpool, BT Sport were conducting brief interviews with Cardiff fans as they arrived at Anfield. Beyond the expected hostility towards Tan, one – youngish – fan talked of the distance he felt between the team and himself, and how the recent changes to the club’s structure had disenfranchised him from his loyalties.
How sad is that? That particular fan may not be speaking for the majority, but almost certainly there are other Cardiff supporters who feel exactly the same – and you would imagine that a significant number of those would happily drop back into the Championship in exchange for the blue shirt and the original crest.
I really want Cardiff to be relegated this season; not because of any animosity towards the fans or any other sort of tribal instinct, but because I believe that it’s dangerous for clubs who are run like this to be successful. If, under Vincent Tan’s watch, Cardiff scale the Premier League and eventually find themselves in European competition or better, then a very unhealthy precedent will have been created – one which would inevitably be mimicked by other clubs in the football pyramid. Over time, maybe it would become incredibly fashionable for teams to whitewash their identity, forcefully bow to the wishes of a very rich man, and suffer in silence whilst grudgingly accepting some kind of tainted progress.
What’s been so alarming about the Cardiff situation, is the callous disregard the owner clearly has for his fans. He doesn’t listen and he doesn’t care – and he doesn’t even pretend to do either: his team, his rules, and if the supporters don’t like it then, as far as he’s concerned, they can spend their Saturdays at the rugby, instead.
Relegation probably won’t change anything at Cardiff, and Tan will presumably blame everyone but himself should the side go down this season, but maybe to the outside world it would create a necessary caveat regarding the dangers of these football dictatorships and the disharmony that they breed.
It’s very fashionable to deride a foreign owner, and view anything that he does as suspicious or wrong, but in Vincent Tan’s case that’s probably an apt response.
The mitigation to all of the negative press invited on Cardiff City in recent years is, of course, that he is the first owner to deliver Premier League football. While that may be an asterisk next to the sackings of Malky Mackay and Iain Moody, and the decision to re-brand the club, it’s not as significant as Tan clearly believes it to be.
Yes, the club get to play a more glamorous set of fixtures, and receive a huge financial boost for doing so, but at what price has that really come?
It’s just a division, and within the context of a football club’s history, it’s really not overly-significant.
Before the recent game with Liverpool, BT Sport were conducting brief interviews with Cardiff fans as they arrived at Anfield. Beyond the expected hostility towards Tan, one – youngish – fan talked of the distance he felt between the team and himself, and how the recent changes to the club’s structure had disenfranchised him from his loyalties.
How sad is that? That particular fan may not be speaking for the majority, but almost certainly there are other Cardiff supporters who feel exactly the same – and you would imagine that a significant number of those would happily drop back into the Championship in exchange for the blue shirt and the original crest.
I really want Cardiff to be relegated this season; not because of any animosity towards the fans or any other sort of tribal instinct, but because I believe that it’s dangerous for clubs who are run like this to be successful. If, under Vincent Tan’s watch, Cardiff scale the Premier League and eventually find themselves in European competition or better, then a very unhealthy precedent will have been created – one which would inevitably be mimicked by other clubs in the football pyramid. Over time, maybe it would become incredibly fashionable for teams to whitewash their identity, forcefully bow to the wishes of a very rich man, and suffer in silence whilst grudgingly accepting some kind of tainted progress.
What’s been so alarming about the Cardiff situation, is the callous disregard the owner clearly has for his fans. He doesn’t listen and he doesn’t care – and he doesn’t even pretend to do either: his team, his rules, and if the supporters don’t like it then, as far as he’s concerned, they can spend their Saturdays at the rugby, instead.
Relegation probably won’t change anything at Cardiff, and Tan will presumably blame everyone but himself should the side go down this season, but maybe to the outside world it would create a necessary caveat regarding the dangers of these football dictatorships and the disharmony that they breed.
Re: Why its important Cardiff City are relegated
Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:22 am
Awful article. If you get relegated then you are finished in my opinion.
All of these transfer fees (maybe £70m after Jan) gets paid in installments. A big chunk of that (maybe £20m of it) will need to paid next year.
Cornelius alone is getting paid £11 million in wages over the length of his contract. Thats insane and who will buy him for the fee you would want for him? Medel is on a £7.2 million contract and again who will pay the amount you would want for him? With the money going to be soent in january then this wage situation will get worse and worse.
The income of the Championship is about £16m per annum plus the £16m parachute. Id guess your wage bill right now is upward of £45m a year.
The company will be losing money at a rate rarely seen for its size and promotion back to the Prem is no way guaranteed. Will Tan want to continue to throw the yearly losses away? Get relegated and thise yearly losses will be astonomical.
All of these transfer fees (maybe £70m after Jan) gets paid in installments. A big chunk of that (maybe £20m of it) will need to paid next year.
Cornelius alone is getting paid £11 million in wages over the length of his contract. Thats insane and who will buy him for the fee you would want for him? Medel is on a £7.2 million contract and again who will pay the amount you would want for him? With the money going to be soent in january then this wage situation will get worse and worse.
The income of the Championship is about £16m per annum plus the £16m parachute. Id guess your wage bill right now is upward of £45m a year.
The company will be losing money at a rate rarely seen for its size and promotion back to the Prem is no way guaranteed. Will Tan want to continue to throw the yearly losses away? Get relegated and thise yearly losses will be astonomical.
Re: Why its important Cardiff City are relegated
Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:38 am
Castro wrote:Awful article. If you get relegated then you are finished in my opinion.
All of these transfer fees (maybe £70m after Jan) gets paid in installments. A big chunk of that (maybe £20m of it) will need to paid next year.
Cornelius alone is getting paid £11 million in wages over the length of his contract. Thats insane and who will buy him for the fee you would want for him? Medel is on a £7.2 million contract and again who will pay the amount you would want for him? With the money going to be soent in january then this wage situation will get worse and worse.
The income of the Championship is about £16m per annum plus the £16m parachute. Id guess your wage bill right now is upward of £45m a year.
The company will be losing money at a rate rarely seen for its size and promotion back to the Prem is no way guaranteed. Will Tan want to continue to throw the yearly losses away? Get relegated and thise yearly losses will be astonomical.
the writer has way less regard for us fans and our club than tan.........total shit, needs a slap
Re: Why its important Cardiff City are relegated
Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:19 am
The writer has his/her opinions but, the genie is already out of the bottle. For the situation to change there needs to be rule changes within the Premier league regarding ownership and running of clubs. Cardiff being relegated wont change anything except to our club and our fans. It wont stop other wealthy people buying clubs in the future and running them as they want.
Re: Why its important Cardiff City are relegated
Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:35 am
Bluetwin wrote:The writer has his/her opinions but, the genie is already out of the bottle. For the situation to change there needs to be rule changes within the Premier league regarding ownership and running of clubs. Cardiff being relegated wont change anything except to our club and our fans. It wont stop other wealthy people buying clubs in the future and running them as they want.
As is happening at Hull Tigers and already being 'watched' carefully by other owners, not only our own
The Premier League is a 'franchise' division, and clubs (and I guess their supporters) either 'buy in' or move out
I think most of us wanted "in" but maybe not at the price we now appear to have paid
Re: Why its important Cardiff City are relegated
Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:46 am
When we get relegated Tan will be off quicker than one if his lady friends could say 'scratch my balls'. His money is secured on our football club and there's no way he'll end up being out if pocket whichever way you look at it.
He may be a clown but he's not a fool (if that makes sense)
He may be a clown but he's not a fool (if that makes sense)