THE UNDERCOVER FAN TALKS CARDIFF - what has gone wrong?

Saturday 1st March 2014.


It was the summer of 2010 and Cardiff City's long history of over ambitious chairmen and accompanying financial mismanagement eventually came home to roost. The club was facing its fourth winding up order in 6 months due to an unpaid tax bill. In stepped Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan, and as if over night, nobody was talking about the club's bleak financial outlook anymore, but instead, how big the club could become.

Three and a half years and a rebranded club later, there is severe discontent amongst the Cardiff City faithful. This discontent initially had only been seen in small pockets, however it became widespread on Saturday afternoon as Cardiff were put to the sword by an emphatic scoreline of 4-0 at the hands fellow newcomers Hull City.

It was as if Nikica Jelavic's stooping header to put the Tigers up 3-0 was the antidote to the spell the Malaysian money man had put onto the Cardiff City faithful since he started his tenure and they instantly awoken.

The Croatian's strike, just before the hour mark, was the catalyst for thousands upon thousands of fans to leave for the exits. The fans that remained either watched on in bemusement as Jelavic celebrated with his team mates, ironically clad in blue, wondering how it all went wrong - where as the rest broke into a continuous song of defiance singing "we will always be blue".

So what did go wrong? How could a man implement the radical rebranding, on pitch interfering and off the field dramas that have come with the Vincent Tan regime seemingly under the noses of a fan base once famed for its passionate and vehement defence of all things Cardiff City?

I think the club has become the victim of a footballing parasitic attack sporned by a variety of factors all coming together at one precise moment which ended up in a very expensive game of "keeping up with the Jones' ". I think the club was carefully chosen at the exact specific time where the fans were at their weakest, and in turn become more than a willing host for footballs latest phenomenon - the foreign investor.

This started in the summer of 2000 when Sam Hammam took over the reigns at the then League 2 club. Mr Hammam was the charismatic Lebanese businessman that changed the Cardiff City faithful's attitude towards their own club and set the tone for over a decade of insatiable hunger for success.

Hammam promised the people of Cardiff the world and no longer were they satisfied with being a modest club from South Wales, but instead "bigger than Barcelona", "best team in wales", "the whole nation are Cardiff fans" were the bizarre soundbites coming from Ninian Park - seemingly trying to convince anyone and everyone that would listen that they belonged amongst footballs elite - amazing for a club that hadnt been there for half a century.

Sam, true to his word, guided the club to a double promotion to the Championship and a new stadium was seen in the Capital, this time delivered by new owner Peter Ridsdale who, like Sam before him, also continued the grand promises and lavish spending adding to the growing expectations of the Cardiff faithful.

A series of cup heartaches, near misses and play off defeats only looked to spread the hunger for success and the insatiable and unquenchable thirst for the kudos of being one of the big clubs took a major hold - and the Championship was no longer seen as good enough.

To rub salt into the grizzly wounds of the previous seasons play-off final defeat to Blackpool, bitter rivals Swansea City, who Sam Hammam once famously stated "don't have a cat in hells chance of making the Premier League" swiftly swept through the leagues with a swashbuckling brand of football and an ethos of sensible spending - and achieved what every Cardiff fan had been dreaming of for over a decade - promotion to the Premier League.

That proved to be the final straw, the fans were now primed for a carefully orchestrated attack which would end in the club becoming almost unrecognisable to the one that was proudly established 115 years ago.

Vincent Tan took over from Peter Ridsdale and was an instant hero, with Malaysian flags waving aloft from the stands. Even when his radical plans for the clubs future were announced, the initial anger quickly gave way to giddy excitement, punch drunk at the thought of joining the elite of English football. The clubs colours were handed over for incineration, the clubs loved badge replaced with a red dragon and the once proud bluebird reduced to a mere afterthought on the clubs new crest - all with little opposition.

Message boards, TV interviews and radio phone-ins are alight this week with finger pointing toward the Malaysian owner some two years after the fact, however I cant help feel that there is more to the blame game that meets the eye. It seems the promise of success was put ahead of the clubs heritage by everyone at the club and the current plight of Cardiff City is a burden that everyone must share, including the fans.

The club is now certainly a shining example of the pit-falls of the modern footballs need for instant success.

By the undercover fan.

The truth hurts, suck it up 90% of you!!!!!

Who is this mysterious poster? not a bad post, though

I'm sure we will all have a good chuckle over Tans reign when the dust settles.

Truth hurts but something needs doing!

Great read. Hope you post again dude.

Looking back we all got duped into thinking above our station. I believed Sam when he said we could be like Barcelona, with a unique the identity Catalan/Welsh and the catchment area.

All football fans are in essence, dreamers. The bubble has burst now, we didn't realise we were living the paradise watching our team win, lose or draw with our traditions intact

Its true there was a perfect storm of events that led to all this sadly

Great read. Hope you post again dude.

Looking back we all got duped into thinking above our station. I believed Sam when he said we could be like Barcelona, with a unique the identity Catalan/Welsh and the catchment area.

All football fans are in essence, dreamers. The bubble has burst now, we didn't realise we were living the paradise watching our team win, lose or draw with our traditions intact

What Sam, (and Tan, really), did not seem to realise was that we have a national team in Wales, which they don't have in Catalonia. People in Wales support clubs, as they do in England. Besides, even in Barcelona, Espanyol have a good fan base, mainly among the pro-Spanish population. National identity is a complex issue.

Great read. Hope you post again dude.

Looking back we all got duped into thinking above our station. I believed Sam when he said we could be like Barcelona, with a unique the identity Catalan/Welsh and the catchment area.

All football fans are in essence, dreamers. The bubble has burst now, we didn't realise we were living the paradise watching our team win, lose or draw with our traditions intact

What Sam, (and Tan, really), did not seem to realise was that we have a national team in Wales, which they don't have in Catalonia. People in Wales support clubs, as they do in England. Besides, even in Barcelona, Espanyol have a good fan base, mainly among the pro-Spanish population. National identity is a complex issue.

true mate every populist speech by our chairmen past & present has been spouted now, it was all bollux and we all should be wiser for it. I'm not a kid anymore, i'm not that 16 year old that got hooked by visions of grandeur & propaganda.

Well I've actually enjoyed it....all those Wembley trips.....what a roller coaster it's been.

......Better to be King for a night than Scmuck for a lifetime

See you at the lane today.

Well I've actually enjoyed it....all those Wembley trips.....what a roller coaster it's been.

......Better to be King for a night than Scmuck for a lifetime

See you at the lane today.

Worth £100m of debt, uncertain future and losing the colours and bluebird?

The tone of the piece has a touch of smugness and highlights the achievements of the noisey neighbours, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was written by a Jack. I really don't know why anyone would blame anything on the general support, the normal punter so to speak, all we are able to do is support the team. We are all lead to a certain extent by our loyalty, some would say blind stupidity
How anyone could single out Cardiff for having some sort of blind desire to make it to the top is laughable, we all know that 99% of clubs and supporters would have done exactly the same, given the circumstances. The OP, makes out that we were all content with our lot, until Sam came along, when in reality, every Cardiff supporter knew that we were a club that had massively under achieved. Name any clubs of our size, that hasn't been in the top league in recent times. All we all wanted was a crack in a league where a club of our size should rightfully be aiming for.
I do put a certain amount of blame on Directors like Steve Borley and others at the club, who are supposedly dyed in the wool Cardiff supporters and self appointed fans leaders, who went along with the re-brand and made sure that the fan base followed, they all know who they are

The tone of the piece has a touch of smugness and highlights the achievements of the noisey neighbours, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was written by a Jack. I really don't know why anyone would blame anything on the general support, the normal punter so to speak, all we are able to do is support the team. We are all lead to a certain extent by our loyalty, some would say blind stupidity
How anyone could single out Cardiff for having some sort of blind desire to make it to the top is laughable, we all know that 99% of clubs and supporters would have done exactly the same, given the circumstances. The OP, makes out that we were all content with our lot, until Sam came along, when in reality, every Cardiff supporter knew that we were a club that had massively under achieved. Name any clubs of our size, that hasn't been in the top league in recent times. All we all wanted was a crack in a league where a club of our size should rightfully be aiming for.
I do put a certain amount of blame on Directors like Steve Borley and others at the club, who are supposedly dyed in the wool Cardiff supporters and self appointed fans leaders, who went along with the re-brand and made sure that the fan base followed, they all know who they are

The achievements of Swansea undoubtedly made the rebrand more appealing, not many can deny that.

As for unable to blame the supporters... He backed down and released a statement saying the rebrand would not go ahead. It was only reversed due to fan pressure to revert the decision back to the rebrand. Some conveniently forget that.

You also say 99% have an appetite for success in which they would act the same? I wholeheartedly disagree. I shall give an example....

You guys wanted Tom Ince and bid £8m. We as fans decided that was too much and hoped Huw wouldnt match your bid even though being £40 million in the black... While you guys were claiming "blowing others out of the water" while £100 million in the red. The mentality of both sets of fans is vastly different.

Well I've actually enjoyed it....all those Wembley trips.....what a roller coaster it's been.

......Better to be King for a night than Scmuck for a lifetime

See you at the lane today.

Worth £100m of debt, uncertain future and losing the colours and bluebird?

The debt will go, what uncertain future?, colours, yes the majority thought so and the bluebird hasn't gone anywhere

Poor argument Roathie both inaccurate and illiterate. Some points are valid I agree but its obviously a poor attempt at belittling City fans whilst making Swansea out to be the shining light of football

Poor argument Roathie both inaccurate and illiterate. Some points are valid I agree but its obviously a poor attempt at belittling City fans whilst making Swansea out to be the shining light of football

Ive just stated facts. Nothing poor or illiterate about it

Smacks of someone really disliking the truths he is reading.

He backed down, you guys pushed it through. Simple as that.

The debt will go, what uncertain future?, colours, yes the majority thought so and the bluebird hasn't gone anywhere

Where will the debt go?

The bluebird is now a tiny part of a badge that was put on afterwards to appease fans. To say it hasnt gone anywhere is fanciful

Well written argument, which deep down, Cardiff fans cannot argue with.

A well written piece......

Well done Roathy, even handed but with that signature degree of smugness.

Well written argument, which deep down, Cardiff fans cannot argue with.

But you always argue chuckles dear.

The tone of the piece has a touch of smugness and highlights the achievements of the noisey neighbours, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was written by a Jack. I really don't know why anyone would blame anything on the general support, the normal punter so to speak, all we are able to do is support the team. We are all lead to a certain extent by our loyalty, some would say blind stupidity
How anyone could single out Cardiff for having some sort of blind desire to make it to the top is laughable, we all know that 99% of clubs and supporters would have done exactly the same, given the circumstances. The OP, makes out that we were all content with our lot, until Sam came along, when in reality, every Cardiff supporter knew that we were a club that had massively under achieved. Name any clubs of our size, that hasn't been in the top league in recent times. All we all wanted was a crack in a league where a club of our size should rightfully be aiming for.
I do put a certain amount of blame on Directors like Steve Borley and others at the club, who are supposedly dyed in the wool Cardiff supporters and self appointed fans leaders, who went along with the re-brand and made sure that the fan base followed, they all know who they are

At last someone that actually tells it like it is rather than a load of
sycophants that were quite happy to revel in our promotion then turned against the Manager, Chairman, owner. players, the tea lady then each other when they ran out of people to have a dig at!.
These are the same people that snapped up tickets faster than a rat up a drainpipe for our three Wembley appearances but as soon as we began to struggle theses so called CARDIIF CITY fans started sticking the knife in at every opportunity.

I have been following Cardiff City since 1969 and with the exception of the 1971 season when we just missed out on promotion to the old first division these past 7 years have been unbelievable so no matter what happens in the future I am ready to go again.

Well I've actually enjoyed it....all those Wembley trips.....what a roller coaster it's been.

......Better to be King for a night than Scmuck for a lifetime

See you at the lane today.

Worth £100m of debt, uncertain future and losing the colours and bluebird?

Look jack....I'm powerless over what happens with the good and the great within our club.
I just enjoy it a game at a time.....in the bigger picture it's not hugely important in the scheme of things.

Really enjoyed being at the spurs today......better performance from our team.

Look jack....I'm powerless over what happens with the good and the great within our club.
I just enjoy it a game at a time.....in the bigger picture it's not hugely important in the scheme of things.

Really enjoyed being at the spurs today......better performance from our team.

Thats not what I asked.

Look jack....I'm powerless over what happens with the good and the great within our club.
I just enjoy it a game at a time.....in the bigger picture it's not hugely important in the scheme of things.

Really enjoyed being at the spurs today......better performance from our team.

Thats not what I asked.

It's not a mater of is it worth it.....that's a dumb ass question.
We are where we are....so go with the flow.