Shocked,betrayed and bitterly disappointed

Bluebird's Eye View: Why I've been left shocked and betrayed by former Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay after 'Textgate' scandal


Tuesday Aug 26, 2014

By Sian Matheson
Columnist Sian Matheson gives her view on the latest controversy surrounding Cardiff City



Shocked, betrayed and bitterly disappointed.

I think that sums up my feelings towards our former much-loved manager Malky Mackay over the ‘textgate’ scandal which scuppered his chances of a return to management with Crystal Palace.

Although, I’d only met him a couple of times, it’s not as though I knew him in any way, but Mackay was a modern-day football idol who took our club to the Premier League.

On the pitch, he gave us a galvanised squad who were one of the most committed sides I’d ever seen in the Cardiff shirt. He actually made them work as a team. The way he made the players thank the fans for turning up at every game, both home and away, he seemed like a genuinely nice bloke who you could easily go for a pint with.

Now, looking back after last week’s revelations, those memories seem somewhat tainted.

When Vincent Tan told Mackay to ‘resign or be sacked’ everyone knew there must be some underlying business that we were not privy to (incidentally, who leaked that email out?).

I really feel, as a fan, I’ve been duped by Mackay and used to a certain extent. He was the most popular manager since Eddie May for me and he achieved what no other Cardiff manager had done in my lifetime – took us to the top flight.

We’ve yet to hear from Tan in person but, again, as we have all read I’m sure, Mackay’s hostilities are claimed to have flown his way too.

And, let me stress I am not a Tan supporter before I get chastised, but I must say good on Tan for kicking Mackay out.





Whatever you think of our owner, and no, I haven’t forgotten the much-maligned rebrand or incidents such as employing his son’s 23-year-old Kazakhstani friend as Iain Moody’s head of recruitment replacement, you have to applaud him for taking a stand against racism at his club.

There is simply no place for racism, sexism or homophobia in society. And, whilst I realise football is still thought of as a ‘jobs for the boys’ type of situation, I find it incredible that a 42-year-old man, our former leader, justified those offensive texts as just ‘banter’ in the LMA statement he sanctioned.

And, whats even more baffling is it appears now that Tan has endured a rough ride from fans.

He did say the truth will come out and there was more to the sacking of the Mackay and Moody affair.

But Tan was the perfect scapegoat for both the media and fans. He was everything that appeared wrong with the modern game – rich, a foreigner with no experience of running a football club, Then there was his appearance – those sunglasses, gloves and the long coat, the high-waisted trousers, a perfect James Bond-esque villain.



Then he seemingly sacks the popular manager and stirs up even more animosity.

Watch: Vincent Tan slams Malky Mackay


And, aside from Tan’s wrath over the alleged ‘poor spending’, namely the signing of Dane Andreas Cornelius, it appears there were other issues involving Mackay.

Although, after the emotional rollercoaster of the last week, I am increasingly beginning to feel that us fans are just pawns in the long-running battle, which has become more than personal, between two feuding grown-up men.

I feel like we’re supposed to pick a side, but after being let down in the Mackay camp and still feeling animosity towards our owner over the rebrand which divided our fanbase, quite simply, I’m just fed up of the whole thing.

The only side I want to pick is the football, and I sincerely hope that the on-the-pitch battle is the winner in the end.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his side must rise above all of the sideshow nonsense and start picking up the points again soon.

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat, courtesy of an own goal, at Wolves was a bit unlucky. Although, after the week Cardiff had off the pitch, I didn’t expect anything else!

It’s Capital One Cup action at Port Vale tonight and a victory could spark a nice little cup run to raise all our spirits before the Bluebirds visit last season’s relegated friends at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

I just hope OGS returns Kenwyne Jones and John Brayford to the starting lineup for the Fulham game as we could do with their power and presence in what could be a tough away test.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Truth comes out eventually - when Malky wanted employment thats when things needed to be put to the FA and public.

i fear that more things wil come out in coming weeks

How has Tan made a stand against racism? I thought the texts were only found in March, 3 months after he was sacked?
If this is true (and I have not had access to the dossier/reports that were sent to the FA, unlike some on here), but it would then appear Tan is using racism as an excuse for sacking him, and the real reason is something else.
A proper timeline of events is needed to clear that up.

If Tan was offended by being called a chinky then should he not also be sacking (removing the season tickets and membership) of all those fans who abused him, by calling him a w****r? Unless he is a w****r of course - with all those kids I am surprised he had the time.

We're not only pawns in a long running battle between Tan & Malky, as Sian Mattheson puts it, we're also pawns for Tan & his ridiculous rebrand.

I have the same feelings towards MM who I believed was a bright young manager with a big career ahead of him. I was shocked that someone of his status placed himself in such a vulnerable position by making the comments that he is alleged to have made, and making them in such a way that there was every chance that they would end up in the public domain.
I think that he is probably more guilty of being stupid rather than of being a racist, and like many people today, needs to realise that times have changed, and what was once considered humour is no longer acceptable.
Many years ago, I was as guilty as anyone when it came to telling and laughing at jokes that we now find offensive. I laughed at programmes like Till Death Us Do Part and Love Thy Neighbour, but we have moved on from those days, and I respect the fact that people will not tolerate these sort of views any more, and so I try and behave in such a way so as not to cause offence to anyone.
There are a few on this forum who probably would never consider themselves to be racist(you probably know who I mean), but still behave in the way that many did back in the 70's and 80's. I disagree with much of what is now considered to be "politically correct" but comments that could be considered racist are a definite no go area.
I think if Malky is guilty of the allegations made, he should serve some sort of ban, but once he has served his punishment, he will hopefully realise that even banter is no longer tolerated if there is a hint of racism involved, and he should be given the opportunity to resume his career.

Need to do a bit more homework Tans Son may have had the title of painter but for some now obvious reason he spent all day in the offices sifting and looking at the IT comings and goings.

Load of bollox we've all said things or summin like tha in the past tan trying to take flak off himself fickle fans ha bollox and full of shit rip bluebirds

Still here polititions using the phrase (welshed on the Deal) that seems to be acceptable.
Whereby fancy a chinky is now deemed racist.

Still here polititions using the phrase (welshed on the Deal) that seems to be acceptable.
Whereby fancy a chinky is now deemed racist.

This has been covered before. It's "welch", nothing to do with the Welsh

Load of bollox we've all said things or summin like tha in the past tan trying to take flak off himself fickle fans ha bollox and full of shit rip bluebirds

......que?

Still here polititions using the phrase (welshed on the Deal) that seems to be acceptable.
Whereby fancy a chinky is now deemed racist.

This has been covered before. It's "welch", nothing to do with the Welsh

Okay....fair enough, what about Taffy.

Its the recurring theme of this forum over the last 10 months, Malky and red. The flawed reasoning that "my enemy's enemy is my friend"

Tan = Bad
Malky= Good

As a mass of supporters we never mustered any resistance for the first 16 months. Sulking on message boards doesn't count.

There was a catalyst whether it was Sam had been paid off or a reality check that the premier league wasn't much fun, the resistance grew at the same time of the Malky troubles. Somehow Malky turned in Che Guevara even though he embraced the fruits of the rebrand more than anyone.
So now we are finding out our hero wasn't such a great leader or role model and we backed the wrong horse. This leaves a lot fans shocked,betrayed and bitterly disappointed.

If i could be bothered it would be good to correlate the anti Ole threads with the Tan bad, Malky good posters.........Its just too polarized and confused on here.

Malky understood the media better than Tan and played it well, Moody was a ex-journalist, the endless briefings "why hasn't Marshall scored" class line, we all guessed that was never said.

Looks like Vinny is having the last laugh now though and we don't know how to react.

Strange atmosphere at Wolves, may have been the ground, or the shit play, but strange

and i wonder if there were back handers aswell to go with the above case. i think so ?

Its the recurring theme of this forum over the last 10 months, Malky and red. The flawed reasoning that "my enemy's enemy is my friend"

Tan = Bad
Malky= Good

As a mass of supporters we never mustered any resistance for the first 16 months. Sulking on message boards doesn't count.

There was a catalyst whether it was Sam had been paid off or a reality check that the premier league wasn't much fun, the resistance grew at the same time of the Malky troubles. Somehow Malky turned in Che Guevara even though he embraced the fruits of the rebrand more than anyone.
So now we are finding out our hero wasn't such a great leader or role model and we backed the wrong horse. This leaves a lot fans shocked,betrayed and bitterly disappointed.

If i could be bothered it would be good to correlate the anti Ole threads with the Tan bad, Malky good posters.........Its just too polarized and confused on here.

Malky understood the media better than Tan and played it well, Moody was a ex-journalist, the endless briefings "why hasn't Marshall scored" class line, we all guessed that was never said.

Looks like Vinny is having the last laugh now though and we don't know how to react.

Strange atmosphere at Wolves, may have been the ground, or the shit play, but strange

I believe there has been a confusion since the rebrand.

The rebrand was born and the reaction from what was a well known passionate fanbase just was like nothing. As one well known fan said "the reaction from the fans was nothing". That was perhaps the most confusing thing, practically nothing from the fans.

Then a mediocre season saw us walk away with the championship title. How we did that looking back is very confusing to believe. Ah well what the heck we are now in the premier so who cares.

Well we all started to care because we made a mess of it and we started to look for an escape goat. Thing was we were not too sure who to blame. We got behind the manager but did we? We cheered for him or did we, nothing to do with the rebrand was it. The manager went and suddenly the blue was in favour. Very confusing how the blue became flavour of the season.

Personally I dont think as a fanbase we know what to believe or think or want.

I have the same feelings towards MM who I believed was a bright young manager with a big career ahead of him. I was shocked that someone of his status placed himself in such a vulnerable position by making the comments that he is alleged to have made, and making them in such a way that there was every chance that they would end up in the public domain.
I think that he is probably more guilty of being stupid rather than of being a racist, and like many people today, needs to realise that times have changed, and what was once considered humour is no longer acceptable.
Many years ago, I was as guilty as anyone when it came to telling and laughing at jokes that we now find offensive. I laughed at programmes like Till Death Us Do Part and Love Thy Neighbour, but we have moved on from those days, and I respect the fact that people will not tolerate these sort of views any more, and so I try and behave in such a way so as not to cause offence to anyone.
There are a few on this forum who probably would never consider themselves to be racist(you probably know who I mean), but still behave in the way that many did back in the 70's and 80's. I disagree with much of what is now considered to be "politically correct" but comments that could be considered racist are a definite no go area.
I think if Malky is guilty of the allegations made, he should serve some sort of ban, but once he has served his punishment, he will hopefully realise that even banter is no longer tolerated if there is a hint of racism involved, and he should be given the opportunity to resume his career.

Absolutely spot on. Great post !!