MEHMET DALMAN ANSWERS 'THE BURNING QUESTIONS'

Steve Tucker asks our chairman the questions the fans want answered

Friday 6th Feb 2015

Question

Many fans are expressing fears the club could actually be relegated. Given the nosedive in results, can the Board guarantee action would take place to ensure that does not happen?

Answer

Dalman: “I’m not worried about relegation so much, but I’m worried about our performances.

“Do we think about promotion? Do we think about relegation? Whilst it is mathematically possible to be promoted I will hope and whilst it is possible we could be relegated I will be concerned.

“I look at each side of the equation.”

Question

After the home shirts were returned to blue supporters were promised a new badge with the Bluebird prominent. When might we see this? Who will design it?

Answer

Club answer: “We are working on the badge and we are nor far off it. There will be something in the very near future. It’s being designed in house with a strong emphasis on club traditions, regarding the Bluebird.”

Question

We were told the time is not right for Vincent Tan to turn his loans into equity at the club. Is the plan still for that to happen at some point in the future?

Answer

Dalman: The answer is yes. We are in the middle of trying to find out who we owe money to. We need some clarity on our balance sheet.

“But we have always said when the time is right we will do it. But I would advise Vincent Tan the time is not right at present.

"The appropriate time it is the intention to do that.”

Question

Was Glenn Roeder paid for recommending Russell Slade?.

Answer

Does Roeder still have a role at Cardiff City? No.

He never had a role. He was a guest here.

We invite football players and managers here the whole time. It’s the culture

Question

How many season tickets does the club hope for/anticipate to sell next season?

Answer

Dalman: “As many as possible. We have made sure the prices are at a very competitive level. Making it affordable has been at the forefront of our minds.

“Our strategy has been to bring the price down and try to fill up the seats in the stadium.”

Question

Does the signing of more unsung players like Scott Malone, Alex Revel, Lee Peltier and Stuart O’Keefe signal that the days of big money signings is over?

Answer

Dalman: “No, it’s about getting the optimal amount and quality of players for the wage bill we have. We still have expensive and very good players in the squad.“We are trying to bring in players to complement that. At the end of the season the discussion might be different, but let’s wait and see how we do before then.”

Question

Is the cost-cutting the first step of Vincent Tan lessening his financial input and perhaps eventually departing the club?

Answer

Dalman: "No absolutely not. Ken Choo and I don’t want to be a burden on Vincent Tan though.

"We want to run this club without having to go to the owner for an injection of capital.

"That’s how every business should be run. I run my business on a profitable basis.

"I don’t run it with people having to subsidise me.

“But Vincent has always been very supportive from a financial point of view. I cannot complain. His passion and desire is undiminished too.”

Question

Is there any link between the change back to the traditional blue shirts and the implementation of cost cutting measures so soon afterwards?

Answer

Dalman: We worked tirelessly to ensure we had a smooth transition back to blue.

It was right for us to do.“But there is no link between the blue and the cost-cutting. We hope people do not think that.”

Question

The club announced it introduced a transfer committee to oversee the new arrivals, headed by Vincent Tan and Mehmet Dalman. Is that system in place... and if so is it working, given a host of players arrived and then left before they barely even kicked a ball?

Answer

Dalman: “The transfer committee is not new. It’s been here since I became chairman. The committee does not make footballing decisions. It makes decisions that affect things generally.

“Particularly on the economic side. The football side is made by the manager. We have always stuck to that.

“Ole wanted to bring players on board and we supported him. He wanted a large squad of players so we agreed to that. We permitted that.

“It was not a question of players being right or wrong. I think many were talented so we hope they go on and do well.”

Question

Why have a number of players, like Juan Cala, Guido Burgstaller, Kim Bo-Kyung, Magnus Eikrem and Jo Inge Berget, had their contacts terminated and been left free to join other clubs without Cardiff even attempting to get some kind of transfer fee for them?

Answer

Dalman: "Some of the players had their contracts terminated because it got them off our wage bill. Some have not gone free and some have gone free.

“The fact we were able to have a friendly dialogue with these guys and bring the costs to an end was a major advantage for us.

"It was a economical decision. We needed to cut the size of the squad.”

Question

Why have some of the club’s most skillful players, the likes of Mats Daehli, Ravel Morrison, Kim Bo-Kyung and Javi Guerra, been permitted to leave at a time when the side is so evidently struggling?

Answer

Dalman: “We are not talking about individual players. Some are on loan and some of them have gone, some of them did not want to be here... and some of them we did not want to be here.

“Not because they are bad guys, but just what we talked about when it came to optimising the squad. Some of them were very expensive and you have to make those hard decisions."

Question

The manager himself has said Cardiff aren’t ‘shopping at Harrods any more’ and the budget needs to be brought into line. In light of those cost-cutting measures what is the ambition/expectation of the club this season and moving forward?

Answer

Dalman: “Our wage bill has been very high. For a Championship club we have an enormously high wage bill. Even when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was here it was always our intention to trim it to a manageable level.

“We are going through it and used this January transfer window to get to a sustainable level for the Championship.

“We are not going out there spending money because we already have very good players. The quality of our players is still very good. There’s no doubting that.

“It’s about getting the squad to the right size. You can’t keep everyone happy. We are getting to the tighter group that Russell wants.

“We are supporting him in that. It’s not about shopping in Harrods it’s about getting the optimal resources together to meet our needs.

“Provided it is mathematically possible, our ambition remains the same this season and that is to get to the Premier League. We know we are going through a bad patch, we can’t hide that, but it is important we stick together and see how we come out of it.



Ken Choo (chief executive): “For any club relegated from the Premier League, it is just a matter of time before they start trimming to conform with financial fair play.

“You have to do that or you will not make it. We must trim sensibly. Russell has to sit down with us and we look at the type of players we must let go and we bring in these quality players to conform with things.

As chief executive my view is we have to do it sooner rather than in due course. We cannot want another year and then find our budgets don’t meet.

“The sooner we make the hard decisions and put the club on a firmer footing the better, which makes going forward easier.

“In the premier League you can buy more expensive players. We are buying up to the maximum, we cannot push it any further. We have to conform with the rules. After what we’ve done, we are okay.”

Question

Is there any plan perhaps to bring someone in to work next to Slade on the football side?

Answer

Dalman: “That is entirely up to Russell Slade. If he wants to bring more people to help him on the coaching side I’m sure he will have our full support.”

Question

Many supporters have expressed discontent and anger at the quality of the football the team is currently playing. Does the Board understand/share these concerns?

Answer

Dalman: “We share the concern that we are not winning games, but we will be patient through this transition period while the manager is getting to the type of football he wants to play.”

Question


Manager Russell Slade was appointed in October with a personal recommendation from Vincent Tan. Is the board currently happy with the job he is doing at the club and results achieved?

ANSWER

Mehment Dalman (Cardiff chairman): “The board is obviously mindful of the results. We are not happy with the results, but we are fully behind the manager.”

Thanks for posting GAVIN.
I quite liked the frankness of Mr. Choo and Mr. Dalman.
It seems they want to run it as a normal business without pestering VT.

No problem Jupiter, a very interesting and informative piece. Answers loads of questions that we often wonder about.

Dalman speaks very very well. Wish all media interviews ref the club were answered by Dalman.

Interesting and cant argue with much of it.

Club answer: “We are working on the badge and we are nor far off it. There will be something in the very near future. It’s being designed in house with a strong emphasis on club traditions, regarding the Bluebird.”

Sounds like a disaster

Great speaker Dalman but I remember when he was asked in Jan/Feb last year about relegation and he replied,"Thats not an option"and virtually that we wont be relegated.

Dalmans,not a fan of Slades.

Great speaker Dalman but I remember when he was asked in Jan/Feb last year about relegation and he replied,"Thats not an option"and virtually that we wont be relegated.

Dalmans,not a fan of Slades.

If you were a betting man annis, how many months do you give slade? I think he will be gone by march

Great speaker Dalman but I remember when he was asked in Jan/Feb last year about relegation and he replied,"Thats not an option"and virtually that we wont be relegated.

Dalmans,not a fan of Slades.

Actually that is a really good point, two consecutive relegations would be a huge failure for his reign.

Frankness, openness and honesty, Whilst I still don't trust VT, I think these were fair and good answers.

As a fan it's hard to take the shite we're going through and don't think Slade is anywhere near up to the job. As was posted before now that he has stamped his mark on the team its time to DELIVER and he needs to well in February with the six games we have....But even though they will give him until the end of season I think the board knows that he's not up to it, if he has a good Feb then he may yet prove me wrong but I can't see it. I think we'll finish mid to lower end of table and Slade will be sacked at end of season - which may also explain some of the cut price signings....

As a businessman though, I did like the comments bout managing finances and not having to run to VT to keep bailing us out. all too often in the past we've had poor financial management and nearly gone to the wall!!

I just hope that on the pitch things turn around and off the pitch we finally get to the bottom of who EXACTLY we owe money to!!!

Good news about the badge too - I'm hopeful on that one, but as I hated Sam's badge change AND The awful beermat we have now, I do hope its something close to what we've had - Our longstanding badge was and STILL is perfect...

Great speaker Dalman but I remember when he was asked in Jan/Feb last year about relegation and he replied,"Thats not an option"and virtually that we wont be relegated.

Dalmans,not a fan of Slades.

That last sentence gives me more hope than anything else!

Got to say I'm none the wiser. He answered the questions I already knew the answer to, and answered a few like a good politician. He hopes for promotion and worries about relegation. Same as all of us. Debt to equity when the time is right, I think we already heard that before. Was Roeder paid for recommending Slade, still don't know. How many season tickets do the club hope to sell? As many as possible. Why did we get rid of some of our better players. To reduce costs. I like Dalman and think he will do his best for the club, but Tucker could have asked me most of those questions and I could have answered them for him.

Given the nosedive in results, can the Board guarantee action would take place to ensure that does not happen?
This was not answered at all!

Given the nosedive in results, can the Board guarantee action would take place to ensure that does not happen?
This was not answered at all!

The bit I liked was that they were not happy with the results but fully behind the manager. That's Slade gone then.

Given the nosedive in results, can the Board guarantee action would take place to ensure that does not happen?
This was not answered at all!

The bit I liked was that they were not happy with the results but fully behind the manager. That's Slade gone then.

I think he only has tomorrow to pull the rabbit out of the hat !

If we get beat 3 - 0 or so, he should go anyway IMHO.

Great speaker Dalman but I remember when he was asked in Jan/Feb last year about relegation and he replied,"Thats not an option"and virtually that we wont be relegated.

Dalmans,not a fan of Slades.

If you were a betting man annis, how many months do you give slade? I think he will be gone by march

I reckon if we lost all the games up to and incl Wolves home game,Slade would then def be gone.

Dalman has no time for him,Tan will start listening to Dalmans advice.

Slades a dead man walking, it's just a matter of when, all the best are back in work though now, we missed out on some really good Managers when we appointed Slade

Speaking well won't get you promoted or save you from relegation just a smoke screen for VT - none of them really care or worry about the club any other manager would of been sacked by now - when it all goes tits up and TV sells dalman will be long gone - still earning millions - so he's not going to tell you what really going on when they need the fans backing - of future season tickets - club being stripped ready for sharp exit end off these are powerful money men not ten bob Billy's

you all know tan has told him what to say, make everything look rosey

Gave up reading when I realised he had some good bull shitting answers in there.

Good read that

Speaking well won't get you promoted or save you from relegation just a smoke screen for VT - none of them really care or worry about the club any other manager would of been sacked by now - when it all goes tits up and TV sells dalman will be long gone - still earning millions - so he's not going to tell you what really going on when they need the fans backing - of future season tickets - club being stripped ready for sharp exit end off these are powerful money men not ten bob Billy's

Spot on Mallo.