A forum for all things Cardiff City
Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:40 pm
The agent did his job for Nantes and sold him, his job was done for them, no matter what we think of him.
The deal was complete.
The son of the agent was our employee and he arranged the plane for Sala after the deal was completed.
The agents can’t be done for the flight , that flight has already done by the courts, found him guilty . So he is responsible, but is totally skint.
The same company and planes were being used to take Warnock around while he worked for us.
We can’t sue Nantes as they were not responsible for the plane. The agent was hired to sell the player and that was it, job was complete.
This case is now going to cost our club way more than £20 mill.
I hope that money is well locked away and there to be paid as I can not see how we can continue to not pay after losing both cases.
Emiliano Sala was our player and registered with the Welsh FA.
None of this I have to say is Tans, but legally it’s our responsibility.
Sadly a family has been broken through this and Sala RIP.
And unbelievable tragedy.
Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:53 pm
GrangeEndStar wrote:Paul's legal advice in this has been valuable, the club revealed its potential direction of travel on the FIFA report and it's been confirmed today in the statement. A warning shot to Nantes that they will come off worse from a separate civil case where we will recover the transfer fee, costs and loss of earnings based on Vicarious responsibility and balance of probabilities, as Nantes are ultimately responsible for the tragedy.
It's complex though. What I don't understand is this. If we do have to pay the transfer fee, why isn't this from insurance as opposed from our own funds, which have been ringfenced for this? That's what insurance is for. So if we were sufficiently insured, why did we ringfence funds?
As said it is complex and when it is, always follow the money, it always leads to the truth. And the only truth I see here is that we can potentially sue Nantes for a lot of money as ultimately, it was their neglect that caused the crash.
From memory, because of the “over the weekend” timing of it. Sala hadn’t been insured by us. Not sure if it was an oversight or what.
Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:54 pm
Simplesimon wrote:GrangeEndStar wrote:Paul's legal advice in this has been valuable, the club revealed its potential direction of travel on the FIFA report and it's been confirmed today in the statement. A warning shot to Nantes that they will come off worse from a separate civil case where we will recover the transfer fee, costs and loss of earnings based on Vicarious responsibility and balance of probabilities, as Nantes are ultimately responsible for the tragedy.
It's complex though. What I don't understand is this. If we do have to pay the transfer fee, why isn't this from insurance as opposed from our own funds, which have been ringfenced for this? That's what insurance is for. So if we were sufficiently insured, why did we ringfence funds?
As said it is complex and when it is, always follow the money, it always leads to the truth. And the only truth I see here is that we can potentially sue Nantes for a lot of money as ultimately, it was their neglect that caused the crash.
From memory, because of the “over the weekend” timing of it. Sala hadn’t been insured by us. Not sure if it was an oversight or what.
That’s exactly what I was told.
Fri Aug 26, 2022 10:20 pm
We are now appealing to the Swiss Federal Court, this is the final appeal.
I did say months ago that there would be one final appeal, that would only be allowed if both parties had agreed to it before this appeal started
Fri Aug 26, 2022 10:27 pm
I won't reply to the above valid posts as it becomes an unreadable scroller. It sounds cold, but this is all about money, it always is. Fair enough. But the only principles here were offered by us. Safe flight and then a family trust fund.
Nantes offered neither and their statement today proves what they are really about. I note that they say they are 'delighted' with the outcome, as it is in their favour. Not very sensitive language, is it? Hmmm.
I can't stand MD but that said, he said agents behave like its the Wild West in dealings which is the way it's always been. But even that said, he's an investment banker and I know that world, it's exactly how it operates. He knows nothing about football but is an operator in this field for sure and will be driving this.
Sala was treated like a cash cow and still is. Goals = Money. We offered a regular safe flight but a serial dodgy dealer and Nantes owner caused his death. Would you risk putting £15m in banknotes to get delivered by an Uber to another country and across a sea in a crap plane? Od course not. But they did.
And tbh, I think we played the game but NW would have never have seen this outcome, this was McKay and Nantes fubar, the latter being beyond contempt and the formers owner as equally bent.
I'd like to see us sue and jail these pricks and give a part back to Sala's family and other deserving causes. As said,.it's complex, horrible but the only principles have been expressed by us.
And on top, I don't trust corrupt FIFA, who favoured Nantes and I don't trust CAS, as their in bed with FIFA.
Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:26 am
1980s Bluebird wrote:And rightly so he was a Cardiff City player
Rest in Peace Emiliano

Spot on
Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:04 am
Let’s all of us remember Emiliano Sala was a Cardiff City player RIP & at the end of the day a very sad & tragic story that has left a family devastated who must be hurting even more the longer this all goes on
Sat Aug 27, 2022 8:57 am
IF only the boy had taken the flight he was offered!!!
Hindsight a wonderful thing.
Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:10 am
Just so that I am totally clear here in respect to my opinion....
I agree with Annis 100%. Sala was, and always was, our player and it is correct and right that we pay FC Nantes the £15m we owe them - and I agree wholeheartedly with the CAS decision in that respect.
The issue I have is this...
If there is any connection between whoever organised that fateful flight and Nantes football club then we as a club can sue Nantes for (a) Loss of a £15m asset and (b) loss of revenue
If W.McKay or D.Henderson organised the flight on behalf of Nantes - then Nantes are vicariously liable for his actions - meaning we can sue Nantes.
But here is the thing, and a very big thing, If W.McKay son organised the fateful flight and he did so on behalf of CCFC then the same principal applies CCFC are vicariously liable for the actions of W.McKay son and the family of E.Sala could then technically sue CCFC for (a) his death (b) around 7 years loss of earnings as a professional footballer and (c) loss of future earnings and pension etc
So establishing who organised the flight here and whether they did so on behalf of Nantes (or CCFC) is in fact a very big issue.
Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:04 pm
Paul Keevil wrote:Just so that I am totally clear here in respect to my opinion....
I agree with Annis 100%. Sala was, and always was, our player and it is correct and right that we pay FC Nantes the £15m we owe them - and I agree wholeheartedly with the CAS decision in that respect.
The issue I have is this...
If there is any connection between whoever organised that fateful flight and Nantes football club then we as a club can sue Nantes for (a) Loss of a £15m asset and (b) loss of revenue
If W.McKay or D.Henderson organised the flight on behalf of Nantes - then Nantes are vicariously liable for his actions - meaning we can sue Nantes.
But here is the thing, and a very big thing, If W.McKay son organised the fateful flight and he did so on behalf of CCFC then the same principal applies CCFC are vicariously liable for the actions of W.McKay son and the family of E.Sala could then technically sue CCFC for (a) his death (b) around 7 years loss of earnings as a professional footballer and (c) loss of future earnings and pension etc
So establishing who organised the flight here and whether they did so on behalf of Nantes (or CCFC) is in fact a very big issue.
Very clearly explained Paul.... could McKay have acted solely on behalf of ES? Because didn't city offer him a commercial flight but offer was turned down apparently... guess it will come out who arranged flight but if city offered commercial one? Surely its either nante or ES himself who asked McKay to arrange plane..
Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:13 pm
Paul Keevil wrote:Just so that I am totally clear here in respect to my opinion....
I agree with Annis 100%. Sala was, and always was, our player and it is correct and right that we pay FC Nantes the £15m we owe them - and I agree wholeheartedly with the CAS decision in that respect.
The issue I have is this...
If there is any connection between whoever organised that fateful flight and Nantes football club then we as a club can sue Nantes for (a) Loss of a £15m asset and (b) loss of revenue
If W.McKay or D.Henderson organised the flight on behalf of Nantes - then Nantes are vicariously liable for his actions - meaning we can sue Nantes.
But here is the thing, and a very big thing, If W.McKay son organised the fateful flight and he did so on behalf of CCFC then the same principal applies CCFC are vicariously liable for the actions of W.McKay son and the family of E.Sala could then technically sue CCFC for (a) his death (b) around 7 years loss of earnings as a professional footballer and (c) loss of future earnings and pension etc
So establishing who organised the flight here and whether they did so on behalf of Nantes (or CCFC) is in fact a very big issue.
The club statement says they will ultimately sue Nantes and its agents who caused the crash. That suggests that Cardiff didn't instruct McKay to arrange the flight and so Nantes couldn't sue us vicariously.
I'd still like to know more about the insurance. Some are saying we had none but I just can't see it, especially as the source is that Daya clown. Maybe the insurance won't pay out as it was an illegal flight and that's why we've had to put the money aside. I'm sure Sala would have had his own insurance too which maybe nullified for the same reason. Who knows? But it seems to me there's more to this than meets the eye otherwise we wouldn't have said we will go after Nantes and its agents.
The sad thing about all of this is that if Emiliano would have just used the regular flight we offered, the young man would be with us today.
Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:24 pm
IF and that's a big IF anything slightly good has come out of this it's that this sneaky grey area has been blown open so hopefully this tragedy doesn't happen again.
My question is why would City offer the boy a commercial flight and a private flight? Hence why my opinion is that someone outside City booked the fateful flight.
Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:55 pm
Guys if the flight was illegal, 99% sure it was, then no insurance company is going to pay out.
If so there is no money to chase.
Tue Mar 31, 2026 9:23 am
Remember how low Tan went and Denied Emiliano Sala was even our player
Tue Mar 31, 2026 10:01 am
Paul Keevil wrote:Just so that I am totally clear here in respect to my opinion....
I agree with Annis 100%. Sala was, and always was, our player and it is correct and right that we pay FC Nantes the £15m we owe them - and I agree wholeheartedly with the CAS decision in that respect.
The issue I have is this...
If there is any connection between whoever organised that fateful flight and Nantes football club then we as a club can sue Nantes for (a) Loss of a £15m asset and (b) loss of revenue
If W.McKay or D.Henderson organised the flight on behalf of Nantes - then Nantes are vicariously liable for his actions - meaning we can sue Nantes.
But here is the thing, and a very big thing, If W.McKay son organised the fateful flight and he did so on behalf of CCFC then the same principal applies CCFC are vicariously liable for the actions of W.McKay son and the family of E.Sala could then technically sue CCFC for (a) his death (b) around 7 years loss of earnings as a professional footballer and (c) loss of future earnings and pension etc
So establishing who organised the flight here and whether they did so on behalf of Nantes (or CCFC) is in fact a very big issue.
That is why I think he lost
If the deal between City and Nantes was done then I don't see how the agent organised the flight on Nantes behalf
We offered Sala a flight and he turned it down and said he would organise his own travel
So I'm assuming he went to his agent and asked him to make travel arrangements
So the agent surely is operating on behalf of his player rather than any club and I said earlier Cardiff City probably knew more about the flight than Nantes did
Warnock is also friends with Mckay and has worked with him a lot
I just don’t get how they can say the agent booked the flight on behalf of Nantes
Unless Nantes told the club that they would organise the flight
Which I doubt they did
Sun Apr 05, 2026 7:29 am
Very surprised at the lack of a statement from the club.
Wondering if Tan has realised he has been led up the garden path. His reputation is in tatters and his ego must have taken a hell of a battering.
Hopefully he does the right thing and sells up now.
Sun Apr 05, 2026 7:40 am
Paul Keevil wrote:Forever Blue wrote:CAS ordered Cardiff City to pay the transfer fee to FC Nantes and sentenced Cardiff to a historically high sum, in respect of procedural costs and arbitration costs.
Wow, I said this would cost Cardiff City a lot more than just the transfer fee.
You are right Annis but, in footballing terms, I do think we are only at half time.
It is entirely correct that we pay Nantes the £15m. He was always our player. We told the world he was our player - and on that basis we should pay the £15m
But the fact is that Nantes failed to protect our asset (£15m) and in addition the club will have lost over £200m in revenue - and, in my legal opinion, it is entirely reasonable of them to seek recovery of that in addition to the £15m which they now owe.
In respect of the £15m it is a case of we owe it. So we pay it & recover it back - leaving a zero balance - (Which is why I think the club might refuse to pay it).
Paul,
They have paid €15mill, remember they kept getting warmed then we had a Transfer Embargo put on us and extra costs etc etc so we paid.
Their No way we are in the right, Our Club Officials faked to look after a Premiership player and tried to deny he was ours, also they failed to insure him.
Every Court in the World has said We were in the Wrong and they know far more than we all do.
Lawyers have taken the Piss out of us and it’s cost Our Club beyond £millions and dragged our reputation through the mud.
As to what Emiliano would have achieved who knows, could have been amazing, could have got injured who really knows?
Sadly two people died and family lives were ruined.
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