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Rob Phillips (left) with Trust chair Keith Morgan and Jason Perry (right)

The Trust hosted a roadshow last night with Cardiff City legend Jason Perry and Rob Phillips, BBC Wales’ soccer correspondent, and all the talk was about the latest upheaval at Cardiff City.

These are some of the key points from the evening:

• Jason Perry remembered that when he last spoke to Trust members he said that he would take the club finishing one point above the relegation zone in the season just finished. He fears things are going to get a lot worse for the Bluebirds going forward.
• He praises the work of Sabri Lamouchi, saying he prevented the club from being relegated and pointed out that none of the players were his. Money, it is suggested, seems to have been an issue that did not lead to Lamouchi continuing as manager.
• Jason says some possible managers won’t come to Cardiff City because they believe it will “kill your career”.
• Jason questions the possible reappointment of Steve Morison as manager. What has he done in the last eight months to be reappointed, he asks? He points to how well some other clubs such as Ipswich Town are well run and compares to what’s happening at Cardiff City. Rob Phillips also questions the possible reappointment of Morison. The meeting was asked how many people would like Morison to come back as manager – not a single hand goes up.
• Jason also tackles the issue of Sol Bamba becoming manager. Jason said that while he greatly admired Sol Bamba as a player and how he dealt with issues in his life appointing him as manager would be ridiculous. As a coach “we are currently paying him to learn the trade”. There’s talk from both Jason and Rob that the club might do down the route of bringing in a manager from overseas.
• Nathan Jones is also mentioned as a possible manager. Despite his Cardiff City connections, they both question whether he would want to come to the club in the current circumstances and also whether the club could afford him.
• Things are never going to change at Cardiff City unless we have vision from the top, argues Jason Perry. He says owner Vincent Tan needs to embrace challenge and describes him as “clueless” with a huge turnover of managers. Both believe whatever the difficult financial situation Vincent Tan wouldn’t allow the club to go into administration.
• Jason says a new manager will need to build the team but also bring fans together. He highlights the disconnect between fans and the club.  Rob Phillips praises the incredibly dedicated support of fans and highlights the fantastic away support in particular despite the awful season. The constant biggest strength is the passion and noise of fans.
• Both Rob and Jason talk about the loss of academy manager David Hughes to Manchester United was a huge blow. They said he did a brilliant job.

Trust chair Keith Morgan writes to members about the managerial turmoil at Cardiff City

Dear Member,

I was taken aback as everyone else was when the announcement came that Sabri Lamouchi will leave the club at the conclusion of his contract and that the search for a new manager had begun.I emailed Mehmet Dalman to ascertain the situation.

He referred me to Ken Choo who then provided me with an unhelpful reply saying that he had to await decisions from both Vincent Tan and Mehmet Dalman. I also raised again the issue of football expertise on the board in the shape of a Director of Football which I know is a proposal that the Chairman supports but the Owner opposes. Mehmet Dalman did confirm that the answer is still no.

We now find ourselves, yet again, without a manager having come perilously close to relegation last season. We have a team that evidently needs to be strengthened in the challenging context of an embargo. In these circumstances the need for a credible managerial appointment is even more critical but, without some sort of football expertise at board level, one wonders whether this is possible. Our churn rate of managers over the last season does not fill me with confidence.

The lack of any specific information as to the reason for the current situation is unsatisfactory as far as fans are concerned and is symptomatic of the way the club is run by its owner.

Keith Morgan

Chair

Congratulations to Trust member Mark Ives who was the lucky winner of the Bluebirds Brainteasers Picture Quiz in the last edition of the Trust magazine, Moving to a Different Beat. His was the name drawn out of the hat and wins the first prize of £50
The answers were Jimmy Scoular, Michael Chopra, Craig Bellamy, Fred Keenor, John Toshack, Eddie May, John Charles, Rick Wright, Aron Gunnarsson, Sol Bamba, Malky Mackay and Phil Dwyer. The picture quiz proved very popular indeed with members as many correct answers were received.
We intend to produce another picture quiz in the next edition.

Trust Chair Keith Morgan provides a detailed breakdown of a meeting with Cardiff City Chair Mehmet Dalman at the weekend.

On Sunday, April 3-, 2023 representatives of the Trust, the Supporters`Club, the Disabled Supporters Association and independent travel groups were invited to attend a meeting at Cardiff City Stadium with Club Chairman Mehmet Dalman (MD). The invitation was received on the day before.
The meeting took place after the Huddersfield match in the Fred Keenor Lounge, starting just after 3.40 p.m and following immediately after a 2.45 p.m. meeting the Chair had held with media representatives Rob Phillips, Chris
Wathan and Paul Abbandonato. Neither group attended each other’s meeting.
The meeting was informal in nature and a free-flowing debate ensued with issues raised by both fans representatives and Club officials. Club officials in attendance were Chairman Mehmet Dalman (MD), Finance Director Phillip
Jenkins(PJ), Head of Operations Wayne Nash(WN),Head of Communications Mark Denham(MD), Supporter Liaison Manager Amy McNiven(AM) and Supporter Liaison Officer Paul Corkery(PC). Club Director Steve Borley(SB) was
also present for part of the meeting.

Transfer Embargo
MD agreed that the EFL previous correspondence with the Trust in which they stated that the club was not subject to a player registration embargo was correct but clarified the position.
Following payment by the club of the first instalment of the Emiliano Sala transfer fee to FC Nantes it was no longer subject to a FIFA transfer embargo. However, the EFL has confirmed to the club that, as a consequence of a breach
of its regulations, the club remains under a three-transfer window ban from paying any loan or transfer fees for new players.
Worryingly, MD stated that the club has been told that this embargo will remain in place even if the club pays the remaining two transfer instalments due or otherwise reaches settlement of the matter with FC Nantes. The club
has appealed this decision with the EFL as it can only be overturned by a meeting of the EFL main board. The Trust raised its concern that Peter Ridsdale is a main board director of the EFL and that he is hardly favourably disposed
towards CCFC.

Director of Football
MD acknowledged the absence of football expertise at board level at CCFC. He was supportive of the idea of bringing more football knowledge into the club.
In his opinion the title of the position does not matter it’s his contribution that’s important. He said that he would again be recommending to club owner Vincent Tan(VT) to make such an appointment. However, he also stressed that
the ultimate decision maker on this matter remains VT.

Legal actions
MD re-emphasised his view that in respect of the Sala transfer the club had acted correctly and honourably and that the whole tragic affair was caused by the actions of others and had adversely impacted upon the club. VT still
considers that CCFC should not have to bear the financial consequences of these actions and should continue to pursue the issue.
MD stated that the club was currently awaiting a decision from the Swiss Federal Tribunal concerning the Sala transfer decision from CAS (it had been expected a few months ago) and would react accordingly once received.
MD was asked if the club had tried to reach a compromise with FC Nantes over the matter and he stated that at least two efforts had been made to reach an agreement (including Nantes contributing to the Sala family support fund as
CCFC have done) but that Nantes have declined such an agreement.
The meeting was advised by MD that both civil and criminal actions were being pursued by the club both in the UK and in France against various parties regarding the Sala matter. It was pointed out to him by the Trust that one such
potential party Willie McKay remains an undischarged bankrupt until at least August 2023 and therefore unlikely to be a source of financial recovery and MD confirmed that the club was aware of this.
Manager
MD considered that Sabri Lamouchi had done a good job as manager and, with his contract due to run out soon, no action had yet been taken in respect of ongoing manager arrangements but he would be speaking to Sabri soon. He
stated that Sabri was fully aware of the current transfer embargo position but was confident that he could manage it.

Revenue generation
A fan present asked what the club was doing about revenue generation from sources such as stadium naming rights, shirt sponsorship etc. PJ confirmed that, because the football industry generally was in a state of financial
difficulty, all potential income sources were being explored alongside a continuing review of expenditure. He stated that VT was not against a new shirt sponsor in general but was totally against sponsorship from the gambling
industry. He also explained that stadium sponsorship could make some income impact but was not as financially lucrative as many might think in the current economic climate.

Sale of the club
MD re-stressed VT`s ongoing commitment to the club and also confirmed that there are no current discussions with any parties interested in acquiring the club. (this is perhaps unsurprising whilst the uncertainty remains over the Sala
litigation position). He also stated that VT has confirmed that he would not under any circumstances sell the club to former owner Sam Hammam or any consortium or group on which he is involved or representing.

Fan consultation
A number of fans present expressed their concerns about what they regard as a total disconnect between fans of the club and VT and the club at board level. MD stated that he considered that he was doing his best to connect with fans
by meetings such as this one, but asked if fans felt that there were other things he and the club could do. WN referred to the effectiveness of the SLO (Supporter Liaison Officer) meetings. The Trust agrees with this absolutely. The
SLO meetings are very useful and achieve a lot but are not the forum to raise strategic issues such as those discussed at this particular meeting.
AM stated that she was continuing to progress the previously announced intention to hold “fans forum” type meetings (possibly as soon as June) with a larger, broader group of fans. At present she had only discussed this in any
detail with the DSA and the Trust asked her to liaise with us ASAP to move this forward. AM suggested that the format of such meetings (which MD confirmed he would attend) might be similar to those previously held successfully by way of a roadshow when Neil Warnock was manager but it was pointed out that part of this success was down to the personality of the individual and wouldn’t necessarily work in the same way again.

Trust chair Keith Morgan updates members on a meeting with Cardiff City Chief Executive Ken Choo to discuss the transfer embargo and the legal cases the club is involved in.

There has been a lot of discussion among fans over several months regarding the above topics so this report to members is by way of update on the current position.

Transfer Embargo

I have been in correspondence with both the English Football League (EFL) and senior management of CCFC to seek clarification on this.

The EFL, through their Director of Communications Mark Rowan has stated in writing that CCFC is “not subject to a registration embargo”.

After raising this with CCFC officials they have stated that they do not agree with this statement as they have received different information from the EFL and will be raising the matter with the EFL.

I have asked the club to revert to me as soon as they have received a response from the EFL and they have promised to do so.

Legal Cases

Subsequent to the  Court of Arbitration For Sport (CAS) ruling against the club in August last year regarding the Emiliano Sala case, the club has reported that they will be pursuing the matter further through the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT), which is the Supreme Court, within whose jurisdiction CAS falls.

The club has informed me within the last few days that this matter is ongoing and they are currently awaiting a final decision from the SFT, all relevant paperwork having been submitted some time ago.

The club has also confirmed that its case against the club`s insurers/brokers continues to be pursued.