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You can read Peter Lloyd’s fascinating Manifesto Club report on the operation of ‘bubble trips’. See www.manifestoclub.com/bubblematchreport

Trust Board members Tim Hartley, Brian Mertens and David Craig met the Cardiff City’s Chief Executive, Alan Whiteley and his team to put your questions directly to the club. On the field the team seems to be wobbling a bit at the moment but we have great memories from our day out at Wembley and are still in with a chance of the play offs

We started the meeting by thanking the club for their continued support for the Fred Keenor statue appeal. We have now raised £71,000 of the total cost of £85,000 needed to build the statue and are hopeful we can have a fitting memorial to one of the City’s true greats erected by early next season.

Another joint project between the club, the Trust and the Supporters Club, is the Memorial Garden near Sloper Road. We handed over a cheque for £1,000 to the club from the Trust to help with the work on the garden. Wayne Nash told us that the weather now means they can get on with planting trees alongside the rose beds which have already been dug. When completed there will also be a plaque to the memory of Jock Stein and an ‘upstand’ for religious services in the garden.

We asked about the state of the club’s finances. The recently published accounts for the year to 31 May 2011 show a second consecutive year of a £12m loss. (2010 was “masked” by an exceptional profit from selling Ninian Park and other land parcels). This clearly cannot continue indefinitely and we asked whether 2011/2012 is likely to show significantly improved results? We also asked about the missed opportunity for the club to convert over £2m of debt due to PMG into shares, which was agreed at last year’s EGM. Alan Whiteley said that this was a matter for the club Board and would not go into any detail.

It is disappointing that the club felt unable to comment on this. These ‘off the field’ issues are legitimate concerns for supporters. The matter of converting debt into shares was raised by the club itself at last year’s EGM and approved by the club board in December 2011. We would not wish the club to divulge commercially confidential information but they should tell shareholders whether they feel their option to convert the debt to shares and significantly reduce the club’s debts is to be taken up in the near future.

We also asked about the new director of the club, Mehmet Dalman. Mehmet is a is a British–Turkish Cypriot investment banker, a Partner and Executive Vice Chairman at Toscafund Asset Management LLP and Chairman of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.  Alan told us that he has no links to Sam Hammam or Langstone and was appointed for his considerable business experience.

Some of you have asked if Trust members could receive a discount at the club shop. It was pointed out that Season Ticket holders and Ambassadors already receive a 10% discount on clothes and goods in the superstore.

We asked about the way the ticketing for the cup final was handled as people had queued for some time before securing their tickets. Julian Jenkins said that the system they put in place was similar to that used for previous visits to Wembley and that they had not experienced queues before. The club simply didn’t expect the crowd and if they had, then tea and coffee could have been provided to those queuing outside the ticket office. We also received complaints about online ticketing for the cup final. The club again says it will learn from the experience.

The club were disappointed that the Trust had not taken a table at the pre cup final dinner. We explained that every member would have been expected to pay his or her own way and that the ticket price was simply too high at a time when we had already paid for the Wembley tickets and bus. If the club had discussed the dinner with us in advance we could have suggested a more suitable price for the event.

The Trust wants to help build the Bluebirds profile worldwide, starting in Malaysia. We were told that junior leagues are being launched in Malaysia and that we should watch the progress there first. ‘International’ membership is still an option that the club could consider. Similarly, the club is looking at group ticketing and different pricing for different category games which would be particularly attractive to those supporters who do not live in Cardiff.

We received some criticism of the club’s decision to hold the Burnley match on the Sunday after Wales’s grand slam decider against France. We can see the sense of moving matches on big rugby weekends but some of you would prefer a Friday night kick off. The club said that Sunday was the manager’s preferred day and that despite attempts to make it a ‘family day out’ the Burnley match atmosphere probably suffered from it also being Mothering Sunday. Moving games on international rugby weekends will be considered on a match by match basis.

The club, a representative of the Supporters Club and another City fan recently travelled to Borussia Dortmund to see what they could learn from seeing a different match day experience. They do things very differently in Germany and have 28,000 supporters standing behind the goal. Wayne told us that Dortmund were using open terracing but that there were better ways of standing at grounds. It is a pity the Trust was not involved in this discussion as we had already brought the Safe Standing Roadshow to Cardiff before Christmas to demonstrate European style ‘rail seats’ which allow people to stand safely. This Trust event was attended by the local MP and several Assembly Members and gave an insight into the options for safe standing.

In terms of the atmosphere at our Stadium, opinion over the drumming behind the Canton stand seems to be split. Goal celebration music has been tried but no-one really liked it so it was dropped. The club are constantly reviewing their offer to fans. There will be an online fans survey soon – so be sure you make your voice heard on the drum and all other matters.

There have been concerns at the queue for the bar in the Grandstand at half time. We were told that queuing systems had been introduced into other areas of the ground but that the bar area in the Grandstand is actually quite confined and that putting rails in there would take up comparatively more space.

Getting to and from the ground by rail was again raised with the club. We have managed to get Ninian Park Halt station reopened before games, but for safety reasons it is still closed for an hour after matches. It is worth noting that the same happens with Queen Street station in town when the rugby is on. Disabled members have complained that there is no access at the alternative station, Grangetown, and that there are a lot of steps to negotiate there. We were told that taxis for disabled supporters may be put on by the train companies so please do make inquiries about this. The club and Arriva Trains will again review rail services on match day at the end of the season.

Thanks to Alan and his off the field team for meeting with us.

Now come on lads – one more push for the play-offs!

Tim Hartley

Chair  

City fan Dave Tidball, who lives in Oakland, California, has written about his experience on Carling Cup Final. Dave is formerly from Fairwater.

So I was looking for a way to watch the Carling Cup final. The bar where I’d watched City lose to Pompey in the ’08 FA Cup final wasn’t going to show it, so I ended up going over to San Francisco to an Irish bar called “Danny Coyle’s” on Haight Street.

It’s the kind of establishment which opens early in the morning every day, but at the weekend they start at 5am to accommodate football maniacs who need to get their British Soccer fix live. I got there at about 7:45 and found a place at the bar next to some disgruntled Spurs fans who were trying to recover from the shock of their collapse against Arsenal. The Gunners’ supporters were at the other end of the bar in a wonderful mood.

By the time the Final started, there were about 15 Liverpool supporters in evidence, including the bartender. They all seemed to be Americans, which is cool, proving that the drama of the EPL has caught on all over, especially support for the more glamorous teams. The only British accent I heard was one of the aforementioned Spurs fans, a man of about my age who grimaced ruefully when I remarked that his team could have done with the likes of Mike England that day.

It didn’t appear that there were any City supporters besides myself and it was confirmed when Mason slotted home the first goal and I leapt up and roared against a background of silence. It was a great game and I was having a blast. When Turner equalised at the end of AET I was off my barstool again and ordering with a hoarse voice a third pint of Guinness (11 am) from a stunned barman.

Somehow, the penalty drama and the disappointment didn’t seem to affect me too much – I was really proud of the boys. The barman offered me another pint on the house for being such a good sport, but I told him I had to drive back across the Bay Bridge and it wouldn’t be such a good idea. He said I could take a raincheck on the beer and I remarked that I might be back to claim it if they show the Championship playoffs. Leaving the bar, I imagined someone leaning over and asking of his neighbour “Who was that crazy guy?”

The answer: “Him? He’s the Lone Welshman….”

The Trust organised for more than 20 members of Cardiff ’s two synagogues to visit the Cardiff City Stadium before the recent game against Burnley.

The families were shown around the dressing rooms where the players kit was laid out, the wash room where the kits are cleaned and the press centre before taking that all important picture on the pitch. They then had lunch on Level 4 before taking their seats in the Family Stand.

Trust Chair, Tim Hartley, who organised the day said, “The visit by the Jewish community is part of the Trust’s community work to try to give as many people as possible the chance to enjoy watching the Bluebirds. It was great to see the youngsters get a peep behind the scenes on a match day and it was all I could do to get them out the changing room before kick off. They were really excited. Many thanks to Phil Halligey and the staff at the stadium for giving us such a warm welcome.”

Members of the two Cardiff synagogues visit the Cardiff City Stadium

Neil Schwarz from Cardiff ’s Synagogue said, “It was great to have a look behind the scenes. Some of us remember the good old Ninian Park facilities and for the youngsters it was great to see what makes things happen at the games. I would like to thank Tim and the Trust for organising this and particularly for working with the Jewish community.”

Following the success of the visit to the stadium the Trust is organising a family football match against the synagogues on Sunday, April 22.

Mark Watkins

Keen amateur photographer Mark Watkins has captured the Cardiff City’s final season at Ninian Park through his camera lens – and the Fred Keenor Statue Appeal will snap up the profits.

Our Ninian Park, which features more than 250 colour photographs along with a history of the ground, memories from fans and a foreword by former star striker Carl Dale, is being launched at the Millwall game on March 31.

Mark and Cardiff City Supporters Club (CCSC) have kindly agreed that all profits from the book will be donated to the Fred Keenor Statue Appeal.

Mark, 46, who is vice chair of CCSC, said: “I’ve been a keen photographer for a few years and decided to take as many pictures as possible during Ninian’s last year to preserve it just as it was in its final days. I suppose the book itself was a labour of love – our new stadium is fantastic and is just what we needed to progress as a football club, but it’ll never quite replace the affection I felt for Ninian Park.

“The weekend’s spent on the sparse terraces as fans deserted us in droves and the club lurched ever closer to oblivion were I suppose character building to say the least, but I loved the place and it’ll forever feel a part of me.”

Mark’s father first took him to Ninian Park in December 1973 when he was eight-years-old when City beat Sunderland 4-1 with Alan Farrington getting a hat-trick.

“He started taking me regularly during the 1975-76 promotion season and I’ve been watching Cardiff ever since. I was a regular at home and away games during the dark days of the 1980’s and 1990’s, so to be able to see Cardiff play at Wembley in two major cup finals in recent years has been a dream come true and shows the fantastic progress made by the club.”

Cardiff born and bred Mark lives in Caerau and works as an IT systems analyst in the legal sector. He has been a committee member of CCSC since 1991 and also presents the Cardiff City Phone-In on GTFM every Wednesday.

David Craig, project manager of the Fred Keenor Statue Appeal, said: “This is a fantastic gesture from Mark and CCSC and I urge fans to buy what is an excellent photographic history of the last season at Ninian Park – and help the appeal reach its target of £85,000.” The appeal has so far raised just over £70,000.

• The book will be launched at the Millwall game on March 31^st at a special launch-day price of £9.99 from the Cardiff City Superstore and the supporters’ club and supporters trust’s offices at the stadium, along with bookshops and online from Amazon.