Trust News

The Trust Board has sent the following commentary on the minutes of the meeting between the Fans’ Advisory Board (FAB) and Cardiff City FC management.

Dear Member

You will have received by now a link to the minutes of the last Fans Advisory Board (FAB) meeting with club. Normally these meetings take place every three months but in the light of our relegation to League 1 and subsequent statements by the Club an urgent FAB meeting was called to discuss the situation. Normally, Steve Borley is the nominated Board representative who attends meetings with the FAB but, given the circumstances, Mehmet Dalman and Ken Choo also attended.

It is worth mentioning from the outset that members of the FAB operate under an agreed Memorandum of Understanding. It is a comprehensive document but one of the strictures imposed on members is that they are not allowed to publicise any of the items discussed until the publication of the agreed minutes. The minutes are taken by a club official and submitted to the FAB for their agreement. The minutes are then subject to final approval by the club and are then made public. It must be noted that the FAB pushed for a prompt production of the minutes by the club, something that has not been a feature of previous meetings. An undertaking was given that at least a bullet point summary of the meeting would be produced within 48 hours. The minutes were eventually produced on May 23, some 11 days after the event. Now that the minutes have been made public the Trust Board can take a view of the proceedings and give Trust Members their take on what was said.

Members will recall that, on April 29, the club board released a statement, acknowledging the public statement by the Trust on April 27 which raised a number of issues including the lack of specific football expertise at board level and the strategic decision making process which appears to be solely in the hands of the owner. These are matters that have been brought up by the Trust at meetings with the Chairman and Chief Executive on many occasions and are undoubtedly a major factor in our new situation in League 1.

In their statement of April 29 the club committed to a “thorough period of review across several structures and practices”. It went on to say that the process would culminate in the appointment of a new manager and management team. We are anxious to understand the extent of this review. It was noticeable that there was no mention of introducing football expertise at board level, Director of Football or whatever in the statement and we take the view that this is essential to equip the club to meet the challenges of regaining our place in the Championship and onward.

The meeting of the FAB was the first opportunity since relegation to question the club on these issues since relegation.

The responses to the questions regarding next season’s strategy and finances were informative and, on the face of it, largely positive. The information about relegation clauses in players’ contracts is something that eases the financial situation now that the worst has happened.

In our view the question of footballing expertise at board level in connection with the review was not answered as positively as we would have liked. Firstly, Mehmet Dalman stated that the board if Cardiff City is “unique” in that it cannot decide anything significant without reference to the owner. The minutes make it sound as if this uniqueness is a proud boast whereas our view is that it is a major weakness in Corporate Governance of the club. Mehmet Dalman goes on to say that he would welcome more football expertise but introduced caveats, perhaps to temper expectation. Mehmet Dalman goes on to talk up the football experience of Steve Borley and himself in all the years they have been involved in football. We have no doubt that the empirical knowledge they have gained through years of experience is of great use, but we would need to be persuaded that they have the detailed football expertise to introduce an over arching strategy to revolutionise the way Cardiff City is run from the football point of view.

The club statement of April 29 referred to the involvement of stakeholders in the review. Well, fans are stakeholders and speaking to our members and other fans groups the need for football expertise at board level is a widely held view. If, as a result of the review, the question of football expertise is not addressed then fans would need a reasoned justification as to why and not just the fact that the owner feels that he has been taken for a ride, financially, by some previous managers.

In respect of the recruitment process of the new manager, we feel that the appointment of external football expertise to assist is a necessity. On the other hand it is condemnation of the current situation whereby the Board is not sufficiently qualified to make an appointment, unlike other clubs. That is not a criticism of the board members but more of the intransigence of the owner.

Our concern is that the experts the club have employed will produce a short list of potential managers with a recommendation that the owner may ignore for reasons best known to himself.

The question of retaining the current popular Bluebird badge on team shirts was raised. It comes as no surprise that it was confirmed that the current badge was a one off for the 125 season and that the club crest would return. Club Crest is an interesting description of the badge. It makes it sound more grandiose than it is. Heraldic it certainly isn’t. Keeping the Bluebird badge would be a small and inexpensive crumb to throw to a disaffected fanbase but no, we get the universally unpopular badge back.

The Trust raised the question in its public statement about the absence of the owner at club games. It was raised again by the FAB and Mehmet Dalman undertook to pass on the request to Vincent Tan. We are not holding our breath but look forward to being surprised.

It is our view that the appointment of the new manager is going to be critical and we would hope that he plus other football experts have a significant input to the review to put us back on the road to where we need to be. However, the inclusion of football expertise at board level will be at the behest of the owner and it is not easy to be confident that it will happen. Also, whilst intent seems to exist to reform the footballing side of the Club, it is difficult to envisage any changes in respect of Corporate Governance.

There’s not much for Cardiff City fans to be happy about at the moment, but we hope for positive developments whereby the owner will allow the board the leeway to put in place, in the way the club is run, the sort of improvements that will take Cardiff City in the right direction. “We hear you” was a sentiment expressed in the end of season club statement. Well, it remains to be seen, Vincent Tan having heard us, whether these are empty words.

The Board of Cardiff City Supporters Trust

A message to Trust members

Sol Bamba T-Shirts

We wanted to let members know that we have sent a cheque for £2,175 to Lymphoma Action following the sale of Sol Bamba charity shirts which were produced by GB Sportswear. The Trust topped up amount received from GB and donated to the charity.

This means a total of £3,175 has been raised for the charity, which does such brilliant work.

We’d like to Trust members and the general fan base for their support which has been fantastic.

Trust chair Keith Morgan

The Trust today sent the following message to members:

Dear Member

Following on from our statement released on Sunday we formally wrote to the club requesting that a meeting be organised for Cardiff City owner Tan Sri Vincent Tan to meet with fan groups to discuss the current failings in the club that lead us to relegation.

Prior to a response to our email two statements were released by the club, one a club Statement and then a personal message from Tan Sri Vincent Tan both referencing the Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust Statement.

In terms of the club statement we note that a review of the overall structures and practices, culminating in the appointment of a new permanent manager and management team, is taking place.

As referred to in our statement there is a lack of football expertise at board level. Consequently, we would want to be assured that people with football expertise are being engaged to advise about that restructuring.

In respect of the personal message from the owner it is encouraging to note that the owner stated that he would “make every effort to be in Cardiff at the next opportunity” but the lack of even a general indication of when is disappointing. It definitely needs to be sooner rather than later. Confirmation of his willingness to meet all fans groups would also be useful.

It is going to be a very important summer if the promised restructure is to take place. The owner must hear at first hand the views of fans about a myriad of concerns. Communication between the fans and the owner is absolutely crucial and it should be ongoing.

Keith Morgan

Trust Chair

We are dedicated fans of Cardiff City FC, some of us have supported the club through thick and thin for more than 60 years. However, we could not let the dreadful relegation to League One after more than 20 years in higher divisions go without comment. Relegation in all honestly has been coming since the 2021-22 season and the failure to address fundamental required changes from the top down has now come home to roost.

Unless these matters are tackled urgently, the downward spiral on and off the field will continue and fan support will continue to drift away at an even faster rate than it has already.
Of course we appreciate the enormous financial support from the club owner Vincent Tan which has led to promotion to the Premier League on two occasions. But there has been a complete failure to address the “elephants in the room” of a lack of specialist football experience and knowledge at club Board level and the lack of any full time Board director at the club, leading to an apparent lack of advice and knowledge to pass on to the owner.

As the season has progressed and it quickly became evident that things were not going to plan on the pitch, it has been far from clear who on the club Board, if anyone, has been advising the owner on footballing matters. If any such advice and recommendations have in fact been given, it is unclear if any notice has been taken of such advice and recommendations. Sadly, this has proved to be a critical element in the club`s relegation in our view as the seemingly absolute and unchallengeable power of the owner in all major decisions has failed to work to the club`s benefit.

The appointment of a club Board member with specialist football knowledge and experience has been raised by the Trust with the club CEO Ken Choo and club Chair Mehmet Dalman and has also been raised by the other elected official fan bodies Cardiff City Supporters Club, the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) and the Disabled Supporters’ Association. Those officials have stated in meetings with fan bodies that they would be in favour of such an appointment but that the owner has been steadfastly against the idea, and he remains the sole decision maker. It seems to us that most of the strategic decision making at the club by the owner has been made in what is, effectively, an empirical knowledge and information vacuum.

After the worst start to a season in the club`s history and the expected departure of manager Erol Bulut, we believe it was a mistake to appoint such an inexperienced Championship manager as Omer Riza when there many experienced managers available to recruit. We are also unclear as to whether the permanent appointment of Omer Riza after an inordinate delay and after a series of poor performances and results was based on a Board decision/recommendation or was solely a decision by the owner and on what criteria that decision was made.

We thank Aaron Ramsey for stepping into an ultimately unsuccessful position as caretaker manager for the last three games of the season. However, we strongly believe that for the next season in League One we need an experienced manager at that level, possibly with Aaron playing a part in an assistant role to pick up experience (similar to Craig Bellamy under Vincent Kompany at Burnley and Anderlecht).

We are also disappointed that Vincent Tan has made only minimal and very infrequent contact with the club fans to discuss issues and listen to fans views and concerns. There has therefore been virtually no opportunity for fans to speak to the person who appears to be the sole decision maker on key issues at the club. As a matter of urgencywe are requesting a meeting between Vincent Tan and the elected fan bodies to discuss the failings which have culminated in our relegation to hear what fundamental changes are going to be put in place throughout the club from top to bottom to avoid further failings in future. Continuing the failings of the past that have lead to us celebrating our 125th anniversary with a relegation are not going to turn around our fortunes on the pitch.

Big changes are needed, and needed now, to avoid a further downward spiral in the fortunes of the club that we fans love.

In the wake of comments by Cardiff City manager Omer Riza at a Press Conference yesterday, the Trust issued the following statement.

The Trust said:”Comments that fans are clueless are both disappointing and disrespectful given the need for everyone to be pulling in the same direction as Cardiff City battles to avoid relegation.

“Given the club’s precarious position, the manager, indeed any manager, should expect to receive criticism from fervent supporters who are passionate about the future of our club. We hope Omer will reflect on his ill-judged comments.”