Trust News

Get together of Supporter Trusts at Exeter City’s ground

We were delighted to meet up with fellow Trusts before the Vertu Trophy game at the home of Exeter City Football Club. The club is wholly owned by their Supporters’ Trust.

The Exeter Trust issued the following statement: “On September 16th 2025, the Exeter City Supporters Trust hosted representatives from the Supporters Trusts of Cardiff City, Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United for their EFL Trophy match against Cardiff City. All Trusts agreed that open dialogue, communication and collaboration is crucial for negotiating the ever changing landscape and issues surrounding football in this day and age.”

The Trust was represented by board member Tim Banks (pictured left) who said: “It was great to meet up with fellow Trusts who work hard to ensure the voice of fans is heard loud and clear. I’d like to thank our friends at Exeter for the welcome I received.”

Pontypridd Foodbank’s van filled up with donations earlier this year.

We wanted to let you know that we will be holding a pre-Christmas foodbank collection before the Doncaster game on Saturday, December 13th. A decision on the foodbank to benefit will be made in the coming
weeks.
This will be the Trust’s seventh collection in aid of some of the most vulnerable families and individuals in society who struggle to put> food on their table.
Thanks to the generosity of Trust members, Cardiff City FC staff and players and fans generally we’ve so far been able to donate more than 6,000 items of food and other products to foodbanks. In addition, a
considerable amount of cash donations has been given to foodbanks.
The Trust and foodbanks generally really do appreciate the fantastic  backing for the collections and hope you will again support this initiative, if you are able.

Trust chair Keith Morgan

As you may be aware, our Trust board has been heavily involved in representing our fans in ensuring improvements to the way our club engages with us as supporters. This is to ensure that our fans’ opinions on key strategic matters are taken into account.

It has been a long battle, often with resistance from the club. This will continue going  forward and it has now led to  very significant recent positive developments.

The initial major step forward was the publication of the Fans Led Review of Football report which was published in November 2021 and contained a number of recommendations to improve the safeguarding of clubs from unscrupulous owners and directors plus greatly improved communication by clubs with their fanbase.

In association with other fangroups we helped the national Football Supporters’ Association (which we have been full Associate members for many years)  progress this report with a number of politicians to carry it forward to the stage of a Football Governance Bill. We continued to lobby MPs and members of the House of Lords of all political parties until the Bill finally passed into law as an Act last month.

The biggest benefit to fans is that the Act compels clubs to clearly show that they have carried out proper consultation with their fans on major issues and that they have taken those fans views into account in their decision making.

This will not be allowed to be just a “tick box “exercise but must produce full evidence of proper consultation. If clubs don’t they run the very real risk of the Independent Regulator of English Football taking their licence to operate as a football club away – a power granted underthe Act, and a far stronger deterrent than points deductions and transfer embargos which are powers that will still remain with the EFL and the Premier League.

The  Trust will be involved in the above consultations as we are regarded as a key elected fan representative group. To reinforce this view we have been requested by Martyn Henderson, who is the interim Chief Operating Officer of the Football Regulator, to meet with him next month where we will discuss the practical impact of the new law on Cardiff City Football Club.

All of us on the Trust board are long standing fans of the club and would  love it to be run so well that we need never criticise it. We will continue to press the club to put in place a proper structure at its senior level with the appointment of both a director of football and a full time director. We are, it would seem, the only club in the top five divisions of professional football in this country who has neither of these, which is a major weakness and we believe to be unacceptable.

Going forward , we hope to be able to report on issues on the field which show the club in a good light but the importance of this new Act is of such importance to fans that we will continue to represent our fans as it develops.

• The Trust has two representatives on the Cardiff City Fan Advisory Board (FAB).

Keith Morgan

Chair

There was a fantastic turnout by volunteers to work at the Memorial Garden sited at Cardiff City Stadium.

Cardiff City Veterans Hub – part of Cardiff City Community Foundation – organised the Volunteers Day and 63 helpers and staff turned up to assist with tasks including weeding and planting.

Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust was represented by chair Keith Morgan, vice chair Mike Spear and Board Member Tim Banks. The Trust has always been supportive of the work at the Memorial Garden and continues to contribute to the garden, in both manpower and material support..

Also represented on the day were groups from South Wales Police (SWP), SWP Cadets, Admiral Insurance, Department of the Work and Pensions (DWP), CCFC Community Foundation and Guardians for Heroes.

Mike Spear, himself a former Veteran, said: “We are very grateful for the fantastic support. A lot was achieved in just two hours.”

Meeting with Cardiff City FC Chair Mehmet Dalman 2 August, 2025

Representatives of the Supporters’ Trust together with those of the Supporters’ Club, Disabled Supporters’ Association and Fans Advisory Board (FAB) plus members of the Travel Group were invited to meeting prior to kick off by Mehmet Dalman. Also in attendance were Steve Borley and heads of department from the club together with Chris Nott, the club’s legal advisor.

This report of the meeting has been agreed by the four supporters groups recognised by the club.

The first topic discussed was the question of a takeover of the club. Mehmet Dalman stated that

• There have been NO formal bids received and those approaches that have been made were not considered to be worthy of discussion at board level. He described the approaches as people trying to get the club on the cheap and the rumours as a deliberate attempt to undermine the valuation of the club.
• There have been NO visits to the stadium by interested parties
• He has NOT been visited at his home in Monaco by interested parties
• Vincent Tan has NOT been visited in Malaysia by interested parties
• The EFL has confirmed that there have been NO approaches to them regarding a potential takeover
• There have been NO meetings with the FAW and Cardiff Council to discuss a potential takeover
• All the recent claims relating to the above made on message boards and social media are FICTITIOUS.

In respect of the Club’s undertaking to review the way the club is run. Fans present expressed their disappointment that there was no apparent progress on this issue. The question was raised about the appointment of a Director of Football. Mehmet Dalman said that such an appointment would always be problematical in the context of one majority shareholder but the question would be considered as part of the review. He also  said that the review  had been delayed somewhat as his time at the club in recent months had been limited for personal reasons. However, he is now able to commit far more time to the club.

When questioned, Director Steve Borley stated that the development of the major new training ground in the Vale is likely to put in hold for a year. However, discussions have taken place with the FAW to extend the current lease at the Vale.

Chris Nott was asked about progress in the Sala legal case. Additional documentation has been recovered from Willie McKay and will be submitted to the court in the coming week. He stated that both he andthe French lawyers remain confident that the club will be successful.

In terms of incoming players, it was stated by both the Chair and the Finance Director that funds are available to support the manager in his search for new players. Negotiations to bring in the Head Coach’s targets are underway.

Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust

Cardiff City Supporters Club

Disabled Supporters Association

Fans Advisory Board (FAB)