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Pictured are John Franklyn and Tim Hartley

Twenty supporters from Chasetown FC enjoyed a day out at the City for the West Ham match.

The ‘Scholars’ enjoyed some light refreshments at Mavericks before we walked together to the stadium. The Trust and Supporters’ Club have maintained our relationship with the Staffordshire club since our 3^rd round FA game against them in 2008, the year we reached the final.

John Franklyn,Chair of the Chasetown Supporters Club, said, “On behalf of the club, can I thank you for your wonderful gift of the framed signed shirt that will be hung in our club room this week as a further reminder of the wonderful bond that has developed between the two clubs and also for the pens presented to each of our supporters that made the trip.

“Can we wish Cardiff City and all of your supporters a great end to this season that they truly deserve. On a personal note it was great to see you again and long may that continue. Your next visit to us was being discussed over a beer in Chasetown last night.”

Trust chair Tim Hartley said: “It was great to meet John and all the Scholars again despite Saturday’s disappointing result. They gave us a warm welcome when we visited Chasetown last year and it was lovely to be able to repay their hospitality. Thanks to the club for providing our visitors with tickets and to Eric and Linda at Mavericks for the pre-match curry. We look forward to renewing our ‘friendship through football’ with the Scholars very soon.”

The Trust has accessed CCFC’s accounts to May 2013 which were today made available at Companies House. Here are the main points:

·        Income is down from £20m to £17m. In 2012 we made the Carling Cup final so we had extra income in that year.

·        Losses are up from £13m to £30m. This is a real cause for concern.

·        The cost of sales (mainly player costs) are up from £21m to £34m. This includes promotion bonuses of £4m.

·        Administrative costs more than doubled from £7.5m to £15.9m. There is no explanation in the accounts as to why this has happened (other than £900k promotion bonuses) and we will be taking this up with the club.

·        Total debts of the company are up from £84m to £118m, of which £113m is payable by 31st of May 2014. Of that £113m, £66m is due to Vincent Tan (up from £37m in the previous year), £16m is due to Langston, £2.3m to the Player Fund and £1.5m to PMG. Both PMG and the Player Fund have since been paid off.

·        Langston were owed £34m. That figure is made up of a £20m debt, £9m naming rights and £5m promotion bonus. This debt has now been settled for a total of £22m (that is £15m for the above plus a balance of £7m over 7 years at £1m a year. So Langston ultimately took a write-off of £12m.)

Despite the reduction in the Langston debt and Vincent Tan writing off £5m of interest he had previously charged the club, the losses have still rocketed up, including the big unexplained increase in administration costs.

So even though we made it to the Premier League we had a balance sheet deficit at 31 May 2013 of £56.3m compared to £28.1m at 31 May 2012. What price success eh? We will of course be asking the club to explain these figures in detail when we meet them.

Commenting on the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager of Cardiff City, Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust said today:

“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is an exciting appointment as the new Cardiff City manager. It is important that he is now left to get on with the difficult task of ensuring the Bluebirds’ status as a Premier League club is secured. We wish him well.

“Given what has happened at the club over the last couple of months, there is need for a period of stability. It is important that fans get behind the new manager and players as they strive to move up the Premier League table.

“Following Ole Gunnar’s appointment, we trust Mr Tan will now fulfil his pledge to meet the Trust and the Supporters’ Club to discuss a range of issues which fans are concerned about. We hope Mr Tan will also look to build bridges with supporters.

“It is absolutely crucial that regular dialogue takes place between Mr Tan, supporter organisations and the fans generally.”

The Trust will be playing a skittles match against the Merthyr Tydfil Trust on Friday, January 10th, at 7.30pm at the Taffs Well Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

If you would like to take part let us know.  It would be great to see you there.  The cost of taking part will be £5 per player and all proceeds from the evening will go to Ty Hafan.

We are hoping to have a team of 12 players so get your response in quickly to members@ccfctrust.org