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The Trust is staging a general knowledge quiz at the Duke of Clarence pub in Clive Road, Canton, on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 7.30pm. Entry is £2.50 per person with up to six people allowed per team. There will be some super raffle prizes. All are welcome but to register a team or for more information on the quiz contact Tim Hartley on 07795 635514.

Cwis Ymddiriedolaeth Cefnogwyr Caerdydd
Duke of Clarence, Clive Road, Treganna
7:30 Dydd Gwener 29 Ionawr 2010
Gwobrau raffl grêt!
Tocynnau £2-50 yr un – Hyd at 6 mewn tîm

From the South Wales Echo

FAN power looks to have won the day at Cardiff City with the club seemingly agreeing to a meeting of shareholders.

With financial uncertainty surrounding the Bluebirds the Cardiff City Supporter’s Trust had been looking to force chairman Peter Ridsdale and his fellow board members into outlining the extent of any problems the club is labouring under.

The Trust had been working on getting a group of small shareholders together to force an Extraordinary General Meeting at which the club would have to provide an up to date set of accounts and outline its future financial strategy.

The Trust was well on its way to securing the holders of five per cent of total shares in the club needed to force that meeting, but now the board has verbally agreed to hold a general meeting after an initial request from the supporter’s organisation.

It is understood in a telephone call to the Trust, Cardiff City Football Club (Holdings) Ltd secretary and board member Alan Whiteley verbally agreed to holding the meeting.

The Cardiff board will discuss the decision this week with a formal response expected before the end of the week.

From that formal announcement the club will then have to hold the general meeting within 21 days.

The Trust is hoping that meeting will be held sooner rather than later given the grave financial situation the club is facing.

Cardiff are still to pay a £2.7m tax bill or face the prospect of a winding up order being issued by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs at the High Court on February 10.

Ridsdale maintains the situation will be sorted and that the club continues to trade as normal.

But on the pitch manager Dave Jones has been unable to bring in any new faces to bolster his squad’s Premiership promotion push before the outstanding tax bill is settled.

The club still maintain up to four new players will arrive before the January transfer window closes at the end of the month.

With total debts of almost £30m still enveloping the club and little information being made public, Cardiff City Supporter’s Trust chairman Paul Corkrey said a meeting of the club’s shareholders was vital.

He said many Bluebirds fans were afraid the very future of Cardiff City was on the line and welcomed the decision by the club to agree to the Trust’s request.

“We take this verbal agreement by the club to hold a general meeting as a positive step,” said Mr Corkrey.

“We were confident of enough shareholders agreeing to force a meeting, but that the club looks likely to accept our original request is something we most definitely welcome.

“There is no mischief-making or anything from our side, but given the current situation supporters are quite rightly concerned about the future of their football club.

“We want to use this meeting to give the club the chance to outline the current, short-term and long-term financial plans they have in place.

“You cannot have a business plan at Cardiff City based on things that might or might not happen.

“We want see a financial structure in place at Cardiff City which does not rely on takeovers of the club or getting promoted.

“You cannot run things like that.

“A general meeting would give the club the opportunity to outline their financial position and that would be in the best interests of the club itself. This is a good opportunity for the club.

“If we are shown finances are in order we will walk away from the meeting singing the praises of the club.

“But answers need to be given and we welcome the chance for those answers to be forthcoming.”

The club itself insists there is plenty of interest from several parties to take over at Cardiff City.

The current front-runner is Guernsey-based businessman Ben Steele who was supposed to be at the Bluebirds’ FA Cup third-round replay victory over Bristol City on Tuesday, but was unable to attend for personal reasons.

Meanwhile Ridsdale insists a group of Malaysian businessmen led by Dato Chan Tien Ghee, who has reportedly joined the Cardiff board, and a group of unnamed Americans are also keen to take control of the club.

Ridsdale is set to meet with Ben Steele tomorrow for more talks about a possible takeover, but supporters still remain in the dark over the future of their club.

South Wales Echo

In a telephone conversation with Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust secretary Geraint Jones on Monday afternoon, Cardiff City Football Club (Holdings) Ltd secretary and board member Alan Whiteley verbally agreed to the Trust’s recent request for a General Meeting of the company’s shareholders.

Mr Whiteley gave an undertaking to formally respond to the Trust’s request in writing by the end of this week. A date for the General Meeting will be announced in due course.

Dave Sugarman
Membership Secretary
20th January, 2010

On Monday evening, the board of directors of the Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust unanimously voted to donate £1,000 of Trust funds in order to kick-start the Fred Keenor Statue Appeal.

The public fundraising campaign will be officially launched on 1st March. The Fred Keenor Memorial Campaign committee will also be approaching Cardiff Council, the Welsh Assembly Government and local businesses in a bid to raise the money needed to produce the long-awaited tribute to Cardiff City’s 1927 FA Cup-winning captain.

It is estimated that the statue will cost somewhere in the region of £100,000. The location for it has yet to be finalised, but the most likely site remains in the grounds of the Cardiff City Stadium, where land is available.

Sculptor Roger Andrews, who is based in Llantwit Major, won the contract to build the Fred Keenor tribute in December following a poll organised by the Supporters’ Trust and backed by the South Wales Echo. Roger recently created the statue of Sir Tasker Watkins, which now stands outside the Millennium Stadium.

Membership Secretary Dave Sugarman said: “The Trust has been at the forefront of the campaign to get a statue erected in Fred’s honour for some time now. We feel sure that our members will be pleased that some of their money is being used to get the fundraising effort off the ground.”

During Monday’s board meeting, acting Treasurer Brian Mertens revealed that the Trust currently has over £11,000 in its bank account. The board therefore decided that a £1,000 donation in order to start the Fred Keenor Statue Appeal would be appropriate.

The football club has responded to offers of help from the Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust and the Cardiff City Supporters’ Club to ensure that Saturday’s game against Blackpool goes ahead by requesting that any volunteers turn up at the stadium at 9am on Friday and bring a shovel.

The current situation is as follows:

The pitch is fine. The team trained on it yesterday and will do so again tomorrow.

Inside the ground is fine. The walkways have been cleared of snow and, where affected, the ice has been broken down with chemicals. These areas have also been covered with sheets to prevent re-freezing. A worst-case scenario would see a limited number of fans in the Family Stand being moved to other seats.

Outside the ground needs further attention. Currently, around half of the ground is in an acceptable condition. The turnstiles, walkways and exit gates are the areas where more work is needed.

The council are going to plough and grit the car park tomorrow as well.

The situation will be reassessed on Friday afternoon. Trust members will be kept informed of any further developments.