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Trust Chair Keith Morgan reports to members on the latest with the Emiliano Sala transfer fee saga and investigations at FC Nantes, the sellers of Sala.

Dear Member,

The club has announced that the CEO of FC Nantes, Franck Kita, was placed into police custody along with  Bakari Sanogo and Joaquim Batica, who are both agents.

This move was instigated by the JIRS (Juridictions Interrégionales Spécialiséés) – an organisation that specialises in investigation of serious organised and financial crime

A judicial investigation was opened in June 2022 on the counts of “illegal exercise of sports agent activity, forgery and use of forgery, misuse of corporate assets, laundering of aggravated tax evasion and organised money laundering”.

The club stated in their announcement that their  Club’s negligence claim in France against FC Nantes exhibits direct exchanges showing Mr Kita was informing Mr Sanogo of the proposed transfer fee for Emiliano Sala. It is not clear why.

FIFA has also ordered Cardiff City FC to pay the 2nd and 3rd installments of the Emiliano Sala transfer fee.

Understandably, the Club considers that it would have been fairer if the requirement to pay FC Nantes had been deferred until the conclusion of the French police investigations and the club’s claim against FC Nantes in the French courts. At least some sort of Escrow arrangement should be in place to protect the integrity of what is a disputed transfer fee subject to litigation.

The club has prepared for the eventuality of having to pay the transfer fee but I do not imagine that payment of the balance was expected in these particular circumstances.

We will monitor the situation and keep you informed.

Keith Morgan

A message from Trust Chair Keith Morgan
I would like to draw your attention to something that will be of great interest to all City fans
City fan Rhys Dean has written and will perform his one-man play “Keenor – The Original Bluebird”
Set in the changing rooms at Wembley, it is about the amazing life and times of Fred, both as War Hero and City Hero
The play is being performed in two separate runs.
August 23,24, 25 at Tiny Rebel, 25 Westgate St, Cardiff
Tickets are available here
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keenor-the-original-bluebird-tickets-630694292607?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Also
September 13,14,15 at Little Man Coffee Co., Ivor House, Bridge Street, Cardiff
Tickets available here
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keenor-the-original-bluebird-tickets-630709187157?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Trust chair Keith Morgan reports on a meeting between supporter representatives and the new Cardiff City manager Erol Bulet and other club executives.

In the early afternoon on Monday, June 5th, 2023, I was fortunate to meet and have a brief conversation with the newly appointed Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut at the Cardiff City Stadium.

A meeting had been called at very short notice by the club and was attended by myself and some representatives of the Cardiff City Supporters Club, the Disabled Supporters Association and an independent travel group representative. It followed immediately after a meeting with members of the media.

They were asked to observe an embargo on reporting on their meeting for a few hours and this report follows the publication of their reports with some comments of my own.

The meeting was attended by club Chair Mehmet Dalman and CEO Ken Choo (the latter for part of the meeting). Also attending were some senior members of the club representing finances, PR and fan liaison.

Erol Bulut came across as very positive about what he wants to achieve at the club during his initial 12-month contract at the club (the club has an option to extend the contract for a further two years if the initial period proves to be successful). He confirmed that he will be bringing his own coaching and football support team to the club but had not yet had a chance to speak to the existing coaching team as to their future role (if any)at the club as he had only been in post for one day.

Similarly, he had only had a brief meeting with the current playing squad but confirmed that he was planning to bring in a number of new players (up to 8 or 10) to improve the club, of which 4 or 5 had already been identified.

Who this might be will become clearer when player contracts expire at the end of June as will details of the player whose signing has already been agreed by the club Chair (he described the signing to be “exciting” which would be regarded very positively by fans) and the club retained list for current players (this has been submitted to the EFL but not yet made public).

Erol’s appointment followed an extensive interview process by the club to reduce a large number of applications received via agents etc. to a shortlist of 12 which was then further reduced to a shortlist of 4 for consideration and interview by Vincent Tan, Mehmet Dalman and Ken Choo.

Erol was then selected because he came across as offering something different and better than the other candidates with his track record, enthusiasm and ideas.

Some other matters were discussed which helped to dispel some recent false claims and rumours on message boards including the following:

1.       The appointment is not a “cheap option”. Indeed the Chair stated that the package being offered is higher than that sought by other candidates and is the highest the club has offered since the package given to Neil Warnock.

2.      The new manager has no family or friendship link to the Chair. The first time they met was during the shortlist interview process in recent weeks.

Another matter mentioned at the end of the meeting was that there is definitely going to be a meeting involving a broad range of supporters on top of those elected to the current formal supporters’ groups. This is intended to be attended by both the new manager and the club chair.

This is likely to be sometime in July to allow the new manager to settle in and to finalise the coaching and playing squad going forward into the new season.

Rob Phillips (left) with Trust chair Keith Morgan and Jason Perry (right)

The Trust hosted a roadshow last night with Cardiff City legend Jason Perry and Rob Phillips, BBC Wales’ soccer correspondent, and all the talk was about the latest upheaval at Cardiff City.

These are some of the key points from the evening:

• Jason Perry remembered that when he last spoke to Trust members he said that he would take the club finishing one point above the relegation zone in the season just finished. He fears things are going to get a lot worse for the Bluebirds going forward.
• He praises the work of Sabri Lamouchi, saying he prevented the club from being relegated and pointed out that none of the players were his. Money, it is suggested, seems to have been an issue that did not lead to Lamouchi continuing as manager.
• Jason says some possible managers won’t come to Cardiff City because they believe it will “kill your career”.
• Jason questions the possible reappointment of Steve Morison as manager. What has he done in the last eight months to be reappointed, he asks? He points to how well some other clubs such as Ipswich Town are well run and compares to what’s happening at Cardiff City. Rob Phillips also questions the possible reappointment of Morison. The meeting was asked how many people would like Morison to come back as manager – not a single hand goes up.
• Jason also tackles the issue of Sol Bamba becoming manager. Jason said that while he greatly admired Sol Bamba as a player and how he dealt with issues in his life appointing him as manager would be ridiculous. As a coach “we are currently paying him to learn the trade”. There’s talk from both Jason and Rob that the club might do down the route of bringing in a manager from overseas.
• Nathan Jones is also mentioned as a possible manager. Despite his Cardiff City connections, they both question whether he would want to come to the club in the current circumstances and also whether the club could afford him.
• Things are never going to change at Cardiff City unless we have vision from the top, argues Jason Perry. He says owner Vincent Tan needs to embrace challenge and describes him as “clueless” with a huge turnover of managers. Both believe whatever the difficult financial situation Vincent Tan wouldn’t allow the club to go into administration.
• Jason says a new manager will need to build the team but also bring fans together. He highlights the disconnect between fans and the club.  Rob Phillips praises the incredibly dedicated support of fans and highlights the fantastic away support in particular despite the awful season. The constant biggest strength is the passion and noise of fans.
• Both Rob and Jason talk about the loss of academy manager David Hughes to Manchester United was a huge blow. They said he did a brilliant job.

Trust chair Keith Morgan writes to members about the managerial turmoil at Cardiff City

Dear Member,

I was taken aback as everyone else was when the announcement came that Sabri Lamouchi will leave the club at the conclusion of his contract and that the search for a new manager had begun.I emailed Mehmet Dalman to ascertain the situation.

He referred me to Ken Choo who then provided me with an unhelpful reply saying that he had to await decisions from both Vincent Tan and Mehmet Dalman. I also raised again the issue of football expertise on the board in the shape of a Director of Football which I know is a proposal that the Chairman supports but the Owner opposes. Mehmet Dalman did confirm that the answer is still no.

We now find ourselves, yet again, without a manager having come perilously close to relegation last season. We have a team that evidently needs to be strengthened in the challenging context of an embargo. In these circumstances the need for a credible managerial appointment is even more critical but, without some sort of football expertise at board level, one wonders whether this is possible. Our churn rate of managers over the last season does not fill me with confidence.

The lack of any specific information as to the reason for the current situation is unsatisfactory as far as fans are concerned and is symptomatic of the way the club is run by its owner.

Keith Morgan

Chair