A note to Vincent Tan

A note to Vincent Tan.

Vincent Tan has just revealed how much Malky agreed to pay Cornelius. Make sure no sharp objects are nearby. £45K per week. Yes, wipe your pc screen and read that figure again. And yep I do mean per week.

Cardiff aren’t the only club to pay crazy sums for a striker. Liverpool’s purchase of Carroll and Chelsea’s of Torres dwarfs the Danes crazy price tag and weekly pay bill. But those overpaid buffoons proved they could score goals in the premier league, not many it has to be said, but they could score.

Vincent has a point in that had we purchased a proven goal scorer at the outset then we might not have been in this position. In fact I have been saying that all season.

We can also see from the wording of Malky and Moody’s apologies that they must have acted in very injudicious ways. Hopefully one day we will find out.

So yes Vincent won the argument but somehow he has lost the battle. I am not sure he can ever win back the souls of the supporters. Even if we get promoted again, even if he pays off the debt.

There is a saying in sales that you ‘win the argument and lose the sale’. I fear that’s what he has done. He was right all along, he was hard done by. There were unpleasant leaks about him from the coaching staff and Malky’s signings were not always the wisest.

Yes, Vincent you saved us. You really did. We were close to bankruptcy but you were clear sighted in supporting Dave Jones without over commitment. You were brave in buying so many players for Malky’s two championship seasons and generous in the transfer market at the start of this ill-fated season. You dealt with the Inland Revenue and the creditors like the brilliant businessman you are. If someone less sure footed was involved we may not be around today.

Had we done well last season I suspect the angst over the red shirts would have floated away. Leaving just a few miseries in a dark Cardiff pub on a Saturday afternoon moaning into their pints rather than being at the match.

But we didn’t do well, and to be honest you are often unwise in what you say and how you say it. I don’t know if you are ill advised or don’t have the political touch so important in dealing with large numbers of people.

You are correct in that we should be grateful to you. Yes, you saved us and have given us some of our most successful times but fans are like pets. They need to be stroked have their chins tickled, be appreciated, just as owners should. 

Remember this isn’t a job for us. We won’t move onto another team. Following Cardiff City is an incurable disease. I know. I have tried in the past to wean myself off the drug. I once went a couple of seasons with only one eye on the results. But we all come back, yes including you miseries in the pub decrying the red shirt.

Even if you changed the strip to blue I don’t know if the fans will warm to you, yes it has got that bad.

Malky played the fans like a trombone. He may have been the villain of the piece but the fans are not able to see that. He could pat and stroke our egos. Perhaps once the chanting started against you it became an ingrained hatred. We are not talking about individuals remember but a crowd, something between a party and a mob. An individual can understand, discuss but a crowd cannot. Its direction is swayed with the heat of passion.

So hopefully it can be swayed back.

Personally I thank you for saving the club and your clear financial sense. I just wish you would use some of your wealth to buy a PR guy and avoid interviews for a while.

I really hope we can move forward hand in hand. But it is time to don the blue shirt. I couldn’t give a monkey’s what colour we play in, I have never been a traditionalist. But it is too late for that. The initiative will always lie with you and I urge City fans to meet your blue shirt with a handshake so we can have many successful years together.