SHOULD CITY DITCH CORNWALL TOUR FOR MALAYSIA TRIP?

Why Cardiff City should ditch Cornwall and embark on a pre-season tour of Malaysia —

By Scott Johnson


BY SCOTT JOHNSON


Tuesday 6th June 2017


Scott Johnson argues that a tour of Malaysia — which Cardiff have never done — would be an excellent, exotic, public relations exercise for the Bluebirds


The football season never really ends. As the Premier League season drew to a close recently, Tottenham chose to jet off to Hong Kong for a lucrative friendly against Kitchee, while Liverpool headed down under for a high-profile exhibition match with Sydney FC.

In July, Arsenal will divide their time between Australia and China. Chelsea also visit China, plus Singapore. Both Manchester clubs are set for the United States, along with Swansea City and Spurs.

Last year, Premier League clubs clocked up around 170,000 miles between them, reaching out to supporters around the world.

Asia is often the destination of choice, as it is seen as the biggest untapped market in the world. As Cardiff City supporters, we already know this; it was the primary motivation for the club’s rebrand, with red viewed as a lucky, prosperous colour.

What seemed rather strange at the time was the club’s willingness to alter their identity to appeal to the Asian market... yet their unwillingness to then take that product to Asia.

Vincent Tan took charge of Cardiff in May 2010 and it strikes me as rather strange that they have not organized a pre-season tour of his native Malaysia in any of the eight years since.

They were all set for Kuala Lumpur shortly after Tan’s takeover, but plans to face the Malaysian national side were shelved. Maybe that was a result of Cardiff missing out on promotion to the Premier League, having lost the play-off final to Blackpool, but Dave Jones returned from a jaunt to Malaysia only to confirm: “We’ve decided to revert to our alternative plans.

“After a great trip to Malaysia, we can see the opportunities and benefits to the club would be much bigger if we have the tour next year,” he added.

Unfortunately, Cardiff once again failed in their top flight objective, Jones was sacked and the Malaysian trip was not revived.

In 2013, a year after their change to red and ahead of Cardiff’s maiden top flight campaign, they postponed a promotional trip to Malaysia due to pollution in the country at the time, resulting from fires in Indonesia. Manager Malky Mackay, captain Mark Hudson and Craig Bellamy were all set to head out to visit schools and give speeches in the local community.

"It's with disappointment that the planned visit to Malaysia this week by Malky, David, Mark, Craig and other club delegates has been postponed,” confirmed Tan.

“A schedule of events had been put in place ahead of the opening Premier League fixtures, further raising awareness of Cardiff City Football Club in Malaysia.

"However, due to the current poor air quality in Kuala Lumpur, it has been decided for the welfare of all concerned to delay the trip, re-establishing plans in the future when the manager and players can better interact with Malaysian-based supporters in a suitable environment."

Cardiff were subsequently relegated back down to the Championship, have since returned to blue and visiting Malaysia no longer appears to be on the agenda. Whether coincidentally or not, this period has also coincided with Tan rarely attending games anymore, although Cardiff still sport the country’s name as their long-term shirt sponsor.

Appealing to the Asian market is probably way down the club’s list of priorities at present, with cost cutting the order of the day and maybe the expense of such a trip would prove prohibitive.

But the reason clubs undertake such gruelling, long haul trips is because it is a valuable source of revenue, and increasing sources of income is one of Cardiff’s greatest obstacles at present.

Liverpool toured Malaysia in 2011 and 80,000 fans turned up to watch them play Bukit Jalil. So successful was the trip that they returned in 2015 to face a Malaysian XI at the National Stadium.

Obviously, Cardiff do not share Liverpool’s pulling power, prestige or star names, but they do have a strong Malaysian influence and a Malaysian owner, albeit an absent one. If he is too busy to fly to Cardiff these days, which is understandable with such a substantial array of business interests, why not take Cardiff to him?

These days, Cardiff managers are expected to fly out to Malaysia to discuss matters relating to the club. At a time when some are questioning Tan’s commitment to a Premier League push, taking the squad to Malaysia would be a good public relations exercise if nothing else. Any financial benefit resulting from the trip would be an added bonus.

Or, as an alternative, why not organise a mini tournament featuring FK Sarajevo and KV Kortrijk, Tan’s other acquisitions out in Malaysia?

Not only would it improve relations between the three clubs, but it would also serve to promote all three in one fell swoop.

Cardiff’s wealthier and more adventurous supporters would also have an excuse to visit Malaysia and watch the team play in a far more exotic location than Cornwall.

I think the OP presupposes that we would attract the same revenue as the likes of Spurs,Arsenal,etc.I think our level is Cornwall at the moment.

Shit journalism again, god who commissions this tripe.

It's well documented that most footballers go on holiday with family and friends once the season is over so they have their break in the sun, then I firmly believe a pre-season in the UK is a must for teams, obviously Neil and his staff know what they're doing.

Yet another non story from this guy. He just thinks up the most random topics or takes the opposite stance for affect.

I think the OP presupposes that we would attract the same revenue as the likes of Spurs,Arsenal,etc.I think our level is Cornwall at the moment.

Exactly, it's a huge business move for prem teams they probably make a fortune.

NW is running the show and he wants Cornwall so that's where we go.

However, I can see a benefit in a tour come tournament in Malaysia along with the other Tan Team's in the future. Sounds like a great idea

Cornwall for me. I'm not shooting off to Malaya to watch a couple of friendlies. Probably don't sell pasties there either.

Cornwall for me. I'm not shooting off to Malaya to watch a couple of friendlies. Probably don't sell pasties there either.

I wouldn't mind going to Spain and playing Annis' new favourite team Atlético Baleares where the entry free entitles you to a free pie

Yet another non story from this guy. He just thinks up the most random topics or takes the opposite stance for affect.

Spot on. Who the hell is this guy anyway?

I rarely read his articles anymore. He irritates me just with his headlines. He appears to think that he knows better than the management of both the team and the club. We all think like that sometimes though. Posting on here is one thing but this guy must have an ego the size of Diane Abbott's arse, and a brain the size of brain.

Cornwall for me. I'm not shooting off to Malaya to watch a couple of friendlies. Probably don't sell pasties there either.

Cornwall for me too, always preferred there to the Neville.

For me theres No doubting where we should be going, Warnock wants to get our players fit and ready in an area only he knows best Cornwall

I wish Scott Johnson would ditch writing.

So Failsonline in little over a week publish this and Browny's piece. And they wonder why nobody reads it?

For me theres No doubting where we should be going, Warnock wants to get our players fit and ready in an area only he knows best Cornwall

Stupid article you can't just ditch a plan however a lot of these clubs now tend to do an end of season tour to countries wouldn't hurt to do that