Cardiff may sue Nantes for negligence over Sala?

Help us avoid Emiliano Sala payment: Cardiff seek Premier League clubs' advice on escaping £15m transfer fee


Daily Mail

16/02/19

Cardiff City have contacted other Premier League clubs in an attempt to establish whether there may be grounds to avoid paying the full £15million transfer fee being demanded by Nantes for Emiliano Sala, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Letters sent in the past few days by lawyers acting for the club request help in ‘fighting off Nantes’ legal claim’, according to one source. They ask clubs for assistance in ‘sharing your knowledge of Sala as a player’.

The correspondence from a Cardiff law firm describes Sala as ‘the player that Cardiff tried to sign’, phrasing which makes it clear that the club believe they may not have to pay all — or indeed any — of the record transfer fee.


Details of the letters — which Cardiff on Saturday confirmed were sent — emerged as manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo arrived in Argentina for the player’s wake and funeral.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Cardiff’s decision to approach Premier League clubs publicly linked with Sala is partly motivated by transfer broker Willie McKay’s admission in an email to the striker that he had sought to artificially inflate the price. McKay told Sala he had told the media of rival interest ‘just to stimulate interest in you’.

The club are seeking to establish whether there was indeed any interest at all from other clubs. McKay’s email to Sala listed Everton and West Ham as clubs he had linked the player to, though Crystal Palace, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves were also reported to be keen.

Seems they are going to go after the agents

But,
My big worry is Wez, in my opinion the agents are totally corrupt and know how to go under at the right time.

It still doesn't matter if they go under they will have insurance ,I put a company through , 3 years later I got a claim for injury off a customer ,I passed it on to my insurance company at the time and they paid out to the claimant ,all this at the moment is trying to pass liability once liability gets established then insurance will have to pay out

Help us avoid Emiliano Sala payment: Cardiff seek Premier League clubs' advice on escaping £15m transfer fee


Daily Mail

16/02/19

Cardiff City have contacted other Premier League clubs in an attempt to establish whether there may be grounds to avoid paying the full £15million transfer fee being demanded by Nantes for Emiliano Sala, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Letters sent in the past few days by lawyers acting for the club request help in ‘fighting off Nantes’ legal claim’, according to one source. They ask clubs for assistance in ‘sharing your knowledge of Sala as a player’.

The correspondence from a Cardiff law firm describes Sala as ‘the player that Cardiff tried to sign’, phrasing which makes it clear that the club believe they may not have to pay all — or indeed any — of the record transfer fee.


Details of the letters — which Cardiff on Saturday confirmed were sent — emerged as manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo arrived in Argentina for the player’s wake and funeral.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Cardiff’s decision to approach Premier League clubs publicly linked with Sala is partly motivated by transfer broker Willie McKay’s admission in an email to the striker that he had sought to artificially inflate the price. McKay told Sala he had told the media of rival interest ‘just to stimulate interest in you’.

The club are seeking to establish whether there was indeed any interest at all from other clubs. McKay’s email to Sala listed Everton and West Ham as clubs he had linked the player to, though Crystal Palace, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves were also reported to be keen.

Seems they are going to go after the agents

But,
My big worry is Wez, in my opinion the agents are totally corrupt and know how to go under at the right time.

It still doesn't matter if they go under they will have insurance ,I put a company through , 3 years later I got a claim for injury off a customer ,I passed it on to my insurance company at the time and they paid out to the claimant ,all this at the moment is trying to pass liability once liability gets established then insurance will have to pay out

Interesting, thankfully I don't know much about legal stuff regarding putting a company under, if your right,then good news all around regarding payments etc.

Cardiff will most likely will be forced to pay the transfer money on the agreed terms.

What Cardiff need to do is invetigate who organised the flight and what precautions they took. If what is being said it was a gas engineer who was the pilot then Cardiff will have a case against the organisers. If the organisers are connected to Nantes then yes I can see the transfer being nullified. This could take time, Cardiff will pay a couple of installments then the subject will come ot a close.

Ian, the problem is suing the agents, I have heard the main one is virtually bankrupt on paper.

The three instalments are £5mill every year for three years, plus £3mill if we stay up this season. £5mill was was frozen over 3weeks ago by City.

It could be a case of Nantes suing the agent over the lack of dillegence in the flight arrangements. As I have always seen it, its all about the appointment o the agent in the deal and whether or not that arrangement covers the flight.

If the flight was organised by a third party then theres no question we bear the brunt and claim from our insurers / operators insurance.

If Sala seperately contracted the agants to supply the transport then its a grey area and we probably bear the brunt.

The fact that it was a freebie makes it part of the deal in my view. He would not reasonably have been providing that plane, bar for the remuneration he was getting through the deal. So as I see it, its part of the deal. If this the scenario then Nantes are responsible in line for this flight assuming they appointed the agent to act in the deal.

The insurance for the flight operator is a huge issue. If your flying very valuable / high net worth individuals around you need to be carrying substantial insurance cover. I dont see that being extended to pilots with out the correct experience and licences. I fear we may might learn that the operators insurance was inadeaute, in effective and possibly not even in place. That could negate all insurance claims up the line. If the agent is using this operator on a regular basis he would surely have confirmed that the operator had the correct cover n place.

In my view Cardiff are playing it exactly as they should. We had no contractual link to the flight. Nantes may have. Thats not saying it was their fault. Fault and responsibilty are different things here.

Help us avoid Emiliano Sala payment: Cardiff seek Premier League clubs' advice on escaping £15m transfer fee


Daily Mail

16/02/19

Cardiff City have contacted other Premier League clubs in an attempt to establish whether there may be grounds to avoid paying the full £15million transfer fee being demanded by Nantes for Emiliano Sala, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Letters sent in the past few days by lawyers acting for the club request help in ‘fighting off Nantes’ legal claim’, according to one source. They ask clubs for assistance in ‘sharing your knowledge of Sala as a player’.

The correspondence from a Cardiff law firm describes Sala as ‘the player that Cardiff tried to sign’, phrasing which makes it clear that the club believe they may not have to pay all — or indeed any — of the record transfer fee.


Details of the letters — which Cardiff on Saturday confirmed were sent — emerged as manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo arrived in Argentina for the player’s wake and funeral.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Cardiff’s decision to approach Premier League clubs publicly linked with Sala is partly motivated by transfer broker Willie McKay’s admission in an email to the striker that he had sought to artificially inflate the price. McKay told Sala he had told the media of rival interest ‘just to stimulate interest in you’.

The club are seeking to establish whether there was indeed any interest at all from other clubs. McKay’s email to Sala listed Everton and West Ham as clubs he had linked the player to, though Crystal Palace, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves were also reported to be keen.

Seems they are going to go after the agents

But,
My big worry is Wez, in my opinion the agents are totally corrupt and know how to go under at the right time.

It still doesn't matter if they go under they will have insurance ,I put a company through , 3 years later I got a claim for injury off a customer ,I passed it on to my insurance company at the time and they paid out to the claimant ,all this at the moment is trying to pass liability once liability gets established then insurance will have to pay out

Interesting, thankfully I don't know much about legal stuff regarding putting a company under, if your right,then good news all around regarding payments etc.

Whoever is the insurance company at the time will be liable, different if the company had already gone through before the event

Cardiff will most likely will be forced to pay the transfer money on the agreed terms.

What Cardiff need to do is invetigate who organised the flight and what precautions they took. If what is being said it was a gas engineer who was the pilot then Cardiff will have a case against the organisers. If the organisers are connected to Nantes then yes I can see the transfer being nullified. This could take time, Cardiff will pay a couple of installments then the subject will come ot a close.

Ian, the problem is suing the agents, I have heard the main one is virtually bankrupt on paper.

The three instalments are £5mill every year for three years, plus £3mill if we stay up this season. £5mill was was frozen over 3weeks ago by City.

It could be a case of Nantes suing the agent over the lack of dillegence in the flight arrangements. As I have always seen it, its all about the appointment o the agent in the deal and whether or not that arrangement covers the flight.

If the flight was organised by a third party then theres no question we bear the brunt and claim from our insurers / operators insurance.

If Sala seperately contracted the agants to supply the transport then its a grey area and we probably bear the brunt.

The fact that it was a freebie makes it part of the deal in my view. He would not reasonably have been providing that plane, bar for the remuneration he was getting through the deal. So as I see it, its part of the deal. If this the scenario then Nantes are responsible in line for this flight assuming they appointed the agent to act in the deal.

The insurance for the flight operator is a huge issue. If your flying very valuable / high net worth individuals around you need to be carrying substantial insurance cover. I dont see that being extended to pilots with out the correct experience and licences. I fear we may might learn that the operators insurance was inadeaute, in effective and possibly not even in place. That could negate all insurance claims up the line. If the agent is using this operator on a regular basis he would surely have confirmed that the operator had the correct cover n place.

In my view Cardiff are playing it exactly as they should. We had no contractual link to the flight. Nantes may have. Thats not saying it was their fault. Fault and responsibilty are different things here.

That's how I see it

Annis, I know it's splitting hairs, but that is how insurance works, although he might have been registered with FAW was he registered with the FA at time of death?

Personally don't blame the club at all in questioning this as do you not think it strange how quickly Nantes were after money? For Christ's sake they hadn't got the poor lad out of wreckage..

Annis, I know it's splitting hairs, but that is how insurance works, although he might have been registered with FAW was he registered with the FA at time of death?

Personally don't blame the club at all in questioning this as do you not think it strange how quickly Nantes were after money? For Christ's sake they hadn't got the poor lad out of wreckage..

I thought it was awful how quickly Nantes went for Cardiff regarding the money as it really was not the right time.

Cardiff may sue Nantes for negligence over Sala

Daily Telegraph

Sunday 17th February 2019


Cardiff City could launch a negligence claim against Nantes as soon as this week if an official report finds Emiliano Sala was flown to his death by a pilot who did not have the correct licence.


Senior figures at Cardiff are bracing themselves for an escalation in a legal row in which they were given until the end of last week to pay the first instalment of his £15 million ($A27 million) transfer fee.

Cardiff have frozen all payments while they wait for answers about how their record signing died and whether anyone could be held liable. Some of those answers could be provided this week, the Air Accidents Investigations Bureau having said it intended to publish an interim report into the January 21 crash within a month of it occurring.

Cardiff have also conducted an internal investigation that The Telegraph has been told has found no evidence pilot David Ibbotson held the licence necessary to carry passengers on a commercial basis.

If the AAIB confirms Ibbotson was not qualified for the trip, senior figures believe that would constitute negligence on the part of whoever recruited the part-time gas boiler engineer.

They also believe liability for that could be extended to cover Willie and Mark McKay - who admitted arranging Sala's flight but not selecting the plane or pilot - and, in turn, Nantes, for whom the duo had been working.

A successful negligence claim against the French club would slash the transfer fee owed to them for the player, where they have threatened legal action.

Cardiff could attempt to reduce the figure further by arguing the change of ownership of Sala was incomplete when he died as he had yet to be registered to play in the Premier League.

CARDIFF CITY CHAIRMAN MEHMET DALMAN:

Chairman Mehmet Dalman said: "We believe that the player was not registered with the Premier League".


It can also be revealed that Cardiff broke their transfer record to sign Sala despite major concerns about the deal at boardroom level.

More than one source has said that City's four-man transfer committee was split over buying the striker, with a vote ending 3-1 in favour of doing so.

When asked about the split, Dalman said: "I really don't think it is appropriate for me to comment at this stage but your line of inquiry is not necessarily wrong."

Taking the business reality view,

Essentially Cardiff have bought a £15 million asset from Nantes, this asset was then subsequently lost in transit. This asset had all the contracts signed, and the paperwork was in the process of being registered.

There would be a question of Cardiff City's insurance being valid, hence the comment about not being registered with the PL.

The agents were acting for Nantes in the transfer and arranged the flight, there is certainly a good question that for all intents and purposes the "asset" was still in the process of being transferred to Cardiff.

He was at Nantes training ground, most likely collecting personal belongings and kit, as well as tying up loose ends before finally transferring. Which may physically imply that the transfer of the asset was not fully complete. Yes contracts are signed but this would not take effect until the asset had been fully physically transferred.

Nantes as a seller may have a liability for insurance on the transfer the asset to Cardiff.

This should have been kept of of the media, and Cardiff maybe should have paid the first installment, but that's easy for me to say as a fan as it not my money.

I have just had a thought?

If he wasn't a Cardiff player, why are Nantes not claiming through their insurance?

In a interview with the press NW said he was my player

But that doesn't mean that whoever is responsible for arranging the flight didn't have a duty of care. It would seem that the club believe that Nantes have vicarious liability as the agent who arranged the flight was working on their behalf.

Help us avoid Emiliano Sala payment: Cardiff seek Premier League clubs' advice on escaping £15m transfer fee


Daily Mail

16/02/19

Cardiff City have contacted other Premier League clubs in an attempt to establish whether there may be grounds to avoid paying the full £15million transfer fee being demanded by Nantes for Emiliano Sala, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Letters sent in the past few days by lawyers acting for the club request help in ‘fighting off Nantes’ legal claim’, according to one source. They ask clubs for assistance in ‘sharing your knowledge of Sala as a player’.

The correspondence from a Cardiff law firm describes Sala as ‘the player that Cardiff tried to sign’, phrasing which makes it clear that the club believe they may not have to pay all — or indeed any — of the record transfer fee.


Details of the letters — which Cardiff on Saturday confirmed were sent — emerged as manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo arrived in Argentina for the player’s wake and funeral.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Cardiff’s decision to approach Premier League clubs publicly linked with Sala is partly motivated by transfer broker Willie McKay’s admission in an email to the striker that he had sought to artificially inflate the price. McKay told Sala he had told the media of rival interest ‘just to stimulate interest in you’.

The club are seeking to establish whether there was indeed any interest at all from other clubs. McKay’s email to Sala listed Everton and West Ham as clubs he had linked the player to, though Crystal Palace, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves were also reported to be keen.

Seems they are going to go after the agents

But,
My big worry is Wez, in my opinion the agents are totally corrupt and know how to go under at the right time.

It still doesn't matter if they go under they will have insurance ,I put a company through , 3 years later I got a claim for injury off a customer ,I passed it on to my insurance company at the time and they paid out to the claimant ,all this at the moment is trying to pass liability once liability gets established then insurance will have to pay out

Interesting, thankfully I don't know much about legal stuff regarding putting a company under, if your right,then good news all around regarding payments etc.

Whoever is the insurance company at the time will be liable, different if the company had already gone through before the event

I think the best chance of insurers paying out will be for us getting it from our insurers as we may be more able to claim ignorance from the travel arrangements.

The operator ought to be carrying very high cover doing this sort of work. But that wont include carrying people around with incorrect licences.

The Agent should carry a broad spectrum of cover or the variety of dealings. But their insurers would expect that they ensure that anyone they engage is properly covered to carry out their duties.

If Insurers of the above two will walk away from this on the basis of the licence and I wouldn't be surprised if criminal charges follow. You cant drive a car without being properly insured and I cant believe its any less rigorous for flying a plane.

Nantes and Cardiff will be insured and I'm not sure the absolute ownership of the player at the time matters. Insurers are not generally in the business of paying out simply to retain clients particularly as the liability could well end up at £ 40 million. They'll know passing the claim down the line to the agent and operator could be fruitless in this case but they probably wont want to be seen as ducking a claim that to most will seem reasonable. The business Nantes and Cardiff give them is relatively insignificant but insurance around football is now huge business. No insurers would want to put themselves outside that business.

In the end all insurers in this could end up contributing.

As a journalist stated on Talksport this morning, if this was any other business than football it would not be making the headlines as this type of loss adjustment goes on all the time in insurance.

The interim report of the AAIB will be out this week and will certainly guide which way the case goes.

I'm sure Dalman already will have been in contact hence the reports in the press ref the pilot.

Annis, I know it's splitting hairs, but that is how insurance works, although he might have been registered with FAW was he registered with the FA at time of death?

Personally don't blame the club at all in questioning this as do you not think it strange how quickly Nantes were after money? For Christ's sake they hadn't got the poor lad out of wreckage..

I thought it was awful how quickly Nantes went for Cardiff regarding the money as it really was not the right time.

And that makes me suspicious. If Cardiff had paid the first instalment then we would have accepted liability for full payment. My gut feeling is Nantes were trying it on knowing that we were still wrapped up in the emotion of what had happened.

Taking the business reality view,

Essentially Cardiff have bought a £15 million asset from Nantes, this asset was then subsequently lost in transit. This asset had all the contracts signed, and the paperwork was in the process of being registered.

There would be a question of Cardiff City's insurance being valid, hence the comment about not being registered with the PL.

The agents were acting for Nantes in the transfer and arranged the flight, there is certainly a good question that for all intents and purposes the "asset" was still in the process of being transferred to Cardiff.

He was at Nantes training ground, most likely collecting personal belongings and kit, as well as tying up loose ends before finally transferring. Which may physically imply that the transfer of the asset was not fully complete. Yes contracts are signed but this would not take effect until the asset had been fully physically transferred.

Nantes as a seller may have a liability for insurance on the transfer the asset to Cardiff.

This should have been kept of of the media, and Cardiff maybe should have paid the first installment, but that's easy for me to say as a fan as it not my money.

Castleblue is the person to ask. He did a post a couple of weeks ago explaining the contractual situation. I can't remember the full details but there is a 5 working day delay in payment from signing the contract until payment is due.

Would anyone on here pay out any money if there was a doubt about its legality Only naive people would do so, it May be unseemly but the club are right to question things and Nantes haste in wanting payment throws open question are they worried city have a case?
As for NW saying hes was my player suspect he's saying i chose him NW as been very emotional regarding ameliano and nothing to do with him actually being a city player

To be honest. Take away the tragedy of the situation, and look at it through business eyes. No one wants to pay 15 mil for someone or something that they didnt get. Nantes are playing the victim here and were first to point the fingers, and were very clever about it.

We as a club are now gonna face a barrage of digging and lies from the likes of the daily fail, the s*n and french media. This will be followed up a few weeks later with the tiniest of paragraphs as an apology. We will also face it from wum and some of our own Tan hating fans on this forum and facebook.

Unfortunately this is business. Remember, none of this £15 mil will go anywhere near Sala's family or his dog. It will go directly to Nantes owner (remember it was him who wanted Sala sold, not the club). So the beneficiaries of this is a business.

When weighing up the circumstances, remember this:

Had Nantes owner and Mckay not been so greedy in holding out for more money, he would've travelled to cardiff sooner on a better mode of transport.

Our transfer committee all agreed on buying the player, but 1 disagreed with the inflated price.

It is not Nantes the club that are driving this, it's their owner.

Its gonna play out ugly, two teams fighting over a deceased man's value.

Our club will need us to stick together. And we need to for the team that we support.

It is what I thought would happen all along.



It could well end up with Nantes being grateful for receiving a reduced amount for the deceased Sala and Cardiff suing agent McKay for any amount they do pay.

What I struggle to see is how could Cardiff claim any money for Sala from their Lloyds of London insurance policy if Sala is deemed not to be their player? If, indeed, there is now a claim been put in.



My opinion, Sadly I don't think Cardiff will come out of this with much credit, which will take away all the good we have built up.

it sounds as if there is no insurance mate.
if something goes wrong and your covered you just pass it on to who covers you. its their job to argue the technicalities of who is responsible for what.

I was told with in 48hrs of this terrible tragedy, City were going to come unstuck regarding insurance, I hoped that it was wrong and still is wrong.

Emiliano Sala was registered with the Welsh FA as our player, the first people you need to roster a player with if your Cardiff City

I think this is the key part that’s going to go against us, regardless of not being registered as a PL player we all know that was a matter of time, the fact that FAW accepted the transfer shows that the PL would have done the same. This would be part of the defence. Yes it’s going tight ugly, and it’s going to go on for a while, it’s going to pull the club apart, looks like it’s causing fractures already with what MD and NW have both said

It is what I thought would happen all along.



It could well end up with Nantes being grateful for receiving a reduced amount for the deceased Sala and Cardiff suing agent McKay for any amount they do pay.

What I struggle to see is how could Cardiff claim any money for Sala from their Lloyds of London insurance policy if Sala is deemed not to be their player? If, indeed, there is now a claim been put in.



My opinion, Sadly I don't think Cardiff will come out of this with much credit, which will take away all the good we have built up.

it sounds as if there is no insurance mate.
if something goes wrong and your covered you just pass it on to who covers you. its their job to argue the technicalities of who is responsible for what.

I was told with in 48hrs of this terrible tragedy, City were going to come unstuck regarding insurance, I hoped that it was wrong and still is wrong.

Emiliano Sala was registered with the Welsh FA as our player, the first people you need to roster a player with if your Cardiff City

I think this is the key part that’s going to go against us, regardless of not being registered as a PL player we all know that was a matter of time, the fact that FAW accepted the transfer shows that the PL would have done the same. This would be part of the defence. Yes it’s going tight ugly, and it’s going to go on for a while, it’s going to pull the club apart, looks like it’s causing fractures already with what MD and NW have both said

That’s sadly exactly how I see it.

As insensitive as it may sound I hope the club stick their ground in this one. We made the offer to transport him to and from Nantes commercially, which on seemingly the advice of his agent was rejected in favour of a free private charter. Then in regards to the license of the pilot being found as being not qualified for commercial flight should be an issue for the court to decide, as it looks like one party, the agent or the private flight company, tried to cut costs. Still don’t like that David Henderson making his Facebook status and then completely disappearing out of public eye.

In a interview with the press NW said he was my player

But that doesn't mean that whoever is responsible for arranging the flight didn't have a duty of care. It would seem that the club believe that Nantes have vicarious liability as the agent who arranged the flight was working on their behalf.

I think Neil Warnock simply meant that it was he who 'wanted' Emiliano Sala at Cardiff City; clearly more than at least one other member of the Transfer Committee

Who was the 'one' currently remains a mystery but (for me) it would have to be either Mehmet Dalman or Ken Choo, as Vincent Tan could surely veto any deal he likes?

Maybe wrong but I'm leaning towards Mehmet Dalman himself for reasons I won't put up on here

Help us avoid Emiliano Sala payment: Cardiff seek Premier League clubs' advice on escaping £15m transfer fee


Daily Mail

16/02/19

Cardiff City have contacted other Premier League clubs in an attempt to establish whether there may be grounds to avoid paying the full £15million transfer fee being demanded by Nantes for Emiliano Sala, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Letters sent in the past few days by lawyers acting for the club request help in ‘fighting off Nantes’ legal claim’, according to one source. They ask clubs for assistance in ‘sharing your knowledge of Sala as a player’.

The correspondence from a Cardiff law firm describes Sala as ‘the player that Cardiff tried to sign’, phrasing which makes it clear that the club believe they may not have to pay all — or indeed any — of the record transfer fee.


Details of the letters — which Cardiff on Saturday confirmed were sent — emerged as manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo arrived in Argentina for the player’s wake and funeral.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Cardiff’s decision to approach Premier League clubs publicly linked with Sala is partly motivated by transfer broker Willie McKay’s admission in an email to the striker that he had sought to artificially inflate the price. McKay told Sala he had told the media of rival interest ‘just to stimulate interest in you’.

The club are seeking to establish whether there was indeed any interest at all from other clubs. McKay’s email to Sala listed Everton and West Ham as clubs he had linked the player to, though Crystal Palace, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves were also reported to be keen.

Seems they are going to go after the agents

But,
My big worry is Wez, in my opinion the agents are totally corrupt and know how to go under at the right time.

The whole situation stinks !!
AAIB have to recover the plane to provide a full investigation.
1. If it was mechanical
2. Pilot error
Meanwhile everyone wants money.

Owner gets the money for the plane
We get insurance for Sala
We pay Nantes for Sala

Wages and extras are down to us unless

1. Pilot officially shouldn't be flying also in massive amount of dept / holds life insurance
2. Agents proved to not follow policies and procedures
3. Aircraft was not fit for transport *** go after the company.

Determine factor is recovering the plane and process of elimination.

Otherwise we have to pay up !!!

Sending emails will just help from other clubs to prove agents were blackmailing/lying if you like that we have a club if you don't sign him now.

The agents are defiantly corrupt and I said before Sala could make history here and change the way agents can work in the future .

Media already turning on Cardiff City

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Daily Mail

Letters sent in the past few days by lawyers acting for the club request help in ‘fighting off Nantes’ legal claim’, according to one source. They ask clubs for assistance in ‘sharing your knowledge of Sala as a player’.

The correspondence from a Cardiff law firm describes Sala as ‘the player that Cardiff tried to sign’, phrasing which makes it clear that the club believe they may not have to pay all — or indeed any — of the record transfer fee.

I keep saying that this is a matter for the lawyers now .

It might go on for years and there'll be all sorts of cross allegations and counter claims. They'll try any argument which they think might further their respective clients cases, and it'll all have very little to do with common sense or right and wrong.

Anyone who tries to call it at this stage or second guess the next dramatic claim or even follow the case without legal qualifications and experience will risk a slow and tormented decline into insanity.

My advice would be to let them get on with their frankly dirty business without getting upset about it or taking sides in the coming legal free for all cause it's not Cardiff City involved but their lawyers and insurers at this point.

Mr. She'd what an excellent post

How can some say this will pull the club apart ffs do you have a crystal ball, why should it pull the club apart? the club as never been as strong as it is now, We have a strong boardroom, strong manager, and fans united as one.

Nice to see a lot of out fans getting on our clubs back, if Nantes arranged that shambolic flight then their at fault and deserve absolutely nothing.

How can some say this will pull the club apart ffs do you have a crystal ball, why should it pull the club apart? the club as never been as strong as it is now, We have a strong boardroom, strong manager, and fans united as one.

Exactly mate few of the usual suspects on here who haven’t a clue, if we stay up all will soon be forgottten and everyone will be jumping on the glory wagon.

How can some say this will pull the club apart ffs do you have a crystal ball, why should it pull the club apart? the club as never been as strong as it is now, We have a strong boardroom, strong manager, and fans united as one.

Exactly mate few of the usual suspects on here who haven’t a clue, if we stay up all will soon be forgotten and everyone will be jumping on the glory wagon.

Yes it is the same few that are making stupid remarks. On page one, one off them said we should pay up by the second page he as tried to worm out off it , just let the club and their legal team sort out the off field issue , and as fans lets get behind the team and club .