pembroke allan wrote:Clubs who have been in premier league longer than us and more times than us have debts! In fact can anyone say which club is debt free in championship other than this seasons relegated clubs? Making out we should be debt free is bollocks as very few efl clubs are...... as for time taking to clear debt it as been said why and it's to do with Asian authorities and their regulations it's very time consuming....
Allan, you're right. Outside of a few (truly top) clubs, football as a business is illogical and often anyone who gets involved (Tan included) must ask themselves
"WTF have I done?" at some point!
This Sam versus Tan stuff is getting boring now, as both have played a major part in our recent (mainly positive) history and each should be applauded for getting involved at times when others, including some local (
with the notable exception of Steve Borley) either refused to get involved or saw us as a proverbial cash cow with which to line their own pockets
We are where we are today because Sam saw an opportunity and, for the large part, played an absolute blinder in firstly getting the real supporters on board before convincing the 'floaters' and the 'newbies' to attach themselves to his dream
It worked and I know that because I was there! )
The feeling Sam brought was nothing but positive for a large part of his tenure and he brought some great schemes with which to keep supporters on board, e.g. the Ambassador Club, which had real benefits for the real supporters (there were around 6,000 at time of instigation) and which grew to not far short of 20,000 by the time the FA Cup Final came around (but had then lost its gloss because the benefits could no longer be applied to the original members)
That he (Sam) ran out of time in which to fulfil his dream of seeing this club in the Premier League was IMHO a sad day; but it was right that once he had lost his way and the Bailiffs were closing in, the next stage of our progress should be handed over to someone fresh...in our case initially The Riddler
I've stated before that I don't see The Riddler as a failure at our club; he came in with a brief to save it from extinction and by hook or by crook he achieved it to his credit
Along comes TG and soon after one Vincent Tan, who despite not being a 'footballing man' and initially not wanting to invest in a proverbial pink elephant, decided to give it a go
Initial errors were made, one important one of which was DJ' team not being able to overcome Holloway's Blackpool to seal a place in the Premier League, as well as the crazy (to us but not to him) decision to change from traditional blue to red
It has been said by many that if he could have had everyone playing in a shirt with (lucky to Chinese) No.8 on the back, he would have done it!
No matter, it was done, he was widely vilified for it and eventually (thanks to his mum apparently) he relented and gave us back the blue
The damage was clearly done and to some (not as many as those 'some' would have you believe) were never going to forgive him, so long as he had a hole in his backside, which (for me) says more about their intransigence (a very Welsh trait) than his!
Commercially, Tan has made errors but he has also learned and despite his failings, he has put together two management teams and players who have brought Premier League football to our fine city and we can't say he didn't support (certainly the first two) managers in the transfer market, can we?
Forever Blue rightly refers to the debt amassed by the current regime; but we need to remember that much of that debt was inherited from the previous regime(s) and further debt was accumulated on bringing quality in order to achieve the Premier League dream
Tan is close (by standards) to eradicating said 'debt' and that is in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is seeing other clubs weeks away from extinction. How can we 'knock' that?
A long post, I know, but your point above was a good one and I think we all just need to settle back and give everyone who has contributed to our club in recent years just a little credit and not keep comparing one against the other in the negative sense that many do
We're Cardiff City FC and we're still here...!