Cardiff City will be changing their traditional colours and badge as of next season, so is this a sign of the times? Football is now generally run by billionaires from abroad who show no respect to lifelong supporters. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Malaysian group of investors who run Cardiff City wish to invest £100m into the club on the condition that they change their colours to red and adjust the badge to feature a dragon instead of a bluebird. They believe that red is a better brand colour in Asia than blue is! This isn't just a proposal - THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITHOUT CONSULTING FANS. This is absolutely disgraceful BUT it seems that it may well be accepted in the end due to the amount of money they are prepared to throw at them. Is there nothing sacred in football anymore? £100m is a lot of dosh but surely a clubs identity is priceless. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-18001917
We forget how lucky we are sometimes, Michael Wynn Jones and Delia have the clubs interest at heart. Thats a rarity in club owners nowadays. Feel sorry for Cardiff if it happens, but if that money gets them promoted do you think it'll soon be forgotten?
i suppose thats my point really! their fans will forget about it if they go up next season!! its all about the money...
Shows the importance of having people on the board who know the history of the club and its identity with the fans. This is just madness and as you say shows all thats wrong with money in football. You would almost like the FA to take a stance and somehow protect clubs identity or at least enforce consultation with fans first. Similar to only calling pasty's from cornwall Cornish pasty's something should be bought in to prevent the identity of a club being lost. PS: How do they like the colour yellow in China?
I hate the trend of having away kits generally. Unless we are playing say Wolves or Hull we should never wear anything but yellow. It is stupid and takes away the history, money or no money it is wrong!
Good post, to be honest I am not too sure what the FA do at all. They state of the game is becoming more and more business like and taking it away from the fans who value the sport as a religion. The FA sit there and do nothing, I think they are useless. I watched an interview with John Amaechi after FA released the anti homophobia campaign and he said how is a board who only just employed their first women an modern and progressive organistation. Spot on, bunch of dinosaurs who only care about money hence why they like the rebranding of traditional clubs.
I agree the FA don't do anywhere near as much as they should for the game. However on this issue there may well be legal issues preventing them from protecting a clubs identity. For it to happen there would probably have to be a law passed along the lines of 'owners must protect the clubs identity' with a few specifics thrown in as to what that may cover. Also as the FA don't control the prem they may have no legislation over those sides.
The Cardiff fans on Not606 seem to be taking the whole thing pretty well. Not sure how I would feel if it happened to us, I am sure I would accept it at some point but would feel somewhat saddened - especially if it was a change to have a blue (not sky blue like we have previously had) kit somewhere in the mix
I would have thought that red and a dragon would go down pretty well in Welsh Wales! And endowing football or anything to do with it with pseudo-religious status is ridiculous; not only ridiculous but responsible for most of the worst aspects of football culture.
put it this way, if it happened in the summer where delia came out and said 'norwich are changing their colours to black and white and the badge to a penguin cos i like the way they waddle about' we'd all be up in arms but if she added the condition that 'i'll invest £100m if you let me do it' suddenly some people would feel it was worth it! ok, we have no ties to penguins and they at least are welsh/dragons etc but they are effectively being bribed by the prospect of premier league football - a prospect they can still achieve without the funding.
When PL came in he was quoted as saying that the club had become too "nice" for its own good. You might say that a canary doesn't exactly help in that respect. Do we want to be chirpy at best? What alternative bird might we adopt, and what bird do we think would be appropriate for other clubs? I can think of one or two for whom an ostrich would be fitting .......
.......read this with incredulity. can't believe how stupid some people are, but it's all to make an extra buck in the asian market, never mind the die hard real fans, they are totally unimportant.
Not as emotive as changing the colours but many of my Geordie mates will go to St James' Park until they draw their last breath (or move to a new stadium)
Thing is with a lot of clubs their colours, badge and nickname come with history and a story behind it. If you change any of it, suddenly that is lost. I believe Norwich are called the Canaries and wear yellow and green because of the canaries coming over from Holland years a go. It would be strange if someone asked, 'so why do Cardiff wear red and are called the dragons?' Admittedly in this scenario it is because they're Welsh and a dragon is on their national flag, but it doesn't quite have the same romance to it. The fact that they are changing the home kit to red is most confusing of all though. I can't see how that is going to help the club. Also, what if Norwich City said they were going to get rid of 'On the Ball City' and replace it with the theme tune of a brand and say we will get £50mill if we do this. As a director of a football club you would jump at it. But the tradition has gone and takes away the enjoyment pre-match that usually gets the fans behind the team and excitec. However, £100mill is a heck of a lot of money, especially for a Championship team and the only way they're going to be able to compete is by increasing their revenue. Sadly money talks more than tradition in football these days. Sorry for rambling.
I can understand the general disapproval but clubs do change their strips (particularly away) and badges over time for whatever reason they choose. For example we started off playing in blue and white halves (urrrgh!) but have been predominently yellow for virtually all of our history, Cardiff formed in a natty brown quartered strip in the 19th century but have been blue pretty much ever since. Red is deemed lucky in Asia and club owners from this area looking to generate funds in the area will be drawn to it. It probably helps that Wales is associated with red and dragons and it could breathe a bit more life into the club both through local patriotism and Asian interest. Maybe it would be better for all concerned if the owners dipped their toes in and covered both bases by making the away strip red with the dragon badge and committing to playing 50% of their matches in it and see how they get on. £100m to change a second strip is probably not too controversial and I reckon we would swallow a red second kit for enough cash to clear out our debt, upgrade the ground and give PL a nice war chest for the summer. It is a very bold owner who turns away £100m - the same fans revolting against a change in strip would be the first to welcome a new stadium or three or four marquee signings taking them up to the premiership. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
its not just a change of strip and badge though is it - they will lose their entire identity and replace it with a fake one. clubs don't just abandon tradition. they may waiver slightly one year in aid of a further tradition, but to completely change the whole fabric of a club is different. cardiff 'dragons' is a completely new football club as far as i'm concerned - anything cardiff city achieved before will have been lost to a degree. ok, they aren't moving the club hundreds of miles away like the mk dons did with wimbledon, but i fear the soul of the club will be lost forever. they are a welsh club representing cardiff - they are not representing wales as a nation! thats what the national team is for!! i think this is taking things way too far for the sake of nothing except making money in the far east. thats a pretty horrible thought
Football clubs' history is integral to who they are (don't tell the bummers though). This level of rebrand is stripping that all away to the point that it effectively becomes a new club in the old stadium. It's a bit like the MK dons, who I always feel are a disgrace of a club and want them to do nothing but fail. I wouldn't dislike cardiff if they rebrand, but I would feel that they lacked a history and I think they would loose a level of respect in the league.
