Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has said that promotion to the Premier League could trigger further "rebranding" and did not rule out changing the club's name to Cardiff Dragons. The Malaysian billionaire has already insisted upon a colour change from blue to red, as well as a new club crest. "We will think about it when we know the final result of this season," he said about using Cardiff Dragons."Then we will think what's the best way to brand it." Tan acknowledged the "rumours" that have recently emerged over the use of Cardiff Dragons but added: "We haven't discussed this. I've not really thought about this in detail. "But when we get there we'll make a decision. And when we make a decision we will convey it to everyone." Tan, who has an estimated wealth of $1.3bn, wants Cardiff to maximise all possible revenue and marketing opportunities in Asia. After buying more than 35% of the club's shares for £6m in 2010, the 61-year-old Malaysian threatened to withdraw his support in June unless the club agreed to ditch its traditional blue home shirts in favour of red ones. The new colours were accepted, so too a new badge as a Welsh dragon replaced the bluebird, and further investment followed. In an interview with BBC Wales' Sport Wales programme, he justified the "controversial decision" of the club's colours, and stressed he is prepared to and intends to make more changes. "A few were upset but like in any business if we get 80% or 75% of the customers happy, with 20-25% not happy, that's fine," he said. "If they don't want to come to support our business, that's fine. We need the majority." He added: "I believe the change is for the better. And if you put in a lot of money, surely you have the right to make a call on some things you believe will make it better. "If you don't have a say, why the hell do you want to put in so much money?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21604568 The comments in that last paragraph would scare the **** out of me if I was a Cardiff fan.
Can you imagine our team without Black & Amber? Scary thought, but if you own the club, have invested millions I guess you call the shots.
Or maybe not, the Wales Online poll currently has 70% of fans claiming they wouldn't attend another match if the name is changed.
unfortunately that is the businessman in him talking... he will turn out to be another Roman A. and end up choosing the team and selling players from under the managers nose. It is this kind of scenario that I was worried about with the Allams - and it still worries me to this day. you dont get owt for nowt nowadays. WHEN we get promoted to the PL, will he step back and let the manager manage? I can see Dr Allam being a silent partner, Ehab? I can see him sticking his oar in.
This really does raise the question 'what price success?' and I hand on heart 100% would rather be in the bottom division and true to our history if the other option was a mental investor with no link to the area who merely saw the club as an ego-fondling play thing and in the process threw away everything we ever stood for. I actually worry about Cardiff here to be honest.
Are they going to start playing Rugby League as well? Hull Sharks, Castleford Tigers, Cardiff Dragons.........
The thing I don't understand is that a few Cardiff fans on here (and I don't know how representative they are) seem to think it's OK because he's putting a lot of money in and they suggest that he wouldn't have invested what he has, helping them get where they are, if he wasn't allowed to change the colours and badge. That's just readily accepted, but I don't understand why. Why did he feel the need to force their hand so, well, forcefully? Why are the colours so important? The idea that Malaysians only buy red shirts, despite my lack of understanding for south-east-Asian culture, I find very hard to believe. Just how big is this daft Asian market? How many genuine shirts are they going to sell over there and does it outweight the cost of what they get on a matchday from paying fans? I'd have thought if any Malaysians wanted a Cardiff shirt (and there can't be that many...) they'd get a cheap, fake one. After all who even knows the difference that far away from the club?
I think they largely got away with the kit change, due to bringing in Bellamy and a couple of others and the fact that they've been around the top of the league all season has placated most of the fans. Changing the club name is a whole different story and I don't think the fans will tolerate it at all.
Some clubs have their colours and that's that, especially when you play in blue and you're the ****ing bluebirds. If the Allams changed our colours I would be fuming.
Saying all this, can you imagine TWS not playing in white? It was only old Brown Envelope who changed this.
I'm with you there bum chin. I'm not pleased to say I've called the shots on these franchise loving mini Asian squinty eyed bellends destroying a historical football team 100% so far. Even predicted they would rebrand the club 'the dragons', althought after the colour and badge changing thing it hardly took Nostradamus to predict that. It's only a matter of time until the Cardiff part of their name ceases to exist. I hope the FA implement some rule that prevents changes like these before all kinds of foreign investors come in and we have teams like 'Red Socks' and 'Leeds Pink Fluffy Bunnies'. **** off you Malaysian ****
In their game against Brighton, there was meant to be a mass demonstration against the whole red thing with fans waving and wearing blue stuff. On the day, the owners gave away a ****e load of red scarves. All you could see was red. Realistically, they wouldn't be were they are, and certainly wouldn't be looking at auto promotion with this business owners money, it was never like our buy/bail out which was a local philanthropist, it was purely business, and no one else in Cardiff was prepared to do it, so yeah, if that's what he wants to do, he will. If they get promoted, they will still pack their ground out ever week at home too. As ever, negative type polls will always reflect what the people who like to complain thing rather than those that just can't be bothered and actually, are happy the teams got a rich owner and is bankrolling them. Regardless of the strip, or even adding stuff to the name, they'll still be Cardiff, they'll still be playing in the same place and they're still the same team. Every club has groups of fans who don't like something that's going on. Those that don't like it can quite simply raise enough money and buy him out. Or complain about it.
I choose to believe the Allams have the club at heart and wouldn't act like this. I am open to be proven wrong but they have lived in Hull for forty years and that makes a difference.
I would expect that in the Premier next season there will be a fair percentage of Cardiff supporters who have season tickets who have never seen them playing in Blue. The rest will just go with the flow.
I think Happy Clapper sums up most of the posters on our board fairly well, with his explanation. There's a difference between total acceptance and realising that the way football currently operates (and our previous financial history) it was red or dead last summer. There was a split in which the vast majority of fans accepted that playing in red was worth £100m, that 'deal' stated the name would not be changed. None of us will accept a name change lying down, I'm sure the vast majority will still support the club IF and it's a big if, the name changes. As is said above if a number of fans do leave the club (about 600 ST holders asked for refunds due to the shirt change), our likely PL status will fill those seats easily. Doesn't mean I like that fact, but football is a business and lets not pretend any owners care as long as the seats are full. We already sold out of the allocation of new ST's for next season. In fairness to your board I'm suprised by how well this is being discussed, when I clicked on the thread I was expected a thread full of "haha lets all laugh at *Cardiff* insert new name here" type comments
When Cardiff's current owner gets bored (or starts to lose too much money or maybe gets arrested for alleged fraud) he'll lose interest and then it will be left to the true Cardiff fans to pick up the pieces of a broken club.
On the first point - no it's not and Im surprised nobody has said anything. BSMan isnt usually like this, bit odd.... And the last point - speaking for myself only Im a lover of football from the bygone age and hate what the modern game has become. Let's face it, it's largely **** and most people who watched in the 80s such as myself or before then get a little misty-eyed when thinking of what it used to be like and this is just the latest example of a car-crash.There's also a little bit of self preservation as Im sure Im not the only one perpetually worried about our own mental owner, but at least he's lived in the Hull area for 40 years and says he owes us his fortune. cheers
