I will try and keep this as brief as possible but I have quite a few points to make (and get off my chest) Firstly let me say that after supporting the Bluebirds for nearly 40 years I begrudgingly accepted the re-brand of our Kit and Badge - I simply took this as a decision of a company owner who needed to freshen up an ailing 'business'. However... a football club is unlike any other business that Vincent Tan has otherwise invested in. Other businesses have customers and clients who buy products and services. Cinemas have customers who buy entertainment. FOOTBALL CLUBS HAVE SUPPORTERS (FANS) WHO BUY EMOTION. This makes owning a football club a very difficult proposition for a businessman who hopes to make a profit. It also makes re-brands in football all the more distasteful due to the emotion that arises from the move to change. I hate to say it but Football in the UK is usually either the playground for the rich (i.e. a hobby) or a project for the wealthy(ish) fan of a team who wishes to keep his 'pride and joy' alive and thriving. For Tan to come to the UK football scene hoping for a profit could be seen as many as a pipe dream. But it's his pipe-dream and one that he is determined to succeed with. A few facts that I wish to be made: 1) Without Tan then I believe that Cardiff City, in our present format, would not exist. Our proud history would have drifted away along the river of administration and liquidation. Let's face it; we would not have found another benefactor to save us. 2) Tan is entitled to do what he wishes with his football club. It's his personal money that he is spending (unlike predecessors who have invested money from their other businesses). All he has to do is convince the board to back him. 3) We have a choice whether, or not, to continue to support a club that may be in the process, as some think, of having it's heart and soul torn from within it. 4) The Malaysians simply do not understand our culture and our emotional attachment to our club. 5) If City fans abuse Vincent Tan then he WILL walk away. However Tan can only enforce change on the club if the board endorse it. Therefore lobbying to other members of the board may be a decent idea. Now... back last year, just after news of a proposed rebranding broke, TG and Tan denied the truth in the rumours. Is the same happening this year with rumours of a proposed name change? Has somebody from within the club leaked this to the press - at precisely the wrong time for the owners and the board? I have drawn a line of acceptability in the sand and any name change is completely on the wrong side of the line for me! I am worried. I am nervous. I do not know whether or not to trust the name of Cardiff City (and the memories that it holds) in the hands of our benefactors. He maybe telling the truth and a name change just isn't on the agenda. He may not be. So which side of the fence do I fall on to? From a business perspective; I can see Tan's reasons for his actions. I am even prepared to accept that the team that I support now play in red. I am willing to accept that red will become the dominent colour at the CCS. However the brand named of Cardiff City and the Bluebirds should not be touched and I believe that 80%+ of all supporters will agree. This compares favourably against the 80% who are comfortable with the colour and badge change. I cannot see any future for the Keep Cardiff Blue campaign. Why? because under the current ownership the club will remain red and 10-20% of the supporters campaigning is not enough to make a difference. HOWEVER... KEEP CARDIFF CITY as CARDIFF CITY - THE BLUEBIRDS is a very different proposition. Let's not be rude and derogatory to a man who has kept our football club afloat. However let's be absolutely firm in our stance that 'Cardiff City' is a part of our soul and should remain as such.
Fine. Then all in favour of reverting to our original name of Riverside AFC please say now. See that is our history so if you want to keep tradition alive you will want the original name back or are you going to choose which part of the history you actually like. An the colours were orange and yellow quartered shirts you will want those back too because that is where it all started. jck
taffy im with you there>>>>colour for me aint a problem>>>i just wished we had a more argentinian style kit for cool sake(call me greedy) ......a name change would push the exit button for me 2 mind .....badges change all the time so that aint no biggy at all is it really lets stick with him and see what the new prem season brings he aint no billionaire for being stupid thats for sure a business i would take if i were him mind would be,chuck the yanks hotdogs out and bring in crispy aromatic duck pancakes....washed down with a nice clarkies [video=youtube;FgNO7bs7OBo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FgNO7bs7OBo[/video] taff great post and i know where your coming from>>>>ktf dude.....like you say cardiff is in our soul and that can never be taken from us
I have only just watched VT's interview on record and was waiting to post a comment until then. Taffy, I agree almost completely with what you say. He regards Cardiff as a business project and has no concept of fans loyalty or football in general. His comment whereby he indicated that you don't put money in for the love of football says it all. He believes he will make a profit. He just does not understand football fans at all, we get hooked at an early age and then we are in it for life. When he says he hopes 80% will support him, the other 20% are not going to go looking for another club to support. uufortunately his business principles just don't mix with football. Change is inevitable and to survive you have to adapt, football fans are traditionally unwilling to accept much change, but VT is seriously giving all of us a dilema and stretching our tolerence levels to the limit. I think a name change is on the cards and many will find this unacceptable. Personally I have renewed my season ticket and will expext to continue doing so, being a fan is central to my whole life, but if we are not careful he will walk and we could be left with no club to support at all.
Well said Taffy. A good summary of both sides of the coin well put. I was out of the loop yesterday but saw the evening headline that VT had retracted his comments on the change of name. Maybe this time he got wind of the full extent of the opinion against the change and decided discretion was the better part of valour. Time will tell.
Vincent Tan interview. There was nothing at all in that interview to be afraid of. As stated many times before, He is a business man and he is not doing this for the love of football, he is in it to make it work and make money. Personally i cant see him changing the name of the club, however he will rebrand as necessary so that investment comes into the club and i suspect that there are massive sponsorship deals ready to be finalised should we get promoted. If i were a Billionaire from South Wales (Which i am not) and a life long Cardiff City supporter (Which i am) I would also be of the view of turning the club into a profitable organisation/business, look at WBA and Swansea as a good model on how a club can be both successful and in profit. That my friends is what Mr Tan wants for this club. He is not a stupid man as he stated in the Interview and he is not afraid of going in front of the press to put his point across, which is a very good thing and he has also been very good at getting rid of the rumour mongers that plague our club. He is upfront with his ideas and plans, he is successful and ultimately so will our football club be successful, but not at the cost of pumping millions of pounds in without the hope of any sort of return. Look at this interview as a positive, he also said that if he walks away then he will walk away leaving the club in a very good place, which it is at the moment. He sees Red as a marketable product in the Asian market which is where he sees profit to be made, Europe is in a deep recession, Asia is not. Therefore surely this is an outlet that needs to be nurtured and supported. I for one give him my full support and will be wearing the Red scarf for the forseeable future, Once again we see a breakneck reaction to what was a very positive interview from Mr Tan, where people are reading things into that interview the way they see it. I bet the AAMB board is full of vitriol at the moment.
What a daft statement. Have the confidence to put the real club you support and perhaps we can have a discussion.
jck We aren't old enough to remember Riverside AFC and therefore our 'mother club' is not part of our history with Cardiff City (although it is part of Cardiff City's history). Part of my acceptance of the 'colour rebrand' was based on the previous change of colours deep in the club's history. I said to many people then that this colour change was not too bad as our predecessors had to accept a colour and name change! Vincent Tan has moved to state that a name change is not on the cards. He is a shrewd business man who tries to be tactically adept at all times. However please answer these two questions: Why do the new red scarfs name us as Cardiff and not Cardiff City. And why is the Bluebird now red? It's often said that there is no smoke without fire... I would like to believe Tan and I believed him last year when TG denied any truth in the rebranding rumours. As I said in the title of the post... The view from the fence, upon which I sit, is very confusing indeed.
'I have drawn a line of acceptability in the sand and any name change is completely on the wrong side of the line for me!' This even after VT has said his bit .....So you either believe the Owner or BBC Wales ....,Your choice Sorry Taffy but the OP does say 'confused' so people will try to assist in the confusion .
