Cardiff City Supporters' Trust issue strong statement and demand urgent meeting with Vincent Tan

Cardiff City Supporters' Trust issue strong statement and demand urgent meeting with Vincent Tan

Cardiff City have been relegated to League One and their supporters' trust has called for urgent change

Cardiff City fans at full time. (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency )

Cardiff City Supporters' Trust have requested an urgent meeting with owner Vincent Tan following the club's disastrous relegation to League One.

The Bluebirds' fate was sealed on Saturday with a draw at home to West Brom, the second game which club legend Aaron Ramsey presided over following the sacking of Omer Riza.

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In truth, Cardiff have been toying with demotion for the past few seasons and the chickens finally came home to roost with a game of the season still to go.

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This has been a mess of the club's own making. The trust once again pointed to the lack of footballing knowledge on the board as a factor in the club's demise, while questioning the appointment of Riza as Erol Bulut's successor. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community.

They also placed on record their thanks to Ramsey for stepping up for the final run-in, but urged the club to appoint a more experienced manager to help get them out of the third tier next term.

Finally, they demanded an "urgent" meeting with Tan "to discuss the failings which have culminated in our relegation to hear what fundamental changes are going to be put in place throughout the club from top to bottom to avoid further failings in future". Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

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Read the statement in full

"We are dedicated fans of Cardiff City FC, some of us have supported the club through thick and thin for more than 60 years. However, we could not let the dreadful relegation to League One after more than 20 years in higher divisions go without comment. Relegation in all honesty has been coming since the 2021-22 season and the failure to address fundamental required changes from the top down has now come home to roost.

"Unless these matters are tackled urgently, the downward spiral on and off the field will continue and fan support will continue to drift away at an even faster rate than it has already.

"Of course we appreciate the enormous financial support from the club owner Vincent Tan which has led to promotion to the Premier League on two occasions. But there has been a complete failure to address the 'elephants in the room' of a lack of specialist football experience and knowledge at club board level and the lack of any full-time board director at the club, leading to an apparent lack of advice and knowledge to pass on to the owner.

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"As the season has progressed and it quickly became evident that things were not going to plan on the pitch, it has been far from clear who on the club board, if anyone, has been advising the owner on footballing matters. If any such advice and recommendations have in fact been given, it is unclear if any notice has been taken of such advice and recommendations. Sadly, this has proved to be a critical element in the club's relegation in our view as the seemingly absolute and unchallengeable power of the owner in all major decisions has failed to work to the club's benefit.

"The appointment of a club board member with specialist football knowledge and experience has been raised by the trust with the club CEO Ken Choo and club chair Mehmet Dalman and has also been raised by the other elected official fan bodies Cardiff City Supporters' Club, the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) and the Disabled Supporters’ Association. Those officials have stated in meetings with fan bodies that they would be in favour of such an appointment but that the owner has been steadfastly against the idea, and he remains the sole decision maker. It seems to us that most of the strategic decision making at the club by the owner has been made in what is, effectively, an empirical knowledge and information vacuum.

"After the worst start to a season in the club's history and the expected departure of manager Erol Bulut, we believe it was a mistake to appoint such an inexperienced Championship manager as Omer Riza when there many experienced managers available to recruit. We are also unclear as to whether the permanent appointment of Omer Riza after an inordinate delay and after a series of poor performances and results was based on a board decision/recommendation or was solely a decision by the owner and on what criteria that decision was made.

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"We thank Aaron Ramsey for stepping into an ultimately unsuccessful position as caretaker manager for the last three games of the season. However, we strongly believe that for the next season in League One we need an experienced manager at that level, possibly with Aaron playing a part in an assistant role to pick up experience (similar to Craig Bellamy under Vincent Kompany at Burnley and Anderlecht).

"We are also disappointed that Vincent Tan has made only minimal and very infrequent contact with the club fans to discuss issues and listen to fans views and concerns.

"There has therefore been virtually no opportunity for fans to speak to the person who appears to be the sole decision maker on key issues at the club.

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"As a matter of urgency we are requesting a meeting between Vincent Tan and the elected fan bodies to discuss the failings which have culminated in our relegation to hear what fundamental changes are going to be put in place throughout the club from top to bottom to avoid further failings in future.

"Continuing the failings of the past that have led to us celebrating our 125th anniversary with a relegation are not going to turn around our fortunes on the pitch.

"Big changes are needed, and needed now, to avoid a further downward spiral in the fortunes of the club that we fans love."

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