Trust News

Keith Morgan, Trust Chair

Keith Morgan, the Trust’s chair attended the annual general meeting of the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) in Manchester.

He reports to members on the key issues raised:

I attended the above meeting and connected conference held at the Manchester Metropolitan University on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th June to represent the Trust and mix with like-minded supporters from other trusts and supporters groups. The conference was run in parallel with the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) which the FSA was hosting and which ran from 22nd to 25th June.

Many things were covered over the weekend, but during the time I attended the main areas of importance were as follows

1.    The President of UEFA flew in specifically to address the meeting and make a profound apology for the way visiting fans were treated at the Champions League Final last year in Paris and also for problems that arose this year in Istanbul. He fully acknowledged that the initial blame for safety and other issues levied on fans in Paris was proved to be totally wrong by a subsequent independent investigation and that UEFA should and had learned from their mistakes, He suggested that fans would have far greater input in future in organisational issues so that mistakes would not be repeated.

2.    Sessions were held giving an update on progress on the government White Paper on football governance through Parliament. As you are aware our Trust has had significant input into the discussions creating the original Fans Led Review which gave rise to this White Paper. It was revealed that the FSA believed that the current consultation period by politicians would conclude within a matter of a few weeks which would then enable a finalised paper to be approved, placed before Parliament again then included in the next King`s Speech to enable it to become formal legislation. It already has the support of politicians of all parties.

3.    Following the discussions in 2. Above, the conference was addressed by Sports Minister Stuart Andrew. Although he could not give a specific date for finalisation of the matter, he did confirm that it was being progressed as quickly as practicable and the timing was likely to be “a few weeks” and before the Parliament Summer recess which would enable him to move it forward to a King`s Speech inclusion in the Autumn. He gave his personal pledge to treat this as a priority.

4.    Two significant issues arising from the Fan Led Review of Football that are incorporated in the White Paper are:-

a)    the appointment of an Independent Regulator of English Football (IREF) who will have the power to veto FA, EPL and EFL decisions in order to ensure football clubs are run properly from a financial and corporate governance point of view and who will fully and properly take into account the views of their fanbase in major decisions

b)   the compulsion for clubs to properly consult with their fans on a formal and regular basis – likely to be via Fans Advisory Boards (FAB) elected by the fans themselves and not the club which some clubs already have in place.

In respect of the issue of Fans Advisory Boards (FAB), I had discussions with several club representatives who have FABs in place and, although there is a variety of structures they have adopted, the common theme appears to be that, from the Fans point of view,  they are very much led by their Trusts with other memberships drawn from official supporters groups plus some members elected by votes of season ticket holders. The Club has already raised at the last Supporters Liaison Group the issue of putting a FAB in place at Cardiff City. Discussion on that matter at the time was very general. The Club did mention the Premier League model at that meeting but that is regarded as being far from best practice by the FSA. Over the coming weeks, I intend to discuss with my colleagues on the Trust board how we will be progressing this taking into account the experiences of other Trusts as well as recommendations from the FSA.

All Supporters Trusts regard the implementation of the Fan Led Review of Football to be of critical importance and the creation of meaningful FABs can be a major step forward in fan representation. Having an arena to discuss and question issues of Corporate Governance and Strategic matters will be a culture shock to many clubs but I would like to think that Cardiff City will embrace this new world in the spirit as well as the word of the forthcoming legislation.

In my discussion with other Supporters Trusts at the AGM, it was evident that whilst the membership of an FAB was crucial from the point of view of those representing fans it was also critical that Clubs put forward representatives on a FAB that were empowered to speak on strategic matters.

Keith Morgan 

Trust Chair Keith Morgan reports to members on the latest with the Emiliano Sala transfer fee saga and investigations at FC Nantes, the sellers of Sala.

Dear Member,

The club has announced that the CEO of FC Nantes, Franck Kita, was placed into police custody along with  Bakari Sanogo and Joaquim Batica, who are both agents.

This move was instigated by the JIRS (Juridictions Interrégionales Spécialiséés) – an organisation that specialises in investigation of serious organised and financial crime

A judicial investigation was opened in June 2022 on the counts of “illegal exercise of sports agent activity, forgery and use of forgery, misuse of corporate assets, laundering of aggravated tax evasion and organised money laundering”.

The club stated in their announcement that their  Club’s negligence claim in France against FC Nantes exhibits direct exchanges showing Mr Kita was informing Mr Sanogo of the proposed transfer fee for Emiliano Sala. It is not clear why.

FIFA has also ordered Cardiff City FC to pay the 2nd and 3rd installments of the Emiliano Sala transfer fee.

Understandably, the Club considers that it would have been fairer if the requirement to pay FC Nantes had been deferred until the conclusion of the French police investigations and the club’s claim against FC Nantes in the French courts. At least some sort of Escrow arrangement should be in place to protect the integrity of what is a disputed transfer fee subject to litigation.

The club has prepared for the eventuality of having to pay the transfer fee but I do not imagine that payment of the balance was expected in these particular circumstances.

We will monitor the situation and keep you informed.

Keith Morgan

A message from Trust Chair Keith Morgan
I would like to draw your attention to something that will be of great interest to all City fans
City fan Rhys Dean has written and will perform his one-man play “Keenor – The Original Bluebird”
Set in the changing rooms at Wembley, it is about the amazing life and times of Fred, both as War Hero and City Hero
The play is being performed in two separate runs.
August 23,24, 25 at Tiny Rebel, 25 Westgate St, Cardiff
Tickets are available here
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keenor-the-original-bluebird-tickets-630694292607?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Also
September 13,14,15 at Little Man Coffee Co., Ivor House, Bridge Street, Cardiff
Tickets available here
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keenor-the-original-bluebird-tickets-630709187157?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Trust chair Keith Morgan reports on a meeting between supporter representatives and the new Cardiff City manager Erol Bulet and other club executives.

In the early afternoon on Monday, June 5th, 2023, I was fortunate to meet and have a brief conversation with the newly appointed Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut at the Cardiff City Stadium.

A meeting had been called at very short notice by the club and was attended by myself and some representatives of the Cardiff City Supporters Club, the Disabled Supporters Association and an independent travel group representative. It followed immediately after a meeting with members of the media.

They were asked to observe an embargo on reporting on their meeting for a few hours and this report follows the publication of their reports with some comments of my own.

The meeting was attended by club Chair Mehmet Dalman and CEO Ken Choo (the latter for part of the meeting). Also attending were some senior members of the club representing finances, PR and fan liaison.

Erol Bulut came across as very positive about what he wants to achieve at the club during his initial 12-month contract at the club (the club has an option to extend the contract for a further two years if the initial period proves to be successful). He confirmed that he will be bringing his own coaching and football support team to the club but had not yet had a chance to speak to the existing coaching team as to their future role (if any)at the club as he had only been in post for one day.

Similarly, he had only had a brief meeting with the current playing squad but confirmed that he was planning to bring in a number of new players (up to 8 or 10) to improve the club, of which 4 or 5 had already been identified.

Who this might be will become clearer when player contracts expire at the end of June as will details of the player whose signing has already been agreed by the club Chair (he described the signing to be “exciting” which would be regarded very positively by fans) and the club retained list for current players (this has been submitted to the EFL but not yet made public).

Erol’s appointment followed an extensive interview process by the club to reduce a large number of applications received via agents etc. to a shortlist of 12 which was then further reduced to a shortlist of 4 for consideration and interview by Vincent Tan, Mehmet Dalman and Ken Choo.

Erol was then selected because he came across as offering something different and better than the other candidates with his track record, enthusiasm and ideas.

Some other matters were discussed which helped to dispel some recent false claims and rumours on message boards including the following:

1.       The appointment is not a “cheap option”. Indeed the Chair stated that the package being offered is higher than that sought by other candidates and is the highest the club has offered since the package given to Neil Warnock.

2.      The new manager has no family or friendship link to the Chair. The first time they met was during the shortlist interview process in recent weeks.

Another matter mentioned at the end of the meeting was that there is definitely going to be a meeting involving a broad range of supporters on top of those elected to the current formal supporters’ groups. This is intended to be attended by both the new manager and the club chair.

This is likely to be sometime in July to allow the new manager to settle in and to finalise the coaching and playing squad going forward into the new season.

Rob Phillips (left) with Trust chair Keith Morgan and Jason Perry (right)

The Trust hosted a roadshow last night with Cardiff City legend Jason Perry and Rob Phillips, BBC Wales’ soccer correspondent, and all the talk was about the latest upheaval at Cardiff City.

These are some of the key points from the evening:

• Jason Perry remembered that when he last spoke to Trust members he said that he would take the club finishing one point above the relegation zone in the season just finished. He fears things are going to get a lot worse for the Bluebirds going forward.
• He praises the work of Sabri Lamouchi, saying he prevented the club from being relegated and pointed out that none of the players were his. Money, it is suggested, seems to have been an issue that did not lead to Lamouchi continuing as manager.
• Jason says some possible managers won’t come to Cardiff City because they believe it will “kill your career”.
• Jason questions the possible reappointment of Steve Morison as manager. What has he done in the last eight months to be reappointed, he asks? He points to how well some other clubs such as Ipswich Town are well run and compares to what’s happening at Cardiff City. Rob Phillips also questions the possible reappointment of Morison. The meeting was asked how many people would like Morison to come back as manager – not a single hand goes up.
• Jason also tackles the issue of Sol Bamba becoming manager. Jason said that while he greatly admired Sol Bamba as a player and how he dealt with issues in his life appointing him as manager would be ridiculous. As a coach “we are currently paying him to learn the trade”. There’s talk from both Jason and Rob that the club might do down the route of bringing in a manager from overseas.
• Nathan Jones is also mentioned as a possible manager. Despite his Cardiff City connections, they both question whether he would want to come to the club in the current circumstances and also whether the club could afford him.
• Things are never going to change at Cardiff City unless we have vision from the top, argues Jason Perry. He says owner Vincent Tan needs to embrace challenge and describes him as “clueless” with a huge turnover of managers. Both believe whatever the difficult financial situation Vincent Tan wouldn’t allow the club to go into administration.
• Jason says a new manager will need to build the team but also bring fans together. He highlights the disconnect between fans and the club.  Rob Phillips praises the incredibly dedicated support of fans and highlights the fantastic away support in particular despite the awful season. The constant biggest strength is the passion and noise of fans.
• Both Rob and Jason talk about the loss of academy manager David Hughes to Manchester United was a huge blow. They said he did a brilliant job.