Mehmet Dalman on Vincent Tan and Cardiff City

[jon1959]

Dalman's been quiet for a while - but this is an angry and robust defense of the club and Tan. The chairman is back on the pitch!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/f...hmet-11860559?


Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman has described claims Tan is stripping the club of its assets as 'insane'

Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman has dismissed suggestions Vincent Tan is not committed to the Bluebirds any more and says claims of 'asset-stripping' anger him.

Dalman spelt out the truth about Tan as fans express concern over recent cutbacks, which have included the sale of the Bluebirds' captain and star player David Marshall to Premier League Hull.

Malaysian owner Tan has not attended many Cardiff matches in recent times, fuelling further speculation from some fans on social media about his wish to remain involved at the Cardiff helm.

A full and frank Q&A with Dalman on everything Cardiff City will appear on WalesOnline shortly.

But as a flavour of the interview, Dalman moved to set the record straight on Tan by saying: "I don't get annoyed very often, but I do get irritated when people say Vincent Tan wants to sell to strip assets, and that sort of thing.

"Are you insane, is my response to that? After how much money this man has put into this club, and continues to put in. Believe me, he couldn't asset strip even if he wanted to.

"He needs to recoup £200million. What is he going to sell to recoup that sort of figure?

"Look, the only time he wants us to sell is to balance the books as well as we can in order to meet Financial Fair Play requirements.

"Anybody who makes these asset-strip comments are either flawed when it comes to basic arithmetic, deliberately want to look at things just one way, or are plain wrong.

"Of course he's still committed to this club. Okay, I know he's not here at games, but the world has changed in the last two years and he has businesses to run in the far east.

"He needs to make money from those businesses to put into Cardiff City FC, which he continues to do.

"I find it disappointing people are questioning him like this and I also think it's unfair. If it wasn't for him, where on earth would this club be today? Yet despite the criticism, he has no wish to just dump it and move on.

"Let's be a little more fair. The man used to come to games and got stick, even after we changed back from red to blue. If he doesn't come, he also gets stick from some.

"He can't just drop his businesses any more and come over here the whole time. But Vincent is up at 4am Malaysian time, watching every Cardiff game. He doesn't miss a thing."

Asked about another claim on social media, that Tan is looking to get the club in financial shape to sell, Dalman replied: "Nonsense again. If we sell players he's asset stripping! If we run the club properly, he's doing it to sell it! If he doesn't come to games, he's not committed!

"Come on, is there anything we can do right here?

"We've had zero bids to buy this club. Fact. There was a rumour going around about some Sheik wanting to buy it... which had about as much truth as the suggestion that Turkish bloke was going to be our manager a few months back.

"What we're doing, and what Vincent wants us to do, is create a more sustainable financial model for Cardiff City FC."

Club chief executive Ken Choo backed Dalman by saying: "Vincent is fully committed. He wants us to run the club to the maximum loss permitted under FFP regulations. He plays by the rules, but very much still puts in money."

[jon1959]

And the BBC (Rob Phillips):


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37311470


Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman has dismissed suggestions owner Vincent Tan is ''asset stripping'' and losing interest in the Championship club.

Dalman also denied speculation the club is being put into shape to be sold.

Instead he insisted the club is now being run in a more ''healthy'' manner.

'Without Vincent we definitely would not exist. Without him pumping money in every year in double digits (millions), this club would not exist," Dalman said.

Dalman was speaking for the first time since the transfer window closed on the last day of August.

Cardiff sold highly rated goalkeeper David Marshall to Hull City for a fee which could rise to £5m, but on deadline day brought in former England striker Ricky Lambert from West Bromwich Albion.

He explained the club were operating at the maximum loss - £13m per year - allowed by the Football League, to avoid a repeat of the transfer embargo for breaking Financial Fair Play rules, to which the club were subject last season.

He said: ''Our profit and loss is not the healthiest in the world but we are very professional and we are very focussed on that. So we had to work within our means… we need to get a healthy club, To get a healthy club you have to run it like a business.

''it's a business that will always lose money for you. We know that. It's a degree of how much money you can lose and we operate it quite prudently under that. That does not mean to say our ambition today is any less than it was two or three years ago. |I just believe we are running this club on a much more professional basis than we have done for a long time.''

Dalman has denied claims Tan is asset stripping, saying: ''That is just nonsense. Anybody who has an ounce of intellect in understanding numbers knows there are no assets which you are going to be stripping off.

''This club loses a double digit number (millions) a year. That is public knowledge, so what are you going to do? Strip what?''

''People should really be a bit more considerate than that.''

Dalman said Tan's commitment was still as strong as ever. ''Without him we definitely would not exist. Without him pumping money in every year in double digits (millions) this club would not exist. Without his commitment and enthusiasm this could would not get the people we want to get.

''So unfortunately or fortunately - depending how you want to look on this - we are dependent on him.''

Dalman said Tan's business commitments prevented him from attending games, even though he would like the owner to be present more often.

''Asia has not been the easiest market at the moment, he is spending a lot of time on his business. He is trying to make money there to pay for the losses here. His commitment has not changed.''

Dalman also rejected speculation the club is being put into a better state to sell it.

''I am amazed where these stories have come from, certainly no-one has made a bid to me. If they have done it to somebody else, I don't know, he said.

''that is not our intention, not our objective. It's an agenda that has never been discussed and if you could tell me who these people are who are interested, put them in in touch with me. I'll have a word with them.''

Meanwhile the club insist they are on course to be debt free by 2021 and Tan's plans to convert debt into equity are progressing.

[Barry Shitpeas]

Who is Dalman arguing with here??? I've not seen or heard anyone suggest that tan is asset stripping. I think the gentleman doth protest too much.

[Michael Morris]

Who is Dalman arguing with here??? I've not seen or heard anyone suggest that tan is asset stripping. I think the gentleman doth protest too much.

Seems to be a bit of a rant out of the blue unless there have been erroneous claims made elsewhere.

[Blue in the Face]

Who is Dalman arguing with here??? I've not seen or heard anyone suggest that tan is asset stripping. I think the gentleman doth protest too much.

Nay Brother Shitpeas. Tis though plebs doth reside over yonder in the dark quarters. Though hast accuseth Tan M'Lord of stripping thine loved one down to her assets. Tis true.

Brother Dalman doth protest in fairness.

[Organ Morgan.]

'Without Vincent we definitely would not exist. Without him pumping money in every year in double digits (millions), this club would not exist.'

That to me is the stand-out comment. Everything else, including the club's league position today and going forward, is a minor concern.

Imagine if/when Vinny attends matches again. The action on the pitch would be incidental. Every true fan would be on tiptoes straining to gain a better view of the directors' box through their binoculars. If Vinny were to cough, sneeze or raise a handkerchief to his mouth there would be panic in the stands; women would faint and strong men reduced to quivering wrecks.

#PrayForVinny

[Colonel Cærdiffi]

Seems to be a bit of a rant out of the blue unless there have been erroneous claims made elsewhere.

It's like you don't read your own board.

[Barry Shitpeas]

Nay Brother Shitpeas. Tis though plebs doth reside over yonder in the dark quarters. Though hast accuseth Tan M'Lord of stripping thine loved one down to her assets. Tis true.

Brother Dalman doth protest in fairness.

If you're referring to **** then I stopped reading that rubbish when their primary concern became deceiving people for hits so I wouldn't know.
As far as Dalmans concerned, I would have thought he'd have more pressing matters than to deal with than reading (and worse still taking seriously) an ill informed message board, never mind indulging in arguments with them in the press.

[jon1959]

Rob Phillips put the 'asset stripping' claim to him for comment:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37311553

It is a regular attack on ****. I don't know if Dalman reads CCMB, **** etc - but Rob Phillips does (as do the Wales Online stable).

[surge]

After such a period of calm I did not expect the next statement to be so aggressive and inwardly so. The club don't need to be so sharp even if some fans (a minority I reckon) are making such claims; it's easy to prove they're false in a way that doesn't hark back to tan wasting money, criticising supporters ans dalman etc brown-nosing.

How about a klopp like call to get us to fill the ground and stay through the frustrating moments? It's meant to be city as one.

[Auntie Andy]

It's like you don't read your own board.

http://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.php...debt-to-equity

[Vindec]

Seems like a fair statement by Dalman to me. Tan is still getting criticism and will continue to do so despite injecting shed loads of money to keep the club afloat. Fans need to be careful what they wish for as we could end up with an owner like that bloke owning Leeds United or worse ending up again in the Courts for insolvency. The reality is that the club is insolvent so it is no wonder we have to offload the high earning players.

[Charlie]

Who is Dalman arguing with here??? I've not seen or heard anyone suggest that tan is asset stripping. I think the gentleman doth protest too much.

You ought to have a look at ****, the grange end multi has copied this post of yours word for word in a discussion with *****, who, believe it or not is calling bullshit on all Dalmans claims.
also debt to equity is just lies from the club..

[CCFC CASUAL]

Seems to be a bit of a rant out of the blue unless there have been erroneous claims made elsewhere.

Do you have Chepstow on ignore Mike?

[Barry Shitpeas]

You ought to have a look at ****, the grange end multi has copied this post of yours word for word in a discussion with *****, who, believe it or not is calling bullshit on all Dalmans claims.
also debt to equity is just lies from the club..

Just had a look. What a weird thing to do

[Charlie]

Just had a look. What a weird thing to do

We've all been grange end 1927 at some point.
Except for ***** of course..

[Cleve van Leef]

Who is Dalman arguing with here??? I've not seen or heard anyone suggest that tan is asset stripping. I think the gentleman doth protest too much.

Have a look on the dark side, the fans leAdER and his cronies are constantly sniping at him.
That's who he's having a swipe at.

[Michael Morris]

http://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.php...debt-to-equity

That looks like decent thread. Plenty of discussion and not lynch mob after Tan for snaffling the readies. Doesn't warrant such a feisty reply from Dalman.

[Blue in the Face]

That looks like decent thread. Plenty of discussion and not lynch mob after Tan for snaffling the readies. Doesn't warrant such a feisty reply from Dalman.

Who's saying Dalman is swiping at CCMB?

[CCFC CASUAL]

Who's saying Dalman is swiping at CCMB?

I think it's crystal clear which forum he's swiping at

[Blue in the Face]

After such a period of calm I did not expect the next statement to be so aggressive and inwardly so. The club don't need to be so sharp even if some fans (a minority I reckon) are making such claims; it's easy to prove they're false in a way that doesn't hark back to tan wasting money, criticising supporters ans dalman etc brown-nosing.

How about a klopp like call to get us to fill the ground and stay through the frustrating moments? It's meant to be city as one.

I don't agree Surge. There are "some" (not on here and we all know who), who indulge in nothing short of slander when it comes to VT. It needs needs to be addressed.

If VT has good intentions for CCFC then it's for the good of the club that these plans is communicated. Any conjectural statements that contradict those plans unfairly can't be doing any good for the club at all.

Though, I'm all for holding VT to account when it comes to the debt to equity issue.

[Blue in the Face]

I think it's crystal clear which forum he's swiping at

I think Mike's board is clearly so much better that he forgets there's a shitty version out there

[Barry Shitpeas]

I don't expect any football club to be divulging sensitive financial information etc but fans are always going to be interested and want to know that their club is being run properly and in its best interests. So, given recent history at CCFC its hardly surprising that there may be a certain amount of cynicism, especially when you have an owner that used to attend every match but no longer does, used to do regular interviews regarding the club, but no longer does, some odd transfer activity, and a feeling of not knowing exactly what tans "end game" is.
If message board speculation irritates him as he says it does, Dalman could easily keep the fans generally informed about goings on at the club with an interview every couple of months. That's not an unreasonable thing to expect is it?

[Blue in the Face]

If you're referring to **** then I stopped reading that rubbish when their primary concern became deceiving people for hits so I wouldn't know.
As far as Dalmans concerned, I would have thought he'd have more pressing matters than to deal with than reading (and worse still taking seriously) an ill informed message board, never mind indulging in arguments with them in the press.

Good on you.

I'm on Dalman's side with this one.

[Blue in the Face]

I don't expect any football club to be divulging sensitive financial information etc but fans are always going to be interested and want to know that their club is being run properly and in its best interests. So, given recent history at CCFC its hardly surprising that there may be a certain amount of cynicism, especially when you have an owner that used to attend every match but no longer does, used to do regular interviews regarding the club, but no longer does, some odd transfer activity, and a feeling of not knowing exactly what tans "end game" is.
If message board speculation irritates him as he says it does, Dalman could easily keep the fans generally informed about goings on at the club with an interview every couple of months. That's not an unreasonable thing to expect is it?

You're right in that the club needs to communicate a lot more I feel. Even if it means repeating themselves.