Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Cardiff City /Cardiff Dragons/ RedBlueDragonBirds 2013-2014, Bluebirds Unite and related chat

I feel like I should expand on this btw.

I've had my run ins with the Cardiff fans on this board, through many years of 'lively' rivalry with my own club. I hope my views on this as a fellow football fan are worthwhile though, despite the fact that Cardiff aren't and never have been one of my favourite clubs!

For a club like Liverpool, your identity and history are based primarily on long periods of success. 18 league titles, 7 FA Cups and 5 European cups rightly give you a large amount of pride and memories based on the success of various teams and managers over the years. While there have been a few periods of adversity (Hillsborough obviously) the identity of LFC is largely based on domestic success and near misses.

For a club like Cardiff (or my own club) though, identity is made up of a far more complex mixture of events spread over a far smaller number of fans. While moments of success are fleeting, the ups and downs add up to a unique and complicated identity that makes the (comparatively) smaller groups of fans care far more about 'silly' things like nicknames, colours and the culture of the club.The die hard fans have supported the club through the lows of the bottom division, the various instances of nearly going out of business, the various incompetencies of owners who have not only led to disasters like 'not qualifying for Europe', but threatened the very existence of the institution that binds the people and communities of Cardiff (or wherever) together.

So when someone comes along and tries to change that identity, to rip that history up and start again, to do whatever he likes to the club to suit his passing whims, of course it fucking hurts to see that identity and those shared histories trodden all over by some twat who thinks that he can do what he likes because he's got more money than anyone else.

It's all well and good pointing to the success on the pitch and saying - 'well isn't it worth it?'. Well that depends on what you value. If all you're interested is trophies in the cabinet and success on the pitch, by all means go ahead and buy your red shirts and cheer on Tan's red dragons. If being a football fan means valuing your identity, remembering where you've come from and using that to build a more successful future for the club and the community it owes its existence to, then there's no way that any true fan should be wearing those red colours and cheerleading the actions of Tan.

As a lower league football fan who's got some idea of the place Cardiff have come from, I know exactly what I'd think of anyone who came in to Rovers and tried to do the same. Through reading various forums and chatting on the terraces, I'm pretty sure that most Rovers fans would feel exactly the same. I've never really like Cardiff, but as a football fan, people like Tan coming in and ruining the identities, histories and cultures of football clubs in this country are sickening.

I support all true Cardiff fans in their opposition to Tan's rebranding and wilful alienation of the lifeblood of the club. I hope they fail miserably this season, because I want a message to be sent that you can't do this to football clubs here.
 
Blah blah blah bullshit.

Cardiff City Football Club's Chief Executive Simon Lim has released the following statement:
http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/article/simon-lim-ceo-statement-feb-13-1357627.aspx

The process was transparent, creating value for the club throughout all of the transactions. For sake of good order and in being transparent, we can confirm that our total outgoing expenses, including transfer fees, levy, agent fees and signing on fees were approximately £6 million, less the income of approximately £3 million received from the sale of players. This is good business for the club, where all participants were fully informed and an integral part of a process.

There has been a lot of press speculation on the loss incurred by the club due to sales. This unfortunately is true. We took the hard decision to incur these losses for the good of the club. To commit the club to a significant cost and liability over a five year contract for one player is not prudent, especially as he was not to contribute to our success now, but was for the future. Indeed, in the case of Andreas Cornelius, who cost the club in total just under £10 million, we realise a large loss in excess of £8.5 million, inclusive of transfer fees, salaries, business and compensation paid to player’s agents and other miscellaneous expenses.

The key shareholders have made their dissatisfaction of such a huge loss known to the board of directors, which they believe is due to imprudent and careless management undertaken by the previous football management.

The new structure, headed by the Chairman with our new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær, has given comfort to our shareholders that the process is prudent, transparent and professional. Our new centre forward Kenwyne Jones scored on his debut to give us three valuable points. On Saturday we are in the fifth round of the FA Cup and wish all of the team much success and good fortune.
Read more at http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...ement-feb-13-1357627.aspx#BhrTip46xAWMbCYE.99
 
I feel like I should expand on this btw.

I've had my run ins with the Cardiff fans on this board, through many years of 'lively' rivalry with my own club. I hope my views on this as a fellow football fan are worthwhile though, despite the fact that Cardiff aren't and never have been one of my favourite clubs!

For a club like Liverpool, your identity and history are based primarily on long periods of success. 18 league titles, 7 FA Cups and 5 European cups rightly give you a large amount of pride and memories based on the success of various teams and managers over the years. While there have been a few periods of adversity (Hillsborough obviously) the identity of LFC is largely based on domestic success and near misses.

For a club like Cardiff (or my own club) though, identity is made up of a far more complex mixture of events spread over a far smaller number of fans. While moments of success are fleeting, the ups and downs add up to a unique and complicated identity that makes the (comparatively) smaller groups of fans care far more about 'silly' things like nicknames, colours and the culture of the club.The die hard fans have supported the club through the lows of the bottom division, the various instances of nearly going out of business, the various incompetencies of owners who have not only led to disasters like 'not qualifying for Europe', but threatened the very existence of the institution that binds the people and communities of Cardiff (or wherever) together.

So when someone comes along and tries to change that identity, to rip that history up and start again, to do whatever he likes to the club to suit his passing whims, of course it fucking hurts to see that identity and those shared histories trodden all over by some twat who thinks that he can do what he likes because he's got more money than anyone else.

It's all well and good pointing to the success on the pitch and saying - 'well isn't it worth it?'. Well that depends on what you value. If all you're interested is trophies in the cabinet and success on the pitch, by all means go ahead and buy your red shirts and cheer on Tan's red dragons. If being a football fan means valuing your identity, remembering where you've come from and using that to build a more successful future for the club and the community it owes its existence to, then there's no way that any true fan should be wearing those red colours and cheerleading the actions of Tan.

As a lower league football fan who's got some idea of the place Cardiff have come from, I know exactly what I'd think of anyone who came in to Rovers and tried to do the same. Through reading various forums and chatting on the terraces, I'm pretty sure that most Rovers fans would feel exactly the same. I've never really like Cardiff, but as a football fan, people like Tan coming in and ruining the identities, histories and cultures of football clubs in this country are sickening.

I support all true Cardiff fans in their opposition to Tan's rebranding and wilful alienation of the lifeblood of the club. I hope they fail miserably this season, because I want a message to be sent that you can't do this to football clubs here.

This is absolutely bang on.
 
Statement on the 1927 Club's website. We used to take over a 100 people to away games once.
The 1927 Club were the London & south-east England Cardiff City Supporters Club from their inception in 1990 until 2012, when Vincent Tan’s insulting and extreme rebrand made the club we followed unrecognisable.

We were the only supporters organisation to officially oppose and condemn the rebrand, for many of us it effectively killed off the football club and instantly it was clear that a significant majority of active supporters could not bring themselves to follow the product of Tan’s bastardisation.

The membership old and new were widely canvassed and the clear majority agreed to withdraw The 1927 Club’s support of the football club until it returned to its historical identity. In light of the role the club played in connecting Welsh exiles in and around London and the strong friendships that were formed over the decades we keep the club running and hope that one day it can return to actively following a football club we recognise as Cardiff City.

http://www.1927club.com/
 
Bye bye and enjoy.
Why thank you. Please enjoy being Tan's lapdog too and be sure to jump when he says jump.

That piece I wrote has clearly resonated with quite a few people though as it's gone a bit viral already, notching up over 3.4k hits and 450 likes in just four hours.
 
Why thank you. Please enjoy being Tan's lapdog too and be sure to jump when he says jump.

That piece I wrote has clearly resonated with quite a few people though as it's gone a bit viral already, notching up over 3.4k hits and 450 likes in just four hours.

Its been emailed to me by a friend.

The irony is that he still goes to matches more than i do.

If it had been my friend who now supports Newport then fair enough.

There was no sarcasm in the enjoy btw. Grass roots non league is great. Although Hampton and Richmond (my non league side) are better than whoever it was you said you started supporting :p

As for Tan, I was here before him and I'll be here after him and the one after him and the one after him.
 
There was no sarcasm in the enjoy btw. Grass roots non league is great. Although Hampton and Richmond (my non league side) are better than whoever it was you said you started supporting :p
We're playing you on the 21st April. See you there!

PS Hamlet are second in the league. Hampton are not :D
 


Just read this ... I've never been a Cardiff supporter but this really does resonate. Agree with everything strung out posted earlier, and can definitely see exactly where the editor is coming from.

Lower leagues impose far, far fewer dilemmas on supporters. Even when the football's more, erm, basic in standard! :D

(heading to Newport on Tuesday night for the Oxford match -- assuming its not postponed through waterlogged pitch once again ... )
 
Nice one Ed.

I made the decision this week that for the first time in 10 years, I will not be renewing my season ticket next season.

I'm not going forever, I love city too much. But I can't continue to pump money into the club with Tan and the helm. I'm not going to actively wish for relegation, but maybe, just maybe he will fuck off if we do.

We can hopefully reset and put this whole thing behind us (relaunching with some new safe standing terraces! ;) ) One can dream.

Now where's my nearest non-league club? :D
 
A few people on that Reddit thread are quite confused as to why editor has chosen to be a supporter of Dulwich Hamlet. Maybe add something to the effect that they're a local club? :D
 
What benefit would warm weather training have given us?

If no benefit why were we doing it?
If there is a benefit, even if its only psychological, then don't we need it more after our continued poor form?

Now they feel punished for failure. Will that lift performance or will then negativity permeate deeper?
 
Now they feel punished for failure. Will that lift performance or will then negativity permeate deeper?
Isn't that how it's supposed to work when you're being paid thousand of pounds a week?

I heard lots of reports of the nu-fans booing with loads leaving at half time. Embarrassing.
 
Back
Top Bottom