Vincent Tan has vowed never to sell Cardiff City Football Club back to its previous owner Sam Hammam, chairman Mehmet Dalman told supporters groups.
Tan, Cardiff owner for 13 years, has continued to reiterate his desire to remain at the helm, despite spiralling debts and the club battling at the wrong end of the Championship table for two successive years in the fallout of a global pandemic.
Cardiff have had two stints in the Premier League under Tan's leadership, but the journey towards the top was started under Hammam, who owned the club from 2000 to 2006. He kick-started the Bluebirds' success story this century as they rose from the doldrums of League Two to the top of the Championship and he still harbours a great love for the club.
Things turned sour though when Hammam attempted to sue Cardiff for £15m in a row over the terms of the Cardiff Presidency he was given by Tan a decade ago as a goodwill gesture whilst ending the historic and controversial £24million Langston loan notes debt.
Last year, the parties struck an out-of-court settlement, but the legal battle appears only to have strengthened Tan's resolve.
Chairman Mehmet Dalman said in a meeting with supporters representatives at the weekend that Tan would never sell the club back to former owner Hammam. The news was revealed by Cardiff City Supporters Trust as they updated their members on a number of issues addressed by Dalman.
The Trust chair Keith Morgan wrote on their official website: "Mehmet Dalman re-stressed Vincent Tan's ongoing commitment to the club and also confirmed that there are no current discussions with any parties interested in acquiring the club. (This is perhaps unsurprising whilst the uncertainty remains over the Emiliano Sala litigation position).
"He also stated that Vincent Tan has confirmed that he would not under any circumstances sell the club to former owner Sam Hammam or any consortium or group in which he is involved or representing."
The Trust also report that Dalman 'acknowledged the absence of football expertise at Board level' at the club and is 'supportive of the idea of bringing more football knowledge into the club.'
The Trust say: "In his opinion the title of the position does not matter, it’s his contribution that’s important. He said that he would again be recommending to Vincent Tan to make such an appointment. However, he also stressed that the ultimate decision maker on this matter remains Tan."
Morgan reports fans also asked about revenue generation from sources such as stadium naming rights and shirt sponsorship. They were told by Finance Director Phillip Jenkins that "Tan was not against a new shirt sponsor in general but was totally against sponsorship from the gambling industry."
Stadium naming rights are another option, although Jenkins pointed out this is not as financially lucrative as many might think in the current economic climate.
In our own meeting with Dalman, the chairman reiterated Tan's commitment to the Bluebirds, saying: "I'm not Vincent Tan, so I can't speak for him. But what I can tell you is he continues to support this club, writes the cheques. Every year people ask me whether he is still committed to Cardiff City and I do wonder why they do that because the answer is always the same.
"He is 100 per cent on board from what I see. We know we still have work to do here, although at least the horrible pressure of looking down towards League One has gone. What we need to do is ensure this doesn't happen again.
"There are so many moving parts that Vincent has to consider. The Sala situation, for starters, where we're still waiting to hear from the Swiss Federal Courts before deciding upon our next steps. I hear people say 'Just put it behind you'. We'd love to put it behind us, but it's not that simple. There is a legal process to go through, and at the same time we need to be able to provide £15m in payments to Nantes if we need to make that.
"There's the embargo, we're negotiating very hard with the EFL to try to get that lifted. There's next season, with Sabri waiting to hear from us what we want him to achieve with us. And it's how we move on to make sure we're not in this position next year. That means having the right manager, the right number of players and the quality of player that we require.
"We need to be on a sounder footing, be more consistent next season and show proper signs of progress. Our job is not finished here. The pandemic hit the business world hard and had a huge impact on our investment into Cardiff, but the good news is the markets are coming back, there are signs of normality again, and that means we can start to plan ahead."
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