WARNING : A REBRAND THREAD

Further to the "Scarf Scandal of 2013" here's some commentary from and old time CCMB member who, as I understand it, no longer chooses to follow the club:

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=21908

Any thoughts?



Just for the avoidance of doubt, I'm not posting this up for people to knock him down. I know that we are sometimes from the outside looking-in seen as a pro-red forum (I would dispute that) but this a post to open up some genuine (friendly!) debate. So there.

I read the piece and although I can sympathise with his position, I have to sat that I don't agree with him.

Again, I think it is all down to this question: How important is football, and thus Cardiff, in your life?

Where does football come on your priority list? For some, 'blue runs through their veins'.

Personally, I would put myself on the other end of the spectrum that says football is great and I love it. But it is only a hobby and entertainment, there are many many things more important to me than football. I guess that's why I am not so upset about it all..

Here's another piece...

http://stevenhatton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/blue-was-colour-malaysia-is-name.html

I'm in work right now, but will comment when (or rather, if) I get time later.

I'm beginning to think that those most opposed to the change of colour are performing a ritual somewhat akin to the childish practice of putting your fingers in your ear and singing loudly when being told something you don't want to hear.

That may not sound a very friendly start to the reply but i do find a lot of what is said in the article annoying. Tan has been crititised for changing the colour because of his misguideded notion of believing he can sell loads of shirts in the far east and that the colour is lucky. The trouble is most of these ideas don't come from quotes from Tan himself but from ideas from fans who go along with the idea that 'if i can't think of a better reason for him doing it' then there can't be one.

There is nothing about wanting to encourage 20,000 plus fans to wear and wave red scarves that is not in keeping with what he is trying to do. It may have stirred the hornets nest again but really, what did they expect, that Tan having made the change would then do nothing to try to further the idea or promote it?

At the time of the rebrand i had a choice to make. Did what was happening offend me that much that i would protest, demand a refund on my season ticket, join a march. I decided it didn't and so Tan now handing out red scarves is hardly going to have me up in arms and saying this is a step too far.

If anyone of you have spent time on the other board debating the rebrand either lately or at the time it was first rumoured you might have noticed one thing. Mention about the debt or the money needed to keep the club afloat and the risk of going into administration or worse and you would have been branded a scaremonger. Talk however about the club changing it's name to Malyasian Dragons FC or playing games in Kuala Lumpur and this instead is a very serious threat that only our immediate opposition to what is happening can help deter.

I couldn't care less if Tan wants to promote football in Malaysia as part of his plan. If it is a genuine attempt to push forward football back home with him then good on him. If it is a cynical ploy with financial benefits to himself behind it then good on him. In case people haven't noticed he is a business man. A pretty successful one so far.

The writer of the article claims that Tan is being insulting by talking about a Malaysian derby in the Premiership. He may be misguided in thinking that QPR will stay up but hardly insulting. Not unless you are daft enough to believe Tan wants US to think of it as a derby match or perhaps are willing to spout that line as another stick to hit him with. Clearly Tan is thinking of the Malaysian and eastern market again when referring to that and once again - so what.

I am sure to the fiercly anti red i am now coming over as someone who will accept anything. A Tan bummer to coin a more recent messageboard colloquialism. The Premier at any cost. Well the strange thing is that a few years back when we were fighting for promotion and spending reasonably big money in getting Bellamy here for the first time amongst other players, at that time, i still wanted City to get promoted. No Tan and no rebrand but just a side fighting for promotion to the next tier - what fans always aspire to at whatever level they are watching their team. Promotion and the Premiership were not regarded as bad things then - no more than the normal misgivings anyway.

Nothing has changed with me. I want my club to survive and to thrive. To see it do as well as possible and to be be everything it can be. I have no idea if Tan's ideas will work either for the club or for himself but i do know that unless some other kindly millionaire or billionaire comes along with their money and a different plan then this is what we have got. I am on board with the plan because, as a fan, i have little choice or control, because i don't believe i know Tan's plans and think i have the knowledge and understanding to tell him i know better than him - and yes because there are far worse things to get upset about in this life than a change of shirt colour.

So tomorrow i will go down to the game and on Tuesday i will pick up my red scarf. I might have put in my pocket but i am afraid articles like this just make me want to wear and wave it instead. The articles final paragraph even seeks to link the passing of Ninian Park as part of the rebrand. I think that just about summed up the article for me.

Top postie Toastie. Being the OP on this one, I was holding back my opinion a bit as I didn't want to colour anyone else's thoughts straight away but I agree with everything you and Rhys say.

I'm not a fan of blogging for articles exactly like these (I point my finger more at the former than the latter). These are clearly opinion pieces that appear to speak on behalf of other fans, and by God, they aren't half drama queens:

"It’s impossible to say how far down this apocalyptic road he might go"
"And does every club have a price tag for its soul?"

A club has a "soul" and Cardiff's is driving down a road to "apocalypse"? Hmmm, really? REALLY? So, it's not a business trying to find ways of surviving in an ever-changing ever-competitive market? Apparently not, it's a living thing with feelings that is flirting with the four horseman of the apocalypse.

I'm not going to go on too much about this, mainly because I don't want to sound like one of the whingers that bore me so much and also because I can't top or add to Toastie's eloquently worded post but I shall finish with this:

Nobody forces us to be football fans. Nobody makes us part with our time or hard-earned money. It is our choice to be consumers of sport and be part of the "product" that is available. If you no longer like it, walk away, forget about it, do something else with your time - plant a tree, climb Everest, save a pygmy, whatever - but don't stand around on the sidelines complaining about how terrible it is and trying to put a downer on the people who still actually enjoy and choose what they want to see.

That's enough rebrand for one day, for me I think.

http://llandudnojetset.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/a-scarf-for-your-soul/

Urrrgh, and it goes on...

I have done my own write up on the scarf situation and it is a joke. Say what you will and I am in no way 100% against the rebrand but if he's doing it at least make it known where we stand. This latest scarf thing, during a time we are supposed to be having the time of our lives in the final run in, is ridiculous.

Im not saying Tan is responsible for this but someone at the club in the marketing team is running it like a circus. There needs to be more professionalism. A business states its position and then carries out its intentions hence project plans, requirement specs, forecasting, etc.

Its a complete shambles.

My anger is not even with the rebrand at the moment tbh, its the marketing team circus brigade. Just when things were sort of looking on the up until the end of the season they went and added fuel to the fire.

It was obviously going to provoke a reaction from those who strongly oppose.

Toast boy, you should that post in the blog room

It's fantastic. We should promote it as 'another perspective on the 'scarf scandal.'