any questions?

We put 15 key questions to club official. Here club chairman Mehmet Dalman, with a little input from chief executive Ken Choo, sits down with Steve Tucker to give the answers to some of the burning issues concerning supporters.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1
Manager Russell Slade was appointed in October with a personal recommendation from Vincent Tan. Is the board currently happy with the job he is doing at the club and results achieved?

Answer
Mehment Dalman (Cardiff chairman): “The board is obviously mindful of the results. We are not happy with the results, but we are fully behind the manager.”

Question 2
Many supporters have expressed discontent and anger at the quality of the football the team is currently playing. Does the Board understand/share these concerns?

Answer
Dalman: “We share the concern that we are not winning games, but we will be patient through this transition period while the manager is getting to the type of football he wants to play.”

Question 3
Is there any plan perhaps to bring someone in to work next to Slade on the football side?

Answer
Dalman: “That is entirely up to Russell Slade. If he wants to bring more people to help him on the coaching side I’m sure he will have our full support.”

Huw Evans Agency
Question 4
The manager himself has said Cardiff aren’t ‘shopping at Harrods any more’ and the budget needs to be brought into line. In light of those cost-cutting measures what is the ambition/expectation of the club this season and moving forward?

Answer
Dalman: “Our wage bill has been very high. For a Championship club we have an enormously high wage bill. Even when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was here it was always our intention to trim it to a manageable level.

“We are going through it and used this January transfer window to get to a sustainable level for the Championship.

“We are not going out there spending money because we already have very good players. The quality of our players is still very good. There’s no doubting that.

“It’s about getting the squad to the right size. You can’t keep everyone happy. We are getting to the tighter group that Russell wants.

“We are supporting him in that. It’s not about shopping in Harrods it’s about getting the optimal resources together to meet our needs.

“Provided it is mathematically possible, our ambition remains the same this season and that is to get to the Premier League. We know we are going through a bad patch, we can’t hide that, but it is important we stick together and see how we come out of it.

Ken Choo (chief executive): “For any club relegated from the Premier League, it is just a matter of time before they start trimming to conform with financial fair play.

“You have to do that or you will not make it. We must trim sensibly. Russell has to sit down with us and we look at the type of players we must let go and we bring in these quality players to conform with things.

As chief executive my view is we have to do it sooner rather than in due course. We cannot want another year and then find our budgets don’t meet.

“The sooner we make the hard decisions and put the club on a firmer footing the better, which makes going forward easier.

“In the Premier League you can buy more expensive players. We are buying up to the maximum, we cannot push it any further. We have to conform with the rules. After what we’ve done, we are okay.”

Question 5
Why have some of the club’s most skillful players, the likes of Mats Daehli, Ravel Morrison, Kim Bo-Kyung and Javi Guerra, been permitted to leave at a time when the side is so evidently struggling?

Answer
Dalman: “We are not talking about individual players. Some are on loan and some of them have gone, some of them did not want to be here... and some of them we did not want to be here.

“Not because they are bad guys, but just what we talked about when it came to optimising the squad. Some of them were very expensive and you have to make those hard decisions.

Question 6
Why have a number of players, like Juan Cala, Guido Burgstaller, Kim Bo-Kyung, Magnus Eikrem and Jo Inge Berget, had their contacts terminated and been left free to join other clubs without Cardiff even attempting to get some kind of transfer fee for them?

Answer
Dalman: Some of the players had their contracts terminated because it got them off our wage bill. Some have not gone free and some have gone free.

“The fact we were able to have a friendly dialogue with these guys and bring the costs to an end was a major advantage for us. It was a economical decision. We needed to cut the size of the squad.”


Question 7
The club announced it introduced a transfer committee to oversee the new arrivals, headed by Vincent Tan and Mehmet Dalman. Is that system in place... and if so is it working, given a host of players arrived and then left before they barely even kicked a ball?

Answer
Dalman: “The transfer committee is not new. It’s been here since I became chairman. The committee does not make footballing decisions. It makes decisions that affect things generally.

“Particularly on the economic side. The football side is made by the manager. We have always stuck to that.

“Ole wanted to bring players on board and we supported him. He wanted a large squad of players so we agreed to that. We permitted that.

“It was not a question of players being right or wrong. I think many were talented so we hope they go on and do well.”

Question 8
Is there any link between the change back to the traditional blue shirts and the implementation of cost cutting measures so soon afterwards?

Answer
Dalman: We worked tirelessly to ensure we had a smooth transition back to blue. It was right for us to do.

“But there is no link between the blue and the cost-cutting. We hope people do not think that.”

Question 9
Is the cost-cutting the first step of Vincent Tan lessening his financial input and perhaps eventually departing the club?

Answer
Dalman: No absolutely not. Ken Choo and I don’t want to be a burden on Vincent Tan though. We want to run this club without having to go to the owner for an injection of capital.

That’s how every business should be run. I run my business on a profitable basis. I don’t run it with people having to subsidise me.

“But Vincent has always been very supportive from a financial point of view. I cannot complain. His passion and desire is undiminished too.”

Question 10
Does the signing of more unsung players like Scott Malone, Alex Revel, Lee Peltier and Stuart O’Keefe signal that the days of big money signings is over?

Answer
Dalman: “No, it’s about getting the optimal amount and quality of players for the wage bill we have. We still have expensive and very good players in the squad.

“We are trying to bring in players to complement that. At the end of the season the discussion might be different, but let’s wait and see how we do before then.”

Cardiff player Stuart O'Keefe fight for the ball against Derby player Will Hughes
Question 11
How many season tickets does the club hope for/anticipate to sell next season?

Answer
Dalman: “As many as possible. We have made sure the prices are at a very competitive level. Making it affordable has been at the forefront of our minds.

“Our strategy has been to bring the price down and try to fill up the seats in the stadium.”

Question 12
Was Glenn Roeder paid for recommending Russell Slade? Does Roeder still have a role at Cardiff City?

Answer
Dalman: “No. He never had a role. He was a guest here. We invite football players and managers here the whole time. It’s the culture.”

Question 13
We were told the time is not right for Vincent Tan to turn his loans into equity at the club. Is the plan still for that to happen at some point in the future?

Answer
Dalman: “The answer is yes. We are in the middle of trying to find out who we owe money to. We need some clarity on our balance sheet.

“But we have always said when the time is right we will do it. But I would advise Vincent Tan the time is not right at present. The appropriate time it is the intention to do that.”

Question 14
After the home shirts were returned to blue supporters were promised a new badge with the Bluebird prominent. When might we see this? Who will design it?

Answer
Club answer: “We are working on the badge and we are nor far off it. There will be something in the very near future. It’s being designed in house with a strong emphasis on club traditions, regarding the Bluebird.”

Question 15
Many fans are expressing fears the club could actually be relegated. Given the nosedive in results, can the Board guarantee action would take place to ensure that does not happen?

Answer
Dalman: “I’m not worried about relegation so much, but I’m worried about our performances.

“Do we think about promotion? Do we think about relegation? Whilst it is mathematically possible to be promoted I will hope and whilst it is possible we could be relegated I will be concerned.

“I look at each side of the equation.”

Interesting.

Great questions, great answers. I do like the way Mehmet conducts himself.

I liked the bit where he admitted Slade was sat down and told who was leaving and who wasn't. Owner running the transfer dealings and squad selection confirmed then.

I think the whole thing was a bit "Richard & Judy", i.e. very easy questions for Dalman to field.

I doubt the validity of the comment about intending to trim the squad whilst Ole was still there.  I also think compliance with FFP rules is being wheeled out as a convenient excuse.

FFP would have been considered when Ole was buying, as would the overall wage bill for 2014/2015.  Okay, it may be that an immediate return to the PL had been factored into that and things had to change when it was obvious that we weren't going to do that.  

This brings me back to the point I have been making and the question that wasn't asked.....

.....At what point was that decision made?  After just seven games of this season or after Slade was appointed?