The Malaysian Insider – 2 hours 15 minutes agoRELATED CONTENT
- Vincent Tan is at it again, this time he calls British media a ‘little racist’
Malaysian tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan (pic) is in the spotlight yet again, this time for accusing British media of being a “little racist.”
The Cardiff City owner told BBC Sport that the British media had been unfair in their portrayal of him, making him look like a “Bond villain” as he often wore dark glasses and gloves when watching home games.
"I wear sunglasses because of the glare of the spotlights," he said. "I wear gloves because it is very cold in the UK. Frankly, sometimes I think they are nuts making all these comments.
"The British press is unfair... maybe because we didn't tell our side of the story that well. When the time is right, I will tell my story. Sometimes, the British press is maybe a little bit racist."
He told this to BBC Sport at an event in Kuala Lumpur last week to honour his business and charity work, and celebrate his birthday.
He said the minority of Cardiff fans who were vocal in their criticism should apologise to him, as he believed that 90% of the fans were firmly behind him.
"One day we are a hero. Another day we are zero," Tan said, adding that Cardiff City would have gone bust without him.
"Because of my investment, the club got promoted into the Barclays Premier League," he said,
Having initially taken a 35% share in the club, Tan now owns about 90% and had paid off all creditors.
According to The BBC, Cardiff City's only outstanding debt was about £70 million to £80 million (RM386 million to RM441 million) owed to Tan.
Tan said that he would never change the colour of Cardiff's kit from red to blue, unless another owner came along and bought him out.
As part of a rebranding exercise last year, Tan changed the club's home kit from blue to red, with a dragon crest.
The change angered Cardiff fans, who expressed their dismay that a century’s worth of tradition was being altered.
Tan said that British football clubs were "blessed" to have foreign owners.
"I will not walk away if Cardiff are relegated from the Barclays Premier League, unless the fans really piss me off so much," Tan told BBC Sport.
He also pledged to donate £1 million to local charities if the club stayed in the Premier League this season.
Cardiff are second from bottom of the Barclays Premier League, and three points from safety, with a likely chance of being relegated by the end of the season.
On the sacking of manager Malky Mackay, Tan said he was lucky to have landed the job in the first place.
Mackay was appointed in June 2011 by then club chairman Chan Tian Ghee and former director Alan Whiteley.
Tan said at that time, had he been more involved in the club's affairs, Mackay might not have been appointed as the manager.
"He didn't do very well at Watford, but somehow our CEO and our chairman hired him and replaced Dave Jones," Tan said.
"So I think Mackay got lucky when he came to Cardiff. I invested a lot of money and then we went up. Do you think that Mackay would have got us promoted without my investment?"
Mackay was replaced by former Manchester United player Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Tan said the situation at Cardiff began to go "pear-shaped" when he discovered that they had overspent on transfers.
"I sent Simon Lim from Malaysia. He doesn't really know a lot about football, so he depends on the football expert.
"We have this expert always telling us 'leave the football to me, I'm the expert'… So, if the expert says 'do this… do this' and asks you to buy A, B and C, what can Simon Lim say? What can I say?"
This led to chief scout Iain Moody’s sacking, with Alisher Apsalyamov, a 23-year-old Kazakh who is a friend of Tan's son and was on work experience at Cardiff, replacing him.
Tan praised Apsalyamov's "incredible football knowledge" and says his view that Cardiff overpaid on transfers "has been proved right".
Apsalyamov left the club following issues obtaining a work visa, while Moody was appointed sporting director for Crystal Palace, which are three spots above Cardiff.
Cardiff City will face Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane later today. – March 2, 2014.
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