Back in the big League
> Cardiff owner Tan applauds support of Johor Sultan to keep ‘Visit Malaysia’ on shirts
CARDIFF CITY owner Tan Sri Vincent Tan is confident his newly-promoted club can survive in the English Premier League next season – but wants a little help from Malaysia’s Tourism Ministry to do so.
As he proudly presented manager Neil Warnock to the media at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, he revealed that while the Bluebirds had been advertising “Visit Malaysia” to the world for nine years his only substantive support had come from the Sultan of Johor.
“Fortunately,” he said “the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, who is a business partner, agreed to sponsor £3 million (RM16m) for three years in the Championship. He told me it was good for the country to have this on our shirts – and not many people knew about this.
“Since I’ve owned Cardiff, ‘Visit Malaysia’ has always been on the shirt. Yet only one year were we ever paid anything for it and that was a discounted rate when we were in the Premier League.
“We haven’t got a Minister of Tourism at the moment but when we do we hope that we can get some sponsorship for this. We have a lot of people approaching us – airlines among them – but I decided we’d stay with ‘Visit Malaysia’ to show I really love my country.”
He added that the shirt offers better value than Barcelona’s Luis Suarez, a famous name but a little-known ambassador for Malaysia. “Does he say he’s ambassador for Malaysia?” asked Tan.
“No, no one knows and I think you can’t beat the Visit Malaysia ambassador. When Cardiff play in the Premier League 4.8 billion people around the world will watch and will see Visit Malaysia on the shirts.”
At least Tan has found a staunch ally and kindred spirit in Warnock, who believes his eighth promotion with the Welsh club “is my greatest achievement in football.”
Expected to finish in the bottom half of the Championship, instead the Bluebirds, responding to Warnock’s unique manmanagement style and with a few judicious signings, soared to automatic promotion.
The Yorkshireman, 70 in December, does not believe in spending “silly money” to succeed in football. Fresh from enjoying a well-earned week’s holiday with his wife and youngest son at the The Taaras Beach & Spa Resort in Redang Island, he said: “This morning I saw that Manchester United were spending £20 million (RM107m) on a 19-yearold right back. We won’t be spending much more than that on the five or six players we’ve agreed to go after.
“But, hey-ho, we’re going to enjoy ourselves. We are that type of club now, from Vincent to the ladies who do the cleaning, who are all singing from the same hymn sheet and I think it’s a great place to be. For me at my age to get an opportunity to try and stabilise a club on the structure we have is a fabulous challenge.”
Tan certainly believes Warnock is the man who can achieve his dream of following the Leicester City model although the manager has warned him the Riyad Mahrezes of this world – bought for £450,000 and being sold for £60m – don’t grow on trees.
“I hope we can fly the flag for Malaysia and everyone gets behind us and watches us in the Premier League. My ambition is still to be swimming with the turtles next year. But between now and then I’m going to have a few more animals to put up with. Whilst I might be swimming with the turtles, we’re going to be playing against some sharks.”
Tan said: “We work very closely. We believe – God willing – that we can stay in the Premier League for a long, long time.
“I’m absolutely convinced this is possible under Neil’s leadership. Being in the Premier League is so much different to being in the Championship. Financially it’s like the difference between heaven and hell.”
* Watch out for an exclusive feature on Neil Warnock next week.