Vincent has deep pockets, but there is a limit, admits Dalman
CARDIFF City chairman Mehmet Dalman has spelt out how Vincent Tan’s deep pockets have kept the Bluebirds afloat during the coronavirus crisis as they seek to make a Premier League push in the next few weeks.
Dalman told a podcast run by Cardiff ’s 2003 play-off idol Andy Campbell that ‘Unless Vincent steps up, we’re bust.’
“As a going concern, yes,” Dalman told the Western Mail on Thursday morning, as he put context upon his comment and outlined how Malaysian owner Tan’s money was holding everything together at the moment.
Dalman would not divulge a figure, but it is thought Tan is having to fund up to £3million a month at the moment to cover the club’s wage bill and day-to-day costs, such as paying transfer instalments, signing on fees which become due and pay-off monies.
At the same time, the Bluebirds will be unable to bank any money from match-day revenue with their remaining nine Championship fixtures almost certain to be played behind closed doors.
Their last home game was in February against Brentford.
It is a situation, Dalman explains, that applies to most clubs in the league. “You can put this scenario into 80 per cent of them,” he says.
But spelling out how much Cardiff City need Tan at the moment, Dalman said: “We can’t afford this sort of money. Vincent has deep pockets, but there’s a limit to how much we can go and knock on his door and say please, give us more money.
“It’s not rocket science. You have a club where we are losing substantially more than we are getting in revenue source at the moment.
“Therefore there is a shortfall. That can only be met by income, which is Premier League parachute payments, or shareholder injection. That’s one person – it’s Vincent’s pocket.”
Dalman continued: “Our biggest revenue earner is people buying season tickets or match day tickets. The income from that is massive.
“Merchandising is helpful, but not huge, sponsorship very useful. But it is the match day money we are really missing.
“The shortfall can only be met by a cash injection, which comes from Vincent.
“I know the sum he is putting into the club, although I’d rather not say, but it is a significant amount every month.
“This current crisis is hitting clubs like ours more than people perhaps realise. There is no short term answer to this other than Vincent looking to support the club. But there is absolutely no question of him not supporting the club, by the way.
“Vincent has always said ‘I will leave this club in better shape than I found it.’ He’s responsible, has been in charge enough years to feel a real part of it.”
The last accounts showed the total wage bill for the Bluebirds was £53.7m, with £42.5m of that going to the players.
Those player wages have come down since Cardiff were relegated from the Premier League, but the costs remain substantial nonetheless.
Bluebirds manager Neil Harris and chief executive Ken Choo have taken a 20 per cent voluntary wage reduction to help out, while the players finally agreed to partial pay deferrals for three months. But while that aids the short-term cash flow situation, it does not reduce overall costs and kicks the can down the road.
Tan still has to find the rest of the monthly money and Dalman says: “While the vast majority of our fans are great, I honestly do get a little disappointed when I read throwaway remarks from a few who either don’t really understand, or appreciate, what the investor is doing for the club and the money put in to run it.
“Take the Emiliano Sala case as an example and the amount of people who say ‘Just pay the money and stop this’.
“Do they realise how big a number 15million Euros really is? Yes they could argue we were going to pay that anyway, but we would have had an asset worth something. Today we are being asked to pay 15m Euros without an asset.”
The Sala case has gone to the
Court of Arbitration of Sport in Switzerland, although a date for the hearing is not yet set.
The Bluebirds want a number of matters to become clearer on the complicated issue, including full details involving the arrangement of Sala’s private flight, before agreeing to pay the money. They wanted to arrange a normal commercial flight from Nantes to the UK for the player.
Cardiff are also locked in a £15m legal battle with former owner Sam Hammam, who is making claims about his Presidency.
There is also further litigation pending with another former director and local businessman Michael Isaac.
These are other issues the Bluebirds hierarchy are having to firefight, on top of the monthly wage bill and other day-to-day costs.
Dalman estimates Tan has poured around £180m of his fortune into the Bluebirds.
“He’s been burning his personal money,” explains Dalman.
So why does Tan do it?
“He has a love of Cardiff City and has always felt he can build a really good future for the club,” says Dalman.
“Unfortunately that is not easy and this coronavirus crisis is much more of a setback than people think.
“The other football clubs Vincent has been involved with have been successful in terms of delivering profit. Cardiff City is the only one that hasn’t.
“Why does anybody do these things? He genuinely believes he can make it successful and came close to proving that with two promotions to Premier League.”