YOU BOUGHT SALA CARDIFF, SO PAY UP

WHAT clarification, exactly, do Cardiff need regarding their financial responsibility over emiliano sala? There is absolutely no question he was their player at the time of his death, no question that a transfer had been concluded, and no question of him being on a flight to Wales that night had he not been a Cardiff player. It feels incongruous to cite the principles of material purchase but there are plenty of sales that are arranged by instalment and if a car is written off, or stolen, 24 hours out of the showroom, it does not mean the transaction is void. Payments must still be met. Yet Mehmet Dalman, Cardiff’s chairman, is saying the club will pay if ‘contractually obliged’ and are seeking clarification on the issue. He even tried to appeal to the baser instincts of supporters. ‘surely you would expect me,’ he asked, ‘as the chairman and guardian of the club’s interests to look into that, and hold our position?’ Not when the position is so transparent. A deal was done with Nantes and a terrible tragedy then took place on Cardiff’s watch. To taint that further with an unseemly squabble about money — Nantes are taking legal action over the first due payment — would be contemptible. Cardiff risk undoing the respect they have earned for their dignified, empathetic reaction to the tragedy. ‘We are an honourable club,’ said Dalman. Then act like it.