We should be thankful to the owners of football clubs, as they provide the money needed to keep the club running and use their fortune as a way of buying class new players for our entertainment. However, club owners have been known to sometimes step into the footballing side of the game and it hasn’t always led to happy endings. Take, for example, the most recent case; Vicent Tan and Cardiff City.
It has come to the footballing world’s attention that the Cardiff City owner has reportedly threatened him with the sack if he doesn’t resign. This comes after Tan criticised 41-year-old Malky Mackay at length in a range of areas, such as signings, transfer budgets, results on the pitch and style of play. However, there looks to be no chance of McKay resigning, as he remains passionate about the club.
The owner claims the total budget was £35m and that £50m was spent including add-ons. Having said that, the owner should be looking at all these transfers and should have the final say as to whether it goes ahead. He surely couldn’t have just let them spend £15 million over budget? Mackay and Moody have denied those claims, insisting the £35m was solely for transfer fees and that Lim and Tan had no complaints about that rising with add-ons.
In my opinion, Malky Mackay has done a fantastic job of carrying The Cardiff Blues (now Reds due to a decision from the owner, as it would help ‘revenue’ at the club) up to the Premier League. They currently sit in a decent 15th place, which I’m sure they would take come the end of the season. He’s brought in some good players and if Mackay were to stay, he might be able to further improve the squad in the January transfer window.
It’s a tricky situation. We should be lucky that there is so much money being pumped into the game, which helps clubs produce and buy the players that we watch week in week out. But, owners have been known in the past to step too far out of their depths into the footballing side of the game ,when they should be focusing on the facts and figures. They buy the clubs ultimately as a business and a way of making more money to add to their fortune.
Going back to the Cardiff situation, it has been reported that not only did Tan change the clubs colours, he also tussled with the manager’s job and tried go on the hunt for certain players that he liked the look of. He also tried to influence the tactics of the first team during matches. Why can’t he just leave that side of the game down to his manager? That’s why you pay them the big bucks, right?
Looking from the point of view of the owners, you could say that they should get a say in who the team buys, as the club are using their money to do so. However, managers are used to buy the very best players and sort out the team tactics, whilst the owner should focus of keeping the club running.
Ultimately, with all owners’ fortunes comes great power so they have the final say, and importantly, Vicent Tan will have the final say on the Cardiff City managerial role.
What’s your views? How much power should owners have and do you think Malky Mackay should be sacked?
Merry Christmas!
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