Is Cardiff City's Vincent Tan the worst club owner in the history of football?
We take a look at the most controversial club owners to have graced football
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
On Friday, Cardiff City manager Malkay Mackay was given an ultimatum by owner Vincent Tan, in which he was told to resign or be sacked. The tension between the pair has been simmering for quite some time at the club.
Many Cardiff City fans are angry over the way their manager, who guided Cardiff into the Premier League last season, has been treated by their owner. This week Mackay was publicly criticised by Tan for admitting that he wanted to bring in a couple of new recruits in the next transfer window. However, Tan’s public power struggle with Mackay is only one of the reasons that has seen the owner’s popularity with the fans hit the floor.
Tan’s first move was to carry out a controversial rebrand of the club in an attempt to gain popularity in Asia, with a strategy that saw him change the team’s shirt colour from the traditional blue to ‘lucky’ red. He also altered the club crest to include a red dragon, whilst making the bluebird emblem less prominent.
His next move proved even more absurd. In early October, head of recruitment and good friend of Mackay, Ian Moody, was controversially sacked by the club. The Malaysian owner then decided to replace Moody with 23-year-old Alisher Apsalyamov, a Kazakhstani man who was on summer work experience at the club. Clearly a strange move by the owner who has since become one the Premier League’s biggest talking points.
We take a look at other eccentric owners who have caused a stir…
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments