Today David Conn gives his thoughts to the Echo. Another interesting article from which a very pertinent question emerges.
This question has been raised on the Messageboard as well and as far as I can tell any time someone has come close to asking it to Sam they do not get an answer.
Why, when the club is in such a financial mess did Cardiff City pay Rudgwick Holdings (Sam's company) hundreds of thousands of pounds in management fees?
Conn's article is linked here.
Bluebirds are living in a nightmare.
Last night a fans meeting was held in Abertridwr.
Here's the "match report" from one of the lads present at the meeting.
I went to Abertridwr tonight for what originally was a regular RAMS meeting, but turned out to be a general meeting, with Supporters Club members and City fans in general attending, all there to discuss the current crisis at Ninian Park. The Buff Club in Abertridwr (something to do with Buffaloes apparently - I'm sure someone will explain!), was packed out with supporters all keen to air their views and try and discover a little more about the mess we find ourselves in.
Gwyn (Valleyrams) and Vince (CCFFC Supporters Club) both spoke at length about the situation as they see it, but both admitted that they were only feeding on scraps of information and had to make judgements on what they know. Both Gwyn and Vince still believe Sam can deliver the stadium, but neither of them have the same trust in him as they once had and are taking each day as it comes. Their support for Sam is shaky to say the least, but perhaps more so, they are really fearful of what Sam could do if the fans turn on him. Corky (Valleyrams), who has completely lost faith in Sam, believes Sam to be vindictive enough to screw Cardiff City just because he can. So basically, much of the support that Sam is still getting is through fear of what might happen if we all turn on him. It's a sobering thought, but one we should take very seriously.
News from today's meeting with the developers was not good. Michael Isaacs had spoken to some supporters before the meeting and told them that although all the major retailers were on board, there were still delays getting some of the contracts finalised for the smaller retailers. Isaacs said that the developer’s reasons for not being able to set a firm date were entirely reasonable. As we all know, these sort of major developments take time - and it seems that Sam was badly advised along the way as he expected things to be well under way by now and we are paying a heavy price. For all Sam's experience of running football clubs (and not very well if current events are anything to go by), this is his first stadium/retail development and things have not gone to plan to say the least. Isaacs is also now back on board (literally) and the Directors are giving the impression at least of being united.
The news of course about the developers could be devastating for our team and Vince is convinced that another couple of players will be sold in the next week or so. As for the sale of Kavanagh, some of the transfer fee has apparently been put aside to pay the tax bill, which is due later this month. The shortfall on the wage bill last month was allegedly paid by Sam himself, or at least this is what he has told people. The club have also got rid of all their scouts (to cut costs I presume) and Matthew Crocker is off to America - not sure if he jumped before he was pushed?
A number of questions came from the floor, supporters obviously angry, upset and worried about the future of our club. Corky asked for suggestions on where we go from here and what plan of action people would like to see taken, but to be honest, there was no general consensus of opinions as people are confused and divided as to what to do next. Lots of questions were asked but many were left unanswered as Gwyn and Vince are only going on the scraps of information they have gathered from different sources.
As for being too close to Sam, they both agreed that Sam uses them, but they were aware of this and never held back on asking difficult questions, despite what people think. People who attended last Friday night’s meeting at Ninian Park vouched for this – Vince had given Sam a very hard time.
Things are tough at the moment, I spoke to lots of people who like me, think the whole thing is going to go tits up and we'll have to try and pick up the pieces. Likewise, there were others who think we have no alternative but to stick with Sam - although much of this was down to fear of what may happen if we don't.
The general consensus was that all we can do is sit and wait at the moment - say as little as possible and see what develops. Gwyn spoke about forming a Supporters Trust if our worst fears are realised - at the moment it seems all we can do as fans is not fall out with each other - whatever our differing views. We all have opinions - accept each other’s and be ready to pull together if Sam's dream goes up in flames.