Back in the early days of Vincent Tan’s ownership of the club, there were a few stories about how “loss of face” is a big issue in Malaysian culture. The stories soon disappeared and it’s not something I’ve given a great deal of thought to again until recent weeks, but stories like this one strongly suggest that it is an issue in far east countries in particular.
It seems to me that if you’re an otherwise successful Malaysian businessman, the prospect of both of the football teams you own being relegated in the same season represents a considerable loss of face to the person concerned. Currently, Vincent Tan’s Belgian club, Kortrijk, appear to be making a better fist of preserving their status than his Welsh one – Kortrijk have looked doomed to the drop all season as they finished the regular season at the bottom of the table, but they appear to be making a good fist of the baffling and interminable Belgian Play Off system and are giving themselves a chance of avoiding the drop which is all you could ask given the position they found themselves in.
Cardiff on the other hand, had a handy six point cushion over the bottom three after beating Hull in early March, but, since then, apart from a win at Blackburn, who were in a nightmare run at the time, they’ve made a complete mess of a final run in to the season which has turned out to be a combination of home games against fellow strugglers, matches against out of form sides with little to play for and the occasional encounter with a high flier.
No set of ten fixtures or so can be described as easy in this division, but Cardiff’s fixtures, especially since their loss at Sunderland, could certainly have been more taxing and, while all around them have been getting the sort of wins which had looked beyond them for much of the season, Cardiff have continued to show the same weaknesses which have dogged them all through the campaign.
As things stand, a side like Plymouth or Derby could go down with a degree of honour and hope for what awaits them in League One as they’ve been written off for much of the season, but, at the death, are giving themselves hope (indeed, Derby should stay up now). Cardiff have resolutely failed to show the improvement that the other two clubs (as well as a few others at the bottom) I mentioned above have done, all of which takes me back to loss of face again.
Despite Kortrijk’s rallying, the odds are that both of Vincent Tan’s sides will be relegated in 24/25 which will have to represent the biggest loss of face he has experienced during his association with football.
Even if City and/or Kortrijk somehow scrape clear of the drop, will 24/25 be the season when our owner finally acknowledges that his almost unique approach to running a football club does not work?
Mr Tan clearly is not a stupid man. However, his inability to accept that his way is not the right way if he wants his teams to be competitive and successful at the levels they currently find themselves is stretching stubbornness to its limits.
The loss of face from a double relegation for Vincent Tan would be profound if articles like the one I linked to are to be believed, but I’m far from convinced that it would jolt him into an approach which would give him a better chance of getting some sort of return on his, considerable, investment.
Anyway, on to the penultimate quiz of the season, the answers to which I’ll post on here on Sunday.
60s. This Smethwick born defender’s cause was not helped by the presence of two Welsh internationals being in. competition with him for a starting place, but, over the course of six years during this decade, he managed to play close to a hundred league games for the Baggies without ever finding the net for them. He had to wait until he moved to his second club to do that as he swapped stripes for hoops (well, kind of!) as he spent three years playing on a ground which is still used today for another sport involving nets (well, kind of!). He was very much a regular starter at his second club during the three years he was with them and in retirement he worked on the administration side of things for West Brom, Port Vale and Aston Villa. Who am I describing?
70s. Named as one of West Brom’s ten greatest players in 2004, he has a record twenty two., Who is he and what does the twenty two refer to?
80s. He scored two hundred and seventy one league goals in his career with two of them being for West Brom during this decade, who?
90s. Close in on vet to gain 22 Scottish caps.(5,5)
00s. Sounds like a stir in a small woods perhaps?
10s. He played one game for West Brom during this decade with the Baggies ,manager at the time describing him as being “not at the required level”. As of today, he’s scored twenty odd goals in just under fifty games for his country and has five league title winner’s medals (with a sixth one likely to follow soon) with his club. Name the player.
20s. Tariff on biblical character?
