Vincent Tan plans to make Cardiff debt-free in five years' time
ByPA Sport
Published 11/02/2016 at 18:45 GMT
Cardiff owner Vincent Tan says he will reduce the Sky Bet Championship club's debt by more than half in his bid to ensure it is debt-free by 2021.
Vincent Tan aims to have Cardiff debt-free by 2021
Image credit: PA Sport
Cardiff owner Vincent Tan says he will reduce the Sky Bet Championship club's debt by more than half in his bid to ensure it is debt-free by 2021.
The Malaysian businessman completed his takeover of Cardiff in May 2010, but the Bluebirds are over £100million in debt and are currently working under a transfer embargo.
Tan told a Q&A session with supporters at the Cardiff City Stadium that he plans to convert £68m of the club's debt into equity while writing off a further £10m.
The 63-year-old said he wrote off £13m last season and turned £3m into equity to leave Cardiff £40m in debt to him.
Under the Football League's Financial Fair Play rules a club can convert a maximum amount of £8m of debt into equity in a single financial year, and Tan says he will do that for the next five years.
"Because we have recently reached agreement with one of the club's long-standing creditors, we are in a better position to convert our loans into equity," Tan was reported as saying by BBC Wales.
Tan was referring to the recent settlement with the club's long-standing creditor Langston, a Panama-based company owned by former Cardiff owner Sam Hammam.
Following relegation from the Barclays Premier League in 2014, Cardiff's debt had reportedly reached £174m at the end of the financial year with most owed to Tan.
Tan caused controversy at Cardiff when he changed the club's kit from blue to red in 2012 and resisted pressure from fans to change it back until January 2015.
He has not attended a game at the Cardiff City Stadium for over 12 months and Saturday's league trip to Charlton will only be the second occasion he has seen the club play in person in that time.
But that did not prevent Tan from handing out advice to the Cardiff players when he paid a visit to the club's training ground on Thursday morning.
" I gave them a pep talk and said they have got to start shooting," Tan was quoted as telling supporters by WalesOnline.
"In every match I want to see 30 or 40 attempts on goal, at least. Just shoot from 25, 30 yards, I told them.
"What's the point of passing, passing, passing and hoping to get in the box that way?
"Unless you're Lionel Messi looking for a tap in, it's not going to work.
"I watch every Cardiff match and I told them 'You guys have no confidence'.
"They get the ball and it seems to be like a hot potato. Pass it to somebody else straight away. You must see that, because I do.
"The law of averages says the more you shoot, the more you'll score. If you shoot 30 times you'll get three goals, 40 times will be four goals, 50 times and you'll get five goals."
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