Cardiff City's backers set for talks on club's future

Cardiff City chairman Dato Chan Tien Ghee has arrived in Wales to discuss the club's future.

A board meeting will be held on Tuesday after the club's Malaysian owners scrapped contentious rebranding plans.

Main backer Vincent Tan was planning a multi-million pound investment with the rebrand, which included a change of kit colour from blue to red and a new logo.

That investment is being reassessed, with the chairman warning the club must change.

"Those are worrying words," said former Cardiff City captain Jason Perry.

"This is my worry listening to the [chairman's] statement.

"Let's just hope the journey continues and continues forward. Cardiff City are not too far away from getting into the Premier League.

"What they [the owners] have to do is have a look at the reasons they came into the club, the amount of people that go in and out of Cardiff City Stadium and the good times at Wembley."

Another former Bluebird, Ian Walsh, admits he fears for the club's future if the furore over the proposed changes has helped convince the owners to end their interest in the club.

Cardiff's chairman, knows as TG, wrote an open letter to the fans announcing the leaked rebranding plans had been ditched because of "vociferous opposition" from some fans.

He said there was never any plan to change the club's name, but confirmed that there had been discussions about the crest and home colours.

The plans were said to be designed to increase revenue, which would in turn allow manager Malky Mackay to strengthen the playing squad, improve training facilities and increase the stadium capacity.

According to long-serving club director Steve Borley, the negative reaction from fans to the rebranding had done immense damage.

After Cardiff's failure to make the Premier League through the play-offs for the second season running, TG warned that the club could not continue to be losing money every month.

Perry added: "It is certainly a case of rocky times ahead, something we are used to at Cardiff City, by saying they would look at more investment alongside their own, if they decide to invest in the club."

Perry believed the way the change of colours from blue to red was proposed was handled badly by the owners.

TG said it had been unfortunate the proposals were leaked before being finalised by the board.

"I think when you look at everything the first word that springs to mind is disappointment, in how everything was handled," said Perry.

"A lot of fans will be celebrating that they can keep the blue shirts and the badges.

"But the biggest disappointment, it wasn't done in a manner in which the Malaysians sat down with Cardiff City supporters and just asked their opinion.

"They might have been able to gauge then what sort of reaction they would have had and in the same way I'm sure the fans would have wanted the Malaysian owners to explain to them maybe the consequences if they didn't run with the idea of changing into a red shirt.

"They are trying to manage a debt that has been made from the previous owners.

"I just hope the Malaysian owners, like the fans, will just sit back, look at the bigger picture and we can have a different strategy in order to move forward."