Cardiff City seeking 'extra finances', says chairman Mehmet Dalman

Mehmet Dalman (right) with Cardiff chief executive Ken Choo at the game against Middlesbrough

Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman says the club is actively seeking to refinance.

Dalman said the club's owner, Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan, remained committed to a team currently struggling in the Championship.

But he said the club was facing "multi-dimensional challenges" including finances, legal cases and poor results on the pitch.

"We need money. The pandemic has hit us hard and has hit Malaysia hard," Dalman said.

"The pandemic hit us hard because there's no revenue apart from what we get at the gate and no one has taken pay cuts throughout the pandemic.

"It's a difficult time and we need to bring extra finances to bridge the gap and we're in the process of doing that."

Dalman was speaking prior to a 2-0 defeat at home to Middlesbrough on Saturday, an eighth straight loss which makes Cardiff's current run the worst in the club's history.

The latest defeat saw manager Mick McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor leave the club "by mutual agreement and with immediate effect".

Dalman insisted Tan was committed to the club, adding: "This financing is on the back of his neck, it's his money that's going to be utilised to do that.

"He's fully committed, he's always said he's committed to the club and wants to leave the club in good shape but we have no plans to leave the club."

Dalman has been club chairman for 10 years and says this is the most difficult spell of his period at the helm.

"We've got multi-dimensional challenges," Dalman told BBC Sport Wales.

"On the legal side we've got the Emiliano Sala case coming up with CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) and a couple of ex-directors' legal cases.

"Obviously results are not going our way so there's pressure.

"The football's not great, the finances are not great and the legal side's not great, and we need to navigate through this and we will navigate through this.

"There's a lot of effort being put in but we didn't expect the football side to take so much of our time and attention, but it's time we focused on it and we are focusing on it.

"Results always matter. The club will always do what's right for the club."

But Dalman emphasised once again, as he did during the summer, that there would be no money available for new players when the transfer window opens in January.

"There's still no money - we'll do the best we can," he added.