by Liam McConville
Very occasionally I see things in football that really angers me. Whether it is overpriced seating, the constant supply of new replica kits or the fact that Liverpool can’t beat newly promoted sides at Anfield, the game we love can occasionally make our blood boil.
A few weeks ago I heard the mooted idea of Cardiff City switching their home colours from blue to red in a complete re-brand of the club’s ‘image’ that would boost its commercial prospects. I simply dismissed this as nonsense as surely no owner would dare completely change a club’s identity in the hope of pandering to the admittedly lucrative Asian market. I put it alongside such ideas as the ‘39th game’, a daft idea that would never come to fruition. Indeed the club’s chairman had stated that the proposal had been dropped after ‘vociferous opposition’ against the proposals.
So imagine my surprise and dismay at yesterday’s confirmation that the club will be going ahead with the planned re-branding after a ‘comprehensive review’ of supporter feedback. Cardiff City will as of next season play their home games in red with the traditional blue shirt becoming the new away strip. Add into this a very different looking club crest where a new red dragon takes centre stage with the bluebird crammed in at the bottom of the re-vamped badge.
Cardiff’s Malaysian owners claim that this is part of a significant investment for the club which will stabilise its long term future. The £100million investment which was conditional on Cardiff switching to red could well be a turning point for the club. Long standing debts are set to be wiped out, a new training complex is in the planning stage and the owners are looking into expanding the recently built Cardiff City Stadium.
However whilst all this investment is brilliant for the Welsh club, at what cost does it come at? For the first time since 1910 blue will not be the colour of the home shirts. Cardiff are losing part of their identity, their rich history has been completely disregarded as not for the first time in football it is clear that money talks. I would personally be outraged if I supported Cardiff, changing to red may well open up more commercial opportunities, but the question remains will it really herald the sort of windfall that the owners’ are expecting?
Imagine for a second if the Glazers’ offered to put up £200million of investment if Manchester United would play in blue as it would open up new commercial opportunities. Imagine the uproar and the protests that would follow and rightfully so. Admittedly Cardiff is a different proposition as they are the only major club in their city but the point still stands as other clubs may look to follow suit should this radical move prove to be a success.
Perhaps the move and the investment that it brings will be a turning point for Cardiff and lead to a period of prosperity and success both on and off the field. However for me it is just another instance of a football club owner completely ignoring a club’s history and sacrificing their identity in the hunt for quick cash. We have already seen a club up sticks and relocate when Wimbledon became the MK Dons. There have also been numerous changes of stadium names in return for sponsorship money.
Maybe this is the only way forward for football clubs to survive in this time of economic hardship. Particularly for lower league clubs who are struggling to survive it is understandable. However I long for the time when clubs were not viewed as brands and franchises where supporters are just consumers who can be exploited at every opportunity. Football clubs are the beating heart of a community, going to games is a ritual for some but when stories like this appear all the good that football brings can be forgotten.
Cardiff may well reach the promised land of the Premier League with their new investment. However there will always be unease no matter what success they achieve with the knowledge that they sold their soul to get there.
The sentiments of Mr Mconville’s words touch my senses of traditionalism and I find a lot of sympathy for his feelings,however,as a Cardiff City fan for more than 40 years my realistic side overtakes the sentimentality.
We do not have the luxury of turning away investment as this club has been on the edge of extinction on numerous occasions over the last 10 years.
Out of choice I would prefer to remain in blue,out of choice I would prefer to remain at our beloved Ninian Park,but life and football has changed and for the good of our club so must we.
Our history is a constant it will always be there but without change the club will not,so if we have to play in red to survive and prosper then so be it.
Spot on John. If they Malaysian backers walked away we’d join Portsmouth, Rangers etc. What’s in a shirt? Our original colours were gold and black squares. I suspect in 5-10 years time we’ll revert to our beloved blue.
If we are to believe the Malaysians and their commercial and marketing experts, then surely other clubs should take note and also change their strip.
If every club played their home games in Red and their away games in Blue think how much easier it would be to attract the casual fan who could then just support the Reds without even knowing which team it was.
Brilliant !!
Totally agree Noel, teams have changed their colours before of course but in this case it’s not by consensus. It seems this is a case of do this or you’ll get no cash.
Nothing like holding a gun to supporters heads is there?
Of course, they could say no but I guess greed will overcome.
I have been a CCFC fan for 45 years. I have many happy memories during that time, but not as many as I would have hoped. I am on the board of honour at the main entrance. Cardiff have been technically bankrupt for many years. The Langston debt is merely Sam’s legacy for all the excellent work he did in effectively delivering us the new stadium. The new owners have allegedly sunk 40 million in getting us to where we are today, but clearly something has to change if we are to move forward. Nobody in their right minds can continue to fund a million pound loss every month indefinitely without an additional source of revenue. Ironically in one of the latter programmes last year, the story was told of how our supporters cheered on the home team just after the war as the opposition were in blue! The planet is 4 billion years old, and should last at least the same again. Mankind is somewhat younger, and football a mere millisecond in comparison. Yes, my memories are important, but hopefully CCFC will be supported by our loyal supporters for the next 4 billion years as football is here to stay. Unfortunately, this costs lots of money, and whoever funds our future dreams for CCFC has my full support. CCFC is bigger than any of our individual desires. Whilst I personally will have difficulty with the colour change, I am already wanting to ram our national emblem down oppositions throats, and indeed it has already invoked a passion I never thought I would feel for CCFC again! Once our squad is strengthened and the goals hopefully start flying in we will all feel a lot happier. I will never forget our heritage and memories, but we will always be CCFC until the day we and all our future generations die! Remember Sam himself tried to market us as the team of Wales. So, let’s get behind the boys and continue making our noise. Whilst I care passionately about our heritage, I care even more about a viable future, and if that means making ourselves more marketable to a larger audience so be it. I know anybody who abandons the Club now will regret it as we will always be CCFC, and unless Langston forego their debt and promise to put 100 million into our future, please see this as our only viable future, and what a future it should be. This is only the start. A lot more money will have to be pumped in if we are ever going to compete with teams such as the top four who already have annual revenues in excess of 300 million – most of which is from a World audience, which is where the Malaysians are trying to take us.