Sam Hammam last night held court at Ninian Park to a group of Cardiff
City fans. I was privelidged to witness the dawn of a new era in Cardiff City's history.
NigelBlues has kindly written a match report on the meeting and it is below. Make no
mistake when Sam takes control Cardiff City will not look back but will start on the loang
road to his eventual dream. A place amongst the elite of British football. Sam is
charismatic, energetic, and at times completely off his rocker, and thats a compliment to
him. He had the crowd in stitches of laughter and was amazing to listen to. Roll on the
day his investment is completed and we can get on with the business of making out club
great again.
Report from NigelBlues.
Along with 70 to 80 City fans, City officials including Steve Borley, David Temme,
Kim Walker and with Tony Clemo in attendance, I was at the Sam Hammam meeting last night.
It took place in the sponsors bar under the Director's Box and was a good an
evening as anyone could have hoped for.
This club is going to be put right and Sam is the man to do it.
Sam Hammam spoke to us for more than two and a half hours. He showed unbelievable
passion for the club, was funny, had plenty of ideas (some serious, some funny and some
mental) but left nobody in any doubts that he is the man who can revitalise this club and
give it growth.
There were no promises and no talks of overnight glory, just a commitment to put this club
right. There was little learned that hadn't already appeared on here and I don't
believe that anything was said in total confidence - he impressed he wants us to spread
the message - so these were the main points.
WHY CARDIFF CITY?
He took a phone call 7 years ago from Rick Wright who told him to move Wimbledon to
Cardiff and rename them Cardiff City (not Cardiff Dons as originally reported). He
was told that he could get crowds of 50,000 - 70,000. He thought Wright was a psycho
and Cardiff were a sh*tty team froma sh*tty town in a sh*tty division and looked at Dublin
instead. But in the last few years, he's bumped into City fans and Directors telling
him the same thing. Then last September, he was staggered by City's visit to
Selhurst where we outnumbered Wimbledon 3 to 1 and he realised our passion/potential.
He thinks we all need psychiatry for thinking Cardiff could be as big as major Premier
teams but he's been sucked in by the fans who he rates alongside Newcastle's Toon Army.
He also said that if Cardiff City are successful, the pleasure will be seeing the club
rise from where it is rather than watching us play in the Premier League. He said
the Premier League is impersonal and with the biggest clubs, it's showbusiness.
Lower division football is real football and whatever happens, we're going to have fun in
trying to get to the top.
THE DEAL
Sam is paying £3.14M for 82.5% of the club valuing shares at about 17p. He will get
22 million new shares and the only shares changing hands are a number of Steve Borley's.
In fact, Steve deserves our undying thanks as a sticking point seemed to be Sam was
offered 82.1% of the club but demanded 82.5% - Steve has literally handed over something
like £140k of his own shares to Sam to make the deal.
The club was valued at something like £675k (note Steve Day - my £1/2M valuation
wasn't that wrong after all, eh mate?), £1.5M will clear the existing debts and the other
£1M will cover our losses for the next 2 years. Sam insists that he will make sure
the club loses £1/2M a year for the next 2 years while it's put right! He said if
we haven't lost £1M in 2 years, then he hasn't done his job - he insists the club runs at
a loss.
SAM's ROLE
All of Sam's efforts will go into putting the team right. He will not draw a penny
from the club, pay for his own tickets, pay his own hotel bills. He will get
involved with major issues like ground developments but says he will never be motivated by
dealing with mundane day-to-day issues and that's why he won't be Chairman. On
matchdays, he's be a fan in jeans.
THE TEAM PLAN
He wants a squad of 25 players, 18 established first teamers and 7 who will kick the ar*es
of the others to get into the main squad. He told us to stop dreaming that Nathan
Blake will be coming. Even if we could afford him, he will never pay someone £7k to
play in a team where the rest are paid £1-£1.5K, it will ruin team spirit. But he
said there is provision for City to get two highly paid players for this season, the wage
will be nowhere near Blake's but it would probably mean we are the best payers in the
division. The playing budget will be increased because that is how Sam believes clubs
progress.
He is not looking to buy stars or ageing performers (although it may happen to kick things
off). He will set up a national scouting system to look at the best youth available,
he'll be watching Man United v Oldham reserves to see the best youngsters rather than the
best pros and these are the players
we'll then attract. His aim is to get two youngsters breaking through per season.
He'll tie good young players to long-term contracts so they're not poached and
we'll sell only if the deal is right and the manager agrees. He said he'll sell a player
for £1M if we can get 4 new players at £150k each and put £400k into the club but won't
sell for selling's sake.
But his passion is the youth team and getting the structure right. He was critical
of the current set up but said his biggest pleasure was seeing players he first saw at
14/15 develop into first teamers and he's right. We get far more buzz seeing Psycho
Perry in the first team than say, Willie Boland, because he was one of us from the start.
He wants fans to show as much/if not more interest in the youth set up and ask him how
that system is progressing because that is what will sustain the club in future.
He has the dream of getting us to the Premiership although kept saying he's doesn't
believe we'll ever be as big as the major players. There's no 5 year plan (thank
god!), he believes it will take 20 years to get to the Premier League (as Vince said,
"we'll settle for that Sam, it's quick, it's been 40 years since we were last
there").
His aims are to get us thinking big. He said that if all we're interested in is
being bigger than Swansea and talking about them, he'll **** off and leave the club now.
I think he noticed some of the Cardiff/Swansea banter on the messageboard.
Our thoughts should be way beyond them (mine always have been).
THE CELTIC BIT
The uneasiest part of the evening. He opened up by saying even his best mate, Bobby
Gould, told him earlier in the day that his plans and ideas were barmy!
Sam repeated his thoughts that have appeared in the media. He did however say it is
no longer a condition and it's for City fans to decide but he believes we should think
about it deeply. He showed endless passion for the values of strength, fighting and
believes the club should embody that in everything (as one punter said, "we've got no
problem fighting at Cardiff!".
He wants Cardiff City to represent Wales. He said if people want to watch Swansea
City, that's up to them but he'd like them to come and see the biggest team in Wales
playing a much higher division when the Jacks are away!
He said that we need to open our minds, Cardiff is already Wales. Wales comes to
Cardiff. When they debate politics, they come to Cardiff, when they watch national
football and rugby, they come to Cardiff and he wants Cardiff City to be perceived the
same.
He thinks big at all times. Even talked of draping a 100 foot Celtic symbol from the
Severn Bridge so people knew where they were coming! He doesn't want to diss the Bluebird
(and was left in doubt no our passion for it) but told us to go and look at Cardiff's kit
in the boardroom (from the '60's and show him where the bluebird was). Someone said
it's origins were from toffee and he was exasperated that we cherished our symbol because
of toffee (although as someone said, "it's hard"). The view was put
forward that we should play in Celtic colours when we're away invading England.
He loves blue, he said he invented Wimbledon's blue, but loves dark with no frills.
He said he will keep talking about this so we have to accept it won't go away.
GIMMICKS
Sam was told the club don't need gimmicks but he said we were totally wrong. Some of the
stories he told about Wimbledon, what he did and what he will do were hilarious. I
won't put them on here as it'll spoil the fun in future.
But he wants the media talking about us because it interests the fans, the media interest
will in turn attract tv coverage and he says he has all the contacts in tv and the media
to make it work. I just love the thought of a Barnet fan winning a sheep
because we are the s*eep sh*ggers and having to take it home with him!
THE TYPE OF PLAYERS HE WANTS
He said watching Cardiff City is like watching a team of midgets. The first question he
asks about players is how big they are, then what level can they play at (we'll look
at players with Division 1 potential) and finally whether their attitude is right and they
can develop.
He wants teams to fear Cardiff City and be intimidated of playing us before the game
arrives.
He said that this must be the ethos from youth to first team. If a Manager ever
tells a player to "go out and enjoy yourself", he'll be sacked. When a
player is on the pitch, his only thought must be fighting and earning 3 points. The
enjoyment comes afterwards when we've taken them.
There was loads more said but this should give you the gist of the evening.
There's no doubt he's ****ing mental (in the nicest sense) but he is exactly what this
club needs. His beliefs, passion and will to succeed have to be seen to be believed.
He is living, breathing, eating and sleeping Cardiff City already.
He said he has had 6 hours sleep in the previous 3 nights and is walking around Cardiff at
2.30am from his hotel (perhaps he's checking out Caroline Street for some fighters!).
He is frustrated by the legal process that means it is still 2 to 3 weeks away and said
time has already been lost, he will be very angry if there are further delays and the club
find themselves 8 to 10 points behind the leaders.
He didn't need to win us over but he did (apart from maybe the cynical Thin Blue Line
editor who may give a slightly less glowing account, he was only interested in the
team-fair enough).
Sam got frequent rounds of applause for his comments, he is the man for this club, no
promises but he will get structure right and he is Cardiff City through and through.
