MONTHLY NEWSFILE
MAY 1998

Friday 29th May 1998

Frank Burrow's has confirmed his interest in Chris Vinnicombe. The 27 year old Burnley left back is a former England U21 player and would be seen as a direct replacement for Chris Beech. Local radio today have reported that Burrow's has also shown interest in Scunthorpe midfielder David D'Auria. He has also been linked with Hull City and Swansea City.

Thursday 28th May 1998

Cardiff have made their first signing of the summer. Mark Delaney, 21, has been signed from Carmarthen. He is a right back and will join the Bluebirds in a two year deal providing he passes a medical on Monday. Delaney was captain at Carmarthen last season and was voted their player of the year. No fee was involved but Cardiff have agreed to a sell on clause. City have also agreed to play a friendly against Carmarthen at Ninian Park at a date yet to be set.

Christian Roberst has agreed to extend his current contract with the Bluebirds.

Wednesday 27th May 1998

Here are the season ticket prices for next season.

For tickets bought before 30/6/98.

After 30/6/98 add 30.00. to the adult price and 15.00. to the
consessions price.

Prices are approx 30.00. down on last season.

Friday 22nd May 1998

Billy Ayre has signed a new contract. Frank Burrows' assisstant was on a non contract basis but has now signed a new two year deal.

Thursday 21st May 1998

Cardiff have been linked to Port Vale striker Martin Foyle. The official Port Vale website says that Frank Burrows has offered the 35 year old a two year contract. Another source says he is wanted in a player / coach role. We will see. I would be disappointed if Frank is looking to sign 35 year players in the hope of a quick fix to our predicament. Hibbitt did this last season and it got us nowhere.

Lee Jarman has signed a new contract. The City defender has put pen to paper on a new two year deal.

Monday 18th May 1998

Retained list.

Carl Dale is the biggest name to be rejected by Frank Burrows. Surprisingly Chris Beech, who in my opinion is an asset to Cardiff, has also been released. The full list of players who are no longer wanted by the Club and have all been given a free transfer is:- Anthony Carss, Carl Dale, Chris Beech, Jimmy Rollo, Mark Harris, Kevin Lloyd, Tony Philliskirk, Steve White Karl Wedgebury, Gavin Smith and John Rendall.

The players that have been offered new contracts are:- Jason Fowler, Lee Jarman and Craig Middleton.

Christian Roberts who is under contract has been offered an improved deal. Nathan Cadette has already signed a new 3 year deal.

The following players are still under contact to the club:- Jon Hallworth, Lee Phillips, Scott Young, Jeff Eckhardt, David Penney, Gareth Stoker, Andy Saville, Kevin Nugent and Wayne O'Sullivan.

Sunday 17th May 1998

FAW INVITATION CUP FINAL
Wrexham 2 - 1 Cardiff City AET - Report.

Cardiff were cruelly beaten by a late goal in extra time at Wrexham. In a game where the Bluebirds performed far better then they have all season it was a sad end. City fell behind to a goal by Mark Wilson but for long periods City dominated and and were rewarded with an equaliser from Tony Carss on 62 mins. Both teams contributed to an entertaining game which could have gone either way. Both keepers made quality saves and kept the score down. The killer blow came from a disputed cross, the City players felt the ball went out of play before being sent over and then converted by Gareth Owen. With only a couple of minutes left it was all over.

Next seasons competition will have a different format. The FAW competition next season will be Known as the FAW Premier Cup. The draw was made today and it is as follows:-

Group 1
Cardiff, Merthyr, Bangor and Ebbw Vale.

Group 2
Wrexham, Caernarfon, Barry and Swansea.

Group 3
Newtown, Cwmbran, Inter CableTel and Connah's Quay Nomads.

The fomat will be similar to last season but there will be casualties after the group stages. The top two teams from Each group will qualify for the 1/4 finals along with the two best placed third teams. The group matches will be on a home and away basis like last season.

Friday 15th May 1998

City will take a 16 man squad to Wrexham on Sunday. The only players from the first team squad who are not fit are Carl Dale and Gareth Stoker. Burrows may take Nathan Cadette and Robert Earnshaw. Squad details to follow.

Steve White is to give up full time football. At 38 White is the oldest player in the football league, his last full time game will be Sunday's final at The Racecourse. White has played over 750 matches over the last 21 years.

The retained list and Season Tickets details for next season will be available early next week. Full details to follow as soon as they are available. It has been hinted that there will be special prices for season tickets and its possible that a sliding scale charge may be used for match tickets depending on the position of the club in the league.

Wednesday 13th May 1998

City fans who travel to Wrexham on Sunday will be given a free ticket to a Nationwide League game next season. The offer is a thank you to supporters for following the team through thin and thin last season. The ticket will be valid for a named midweek game but will not be announced until the fixture list is published. Season ticket holders will also get a voucher which they can use to bring a friend along.

From todays Western Mail....

A CARDIFF company last night offered to make £250,000 immediately available to Cardiff City for team-strengthening in return for a major shareholding in the club.

At the same time, director Steve Borley stated the City board had no intention of selling the Bluebirds to multi-millionaire David Sullivan or anyone else interested in a takeover.

The offer to buy up all the half million unreleased shares came from Jesbrow Ltd, a property company with assets worth millions of pounds of which Annis Abraham and his son, Annis junior, are directors.

It is conditional on the company being able to buy each share for 50p – the same price at which they were purchased by Celtic Leisure directors Paul Guy, David Temme and Bob Phillips last year.

“We are willing to buy the 500,000 shares the board says are available for exactly the same price paid by Celtic Leisure even though the club is now in a worse position and they would be worth only pennies on the stock market,” said Annis Abraham junior. “This is a genuine offer that has been made to the club via its financial controller Sean Murphy.

“For my part it is because I am a devoted life-long City supporter. For my father, it is strictly a business proposition.

“The club says it needs a cash injection, we are willing to provide it. I believe our investment, coupled with the income from the club’s successes in the FAW Invitation Cup, would provide sufficient funds for
the manager, Frank Burrows, to recruit the quality players needed to get out of the Third Division.

“The supporters have great faith in Burrows. He has proved how well he can work in the lower divisions. All the players I have spoken to believe in Frank, especially the Welsh youngsters.”

Borley said it would be tremendous if fans could help the club gain promotion next season by signing better players with monies raised from floating the remaining 500,000 of the club’s two million shares.

He criticised Birmingham City owner Sullivan for the way his declared interest in the club had been handled.

“Normally, if you are looking to invest in a business you wouldn’t expect to conduct your negotiations through the media but that’s the way it seems to have gone,” he said.

“Mr Sullivan says he has a soft place in his heart for Cardiff City yet seems to be adopting a hard line when it comes to talking business.

“Reading the papers, people would be led to believe the club is up for sale. But as far as I’m concerned it isn’t.

“If Mr Sullivan or any other investor wants to get involved that’s fine. I would welcome them with open arms.

“But I don’t like people playing politics with the club, raising supporters’ hopes, only to be dashed. This isn’t the first time David Sullivan has shown an interest in Cardiff City.

“It’s doing more harm than good. He should put up or shut up. He’s either in or he’s out.

“We’ve had 20 to 30 years of promises, let-downs and false dawns. I’ve been a fan for 30 years and I don’t like people playing games with the club.”

Monday 11th May 1998

Home fans will not be allowed on the Grange End again. Today's Echo reports that the Grange End will only host away fans. There is talk that a small covered stand with seats could be built. The club has come to this descision after allowing fans access to the Grange End for the last match of the season against Darlington, after which there was a demonstration, and trouble at that end.

City director and lifelong fan Steve Borley has issued a put up or shut up message to David Sullivan. Borley is as fed up as everybody else with the will he won't he scenario that we have at the moment. His comments are strongly worded and he wants him to make his mind up and not just treat the fans with contempt by needlessly raising their hopes. Sullivan says he will not put any money forward until there are firm contractual agreements in place for a move to the new Sports Village in Cardiff Bay. Borley is upset that Sullivan has called Ninian Park delapidated. City have 43 years to run on thier lease on Ninian Park. The peppercorn rent they pay is £5.00 per week so moving is not a major priority.

Wednesday 6th May 1998

Cardiff will have to play the final of the FAW at Wrexham. City lost out in the draw today and will now be underdogs for the first FAW trophy. Kick off on May 17th is 2:30pm.

Tuesday 5th May 1998

Cardiff City XI 1 - 1 Manchester Utd XI

Jimmy Goodfellows XI in his testimonial have drawn with a Man Utd XI. City took the lead early on with a goal from teenager Christian Roberts. This was soon cancelled out by Tomlinson for Utd. Over 7000 turned up to see the former Premiership Champions who only fielded one household name, Brian McClair. Several of the squad had first team experience but the likes of Solksjaer, Cruyff and Van Der Gouw failed to show. City started with the usual third division team but gave appearances to Gavin Ward, Paul Ramsey, Derek Brazil, Simon Haworth, Paul Bodin, Mike Ford, Damon Searle and others. I suppose a draw was the obvious outcome after the season we've had.

City will play Wrexham in the final of the FAW Invitation Cup. The North Walians beat Newtown 2-0 tonight to win 4-0 on aggregate. The final will be played on Sunday May 17th at a venue still to be decided.

Sunday 3rd May 1998

Today the Cardiff City Youth team trounced Llanelli in the final of the Welsh Youth Cup. The final score was 5 - 0 with a hat trick from Robert Earnshaw.

Last night saw the official end of season dinner and player awards. Unsurpisingly the overall winner was Jon Hallworth. Best young player was Christian Roberts and most improved player was Craig Middleton.

Saturday 2nd May 1998

Cardiff City 0 - 0 Darlington - Report.

Cardiff have finally acheived the record number of draws in a season. In a twist to rival the poor season they have had to share the glory today with Hartlepool who also scored their 23rd draw of the season. City and Hartlepool both join Exeter and Norwich in the record books.

The pain for supporters is finally over. The last drops of life were squeezed out of the supporters today to end a league season that will be seen as one of the worst in living memory. The only high spots were the sacking of Osman (although 6 mths too late) and our cup runs. We still have ther FAW Invitation Cup final to look forward to but now all attention will look towards next season. With all the talk about major investment and the hard line being adopted by Frank Burrows there should be no excuses. Frank will be forgiven for the poor end to this season but he will be expected to come up with the goods nexst season.

Congratulations to Dave Hicks on winning the Predictions League. Long time league leader Dave managed to hold off Wayne Spackman in controversial fashion. Both men predicted a 2 - 0 win for the City today therefore making it impossible for Dave to be caught. Anthony Carss' shirt is the prize for Dave.

Friday 1st May 1998

Frank Burrows has started to lay down the law to the City squad that has disappointed this season. All new players must live within 45 mins of Ninian Park, several will be given extra training from an ex Olympic sprinter in the summer and the team will be taken for a weeks training at Keele University in the summer.

Burrows has also said he will not be spending any money on league players in the summer but will be looking to sign players on free transfers under the Bosman Ruling. He will however be prepared to pay for quality non league players if they are available.

The new rules laid down by Burrows will only affect the players who are retained at the Club. Burrows announces his retained list after the FAW final on May 17th. At the moment players are travelling from Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Lancashire and Avon to train and play for the City. Albeit the Yorkshire men (Saville and Penney) have not missed a training session. Jon Hallworth lives in Lancashire but shares a Gwent home with Jeff Eckhardt. Jimmy Rollo, Jason Fowler, Mark Harris, Wayne O'Sullivan and Steve White all live in the West Country area.

City have appointed 63 year old Ron Jones, a former City Managing Director and ex Olympic sprinter to improve the running ability of several players. Jones will be coaching the players four days a week. Most players will be in training throughout the summer and will only have family holidays and days off.

The City squad will go away to Keele University in July and make use of the high tec facilities that are available. While they are in the Potteries they will play up to three matches, one against local side Newcastle Town which will be open to the public and probably two other games against either, Stoke, Port Vale or Crewe, these will be training games behind closed doors.

The only two official pre season friendlies at Ninian Park are as follows. Tuesday July 28 against West Bromwich Albion and on Saturday August 1st against Premiership Coventry City.

The Manchester Utd squad for Jimmy Goodfellows testimonial has been announced. It is a preliminary squad and there may be further admissions or withdrawls. The big names in the squad are Ole Gunnar Solksjaer,  Jordi Cruyff, Brian McClair and Raymond Van Der Gouw, there are other players with Premiership experience in the squad and they include Mike Clegg and Ben Thornley.

The full squad announced yesterday is:- Jordi Cruyff, Brian McClair, Raymond Van Der Gouw, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Mike Clegg, Ben Thornley, Chris Casper, Jonathon Greening, Phil Mulryne, John Curtis, Danny Higginbottom, Mike Rwiss, Alex Notman, Wesley Brown and Ryan Ford.