• Premier League

Cardiff owner demands apology from supporters

Vincent Tan has been a controversial figure since his arrival to Cardiff © Getty Images

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Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has called on the club's supporters to apologise to him, while he has also hit back at the way he has been portrayed as a villain by the press.

In an interview with the BBC, Tan was withering in his assessment of departed Cardiff manager Malkay Mackay, while vowing never to change the club's first team strip back to blue after his divisive decision to change it to red in the summer of 2012.

"Overall, even now, I think, I would say even 90% of the fans are supportive, the problem is you have 10% or 5% or maybe even a few hundred people that are not supportive, a few hundred who are more vocal," Tan said.

"My experience is the majority are very supportive. I go to the club, many people come and shake my hand, want to shake hands with me, want my autograph, so generally I think it is not too bad.

"Then you have the British press who have has been misled by some people, feeding them wrong information and saying what a terrible person I am and trying to make fun of me and paint me like a villain.

"Sometimes the British press [are] maybe a little bit racist and quite unfair. I am now more involved and under my leadership the club will be in good shape. Some of my family members really want me to leave. They think it's not worth it. They think no-one is grateful, but you have to be patient, accept the criticism and sometimes the insults.

"Right now at this point of time, I will stay, unless the fans really p*** me off so much, then I will leave.

"My message is the fans is, I came to your town I saved your club, I put a lot of money in and I took them up to the Premier League. Without me, this club will have gone down."

His comments relating to Mackay leave little to the imagination, with the manager he sacked in January given a less than glowing reference by his former employer.

"When we hired Malkay he was with Watford and he didn't do very well with Watford," Tan said. "I think he got lucky when we came to Cardiff because we invested a lot of money and we went up.

"If I tell my side of the story, it will be a big public feud. I tell my side, he say his side. He played the media well. In the eyes of some fans he is the hero, I am the villain. When the truth comes out, this will be revered. I assure you."

Many Cardiff supporters will never accept Tan's decision to change the club's colours from blue to red, but he was defiant on this issue.

"I still stand by the decision to change the logo from the bluebird to the dragon," he added. "That is the national symbol of Wales, so I am putting the country flag of back into the jersey.

"In Asia, red is the colour of success, festivity, joy and after the we change it, the next season we get promotion. This was a good omen. It is only a small majority that don't like it.

"No way I change it back to blue under my ownership. If they find an owner who likes blue and can buy me out, they can change it. Then I go to another red club."

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