Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan brands the British media 'racist' and threatens to quit if fans 'p*** him off'

Malaysian claims that he is not the villain he has been portrayed as by the media

Vincent Tan has hit out at both fans that criticise him and the British media for perceiving him as a 'villain' (Getty Images)

Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has branded the British press "a little bit racist" after their criticism of his tenure in Wales, but insists he will only leave the Premier League club if the fans "p*** him off".

Tan's time in Cardiff has been shrouded in controversy, from changing the club's colours from blue to red and then replacing the popular manager Malky Mackay, who got the team promoted to the Premier League, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But in an interview with BBC Sport, Tan believes he has the backing of 90 per cent of the Bluebirds supporters, and says that he is no "villain".

"Do you think that Malky Mackay would have got us promoted without my investment? Without me giving him money? After we got promoted the fans were all very supportive, everybody was appreciative," the Malaysian said.

"And 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.

"But 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.

"I will say that the British press is unfair and maybe they are unfair because we didn't tell our side of the story that well.

"And sometimes the British press [are] maybe a little bit racist and quite unfair."

Tan claimed that his family want him to leave the struggling club, who are in the relegation zone, but stated that he will only quit if the fans "p*** him off".

"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," he said.

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

Despite receiving complaints from the Bluebirds' faithful over his decision to change the club's colour, Tan said there s "no way" he would change it back.

"There is no way I will change it back to blue under my ownership," he said.

"Perhaps they can find an owner who likes blue and buy me out. Sure, he can change it to blue after that. I'll go somewhere and do another red club."

Solskjaer has endured a painful start to his tenure at Cardiff, since replacing Mackay in January, winning only three out of his 10 matches in all competitions. But Tan remains confident he made the right choice in making the change.

"He [Mackay] didn't do very well at Watford, but somehow our CEO and our chairman hired him and replaced Dave Jones," Tan said. "Dave Jones actually did much better. So I think Malky got lucky when he came to Cardiff."

He added: "Although we're not doing very well now, we are in the relegation zone, I'm convinced and believe that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be able to keep us in the Premier League."