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Is Cardiff City's Vincent Tan the worst club owner in the history of football?

We take a look at the most controversial club owners to have graced football

Morgan Hammond
Saturday 21 December 2013 15:22 GMT
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Villians
No shortage of controversial owners and chairmen; Cardiff's Vincent Tan may yet end up as one of the more villainous. On the pitch, being loyal Welsh internationals won't spare the likes of Craig Bellamy, Ashley Williams and others from dog's abu
Villians No shortage of controversial owners and chairmen; Cardiff's Vincent Tan may yet end up as one of the more villainous. On the pitch, being loyal Welsh internationals won't spare the likes of Craig Bellamy, Ashley Williams and others from dog's abu (Getty)

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On Friday, Cardiff City manager Malkay Mackay was given an ultimatum by owner Vincent Tan, in which he was told to resign or be sacked. The tension between the pair has been simmering for quite some time at the club.

Many Cardiff City fans are angry over the way their manager, who guided Cardiff into the Premier League last season, has been treated by their owner. This week Mackay was publicly criticised by Tan for admitting that he wanted to bring in a couple of new recruits in the next transfer window. However, Tan’s public power struggle with Mackay is only one of the reasons that has seen the owner’s popularity with the fans hit the floor.

Tan’s first move was to carry out a controversial rebrand of the club in an attempt to gain popularity in Asia, with a strategy that saw him change the team’s shirt colour from the traditional blue to ‘lucky’ red.  He also altered the club crest to include a red dragon, whilst making the bluebird emblem less prominent.

His next move proved even more absurd. In early October, head of recruitment and good friend of Mackay, Ian Moody, was controversially sacked by the club. The Malaysian owner then decided to replace Moody with 23-year-old Alisher Apsalyamov, a Kazakhstani man who was on summer work experience at the club. Clearly a strange move by the owner who has since become one the Premier League’s biggest talking points.

We take a look at other eccentric owners who have caused a stir…

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