Trust Chair Keith Morgan attended a meeting chaired by club chair Mehmet Dalman at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Keith’s report of that meeting follows:
“On Saturday, December 17th, I was invited to attend a meeting involving supporter groups and which was chaired by CCFC Chair Mehmet Dalman. The meeting started at 12.30pm in the club boardroom, lasted for approximately 30 minutes and was immediately followed elsewhere in the stadium by the club chair holding a meeting with local media. The invitation was at short notice and had no advance agenda issued to attendees.
“In addition to the club chair, the club was represented by CEO Ken Choo, Head of Operations Wayne Nash, Finance Director Phillip Jenkins, Head of Communications Mark Denham and CCFC Foundation Head Gavin Hawkey. In attendance to make contributions on legal matters was Chris Nott, a Senior Partner in Capital Law, the club`s UK legal advisors.
“Supporters were represented by myself, some members of the Supporters Club Committee and Keiran Jones of the Disabled Supporters Group.
“You may have already seen a WalesOnline report by Paul Abbandonato following his meeting with the club. I have had the opportunity of discussing this with Paul and can confirm that his report on what was discussed at his meeting is consistent with what was discussed at the supporters` groups meeting which preceded it.
“Some points arising from Paul`s report and some further points of clarification:
- Fans present were indeed generally supportive of the club`s stance in continuing with various legal matters which are complex and involve many matters, as follows:
- The club is indeed currently under a transfer embargo imposed by the EFL following the loss of the appeal case to CAS announced in August this year which effectively brought into play the FIFA ruling against the club in September 2019 which imposed a three-transfer window transfer embargo unless and until the initial transfer fee installment of just over £5m is paid to Nantes. CCFC have reiterated that they have no current intention of paying that money until all ongoing matters are resolved. Mehmet Dalman expressed his opinion that the matter will be resolved in the near future but could not promise that this would occur before the end of the January 2023 transfer window.
- Despite social media claims to the contrary, the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) has not rejected a club claim to them to have the CAS decision reversed or otherwise amended. Preparations for a hearing, which is likely to take place in January or February 2023, are ongoing but the details have to be kept entirely confidential under SFT rules so no further information could be given to the meeting. The SFT will only consider an appeal of a CAS decision if it can be shown that there was a fundamental legal mistake, error or omission in reaching their decision. They cannot overturn the football decision that the Sala transfer was complete and that the transfer fee is payable but may rule that any payment is deferred until a successful counterclaim for financial loss arising from the sad demise of Emiliano Sala is settled.
- An insurance industry Press article recently stated that CCFC is taking legal action against their insurance brokers (a large international organisation) for something that they failed to do when insuring Emiliano Sala at the time of his arrival at the club. Again, legal confidentiality prevented a great deal of detail on this but it would appear that the club`s regular policy of signing players and then insuring them shortly thereafter has not been queried beforehand by those brokers or insurers. For previous transfers, this ended up being irrelevant but in the Sala case his sad death occurred between what FIFA and CAS have ruled was the date of completion of his transfer and the relevant insurance being finalised. A claim could not be made against the insurers beforehand as the club remained adamant that the player`s transfer had not been completed and that there was therefore no “asset” to insure. The CAS ruling has changed that.
- Other social media claims include one that the club has set aside the cash to pay the full Sala transfer fee and related costs. This was specifically denied by the Chair and clarified (as has been done before on social media by others) by Phillip Jenkins. Ever since the May 2019 accounts, a provision has been made in the club`s audited accounts for payment in full of the transfer fee. This has nothing to do with a cash reserve to pay it (which does not exist). If eventually, it has to be paid it is prudent to provide for it and ensure a continuing compliance with EFL Profitability and Sustainability Rules (the club remains compliant even after that provision). If it has to be paid than it will not have an adverse impact on the club`s compliance. If it doesn`t have to be paid then the club`s balance sheet position will improve by over £20m.”