Madcap footy owner got angry at player for not scoring – even though he was a keeper
Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan reportedly once got angry at David Marshall for not scoring enough goals, despite the fact that he played as a goalkeeper.
The Bluebirds secured a first-ever promotion to the Premier League in 2013, bagging the Championship title with 87 points, though life in the top flight didn’t go according to plan for the Welsh side and they were relegated back to the second tier with a whimper.
A key part of City’s downfall was a lack of goals throughout the side; midfielder Jordan Mutch finished the campaign as their top scorer, banking a mere seven. The impotent frontline managed just 32 goals across the season and even veteran goalscorer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer failed to get a tune out of the doomed Bluebirds.
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It was around this time that serious questions were being asked by the Cardiff hierarchy. But rather than focus on formations, tactics or who they needed to pursue in the January transfer window, Tan instead opted to make sense of why shot-stopper David Marshall was not contributing at the other end of the pitch.
The Scotland international has gone his entire without finding the back of the net but that didn’t stop City’s owner from being left outraged at his poor numbers in front of goal.
Furthermore, Tan is also said to have questioned the lack of goals from the full-backs. A source reflecting on Cardiff’s wretched 2013/14 campaign is reported to have said: “Tan also wanted to know why the full-backs were not scoring. His lack of football knowledge was staggering.”
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Taking charge of the Bluebirds in the summer of 2010, the Malaysian businessman has overseen one of the most controversial tenures in the club’s history. On top of bizarrely questioning goalkeepers over their poor goal record, Tan oversaw the change of Cardiff’s traditional blue home strip to red, as the colour holds a strong spiritual significance in Asia, before changing back to blue in August 2015.
He also once informed the Cardiff board he would prefer to buy players with ‘eight’ in their birth date, as the number is a respected one in Malaysia. Cardiff are currently on a 13-match winless run and sit a point outside the Championship relegation zone, having played one game more than the three sides below them.
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