Cardiff City reset: ‘Relegation is a blessing’ but problems remain

While the mood has undoubtedly improved this season, the root causes of Cardiff’s recent troubles have not simply disappeared.

Tan remains a divisive figure, as do Chairman Mehmet Dalman and CEO Ken Chu.

They were the target of numerous protests last season, some of which saw hordes of supporters march to Cardiff City Stadium, carrying placards and singing songs demanding the departure of Tan and his fellow board members.

Some of the hard feelings can be traced back to Tan’s controversial change of the club’s colors from red to blue in 2012, although he reversed the decision three years later.

More recently, the anger has been over his lack of interest, as Tan has not attended a home match in more than two years.

Perhaps most damning was the way he, Dahlmann and Zhou ran the club.

Fans, former players and pundits have highlighted a staggering lack of football knowledge at board level, with no layer of experience between Tan and many of the managers he has appointed and sacked.

Cardiff at least tried a new approach in appointing Barry Murphy, setting up a one-off sub-committee that included the club’s academy director Gavin Chesterfield, former Swansea City sporting director Mark Allen and members of Wasserman’s agency. However, the final decision still belongs to Tan.

“They didn’t plan to land,” Perry says. “And as for the appointment of Barry Murphy, is it really a comprehensive process in which we have reached the conclusion of getting him? I don’t think so.

“It’s a filtering system, where a few people narrow it down to five choices, and those five choices then go to the owner.

“The problem will always be the owner, because he simply doesn’t have the knowledge to choose from those five. Nathan Jones was there. [on the shortlist]There were others who were not similar to Barry Murphy.

“I would only start describing it as a process if Barry Murphy leaves and the next appointment is very similar. Then it becomes a process, get another manager who puts together a team that we as fans can identify with and that is also successful.

“But you have to know what you’re looking for. The same problems exist here at this club, and they need to change in order for us to be consistently successful.”

Given how successful the appointment of Barry-Murphy has been so far, could Tan be persuaded to appoint a director of football or something similar on a permanent basis?

“Quite the opposite,” Perry says. “I think he’ll get so carried away that it will reinforce his opinion of himself, that he’s the right guy because of what we’re seeing now.

“He’s not going to look at the process and throw up his hands and go, ‘Maybe we’re lucky here because he wasn’t our first choice.’

“You have to be honest. Thinking is an essential part of football or any big business, but when you think you have to be honest and you have to look at your skill set. Then you have to either improve those skills or bring in someone who has those skills. Unfortunately, at City we don’t have that and that’s what worries me.”

There is no guarantee of an immediate return to the tournament. It took Cardiff 18 years to return to this level when they were last relegated to the third tier in 1985.

Of the 30 teams that competed in the Premier League and were relegated, six never made it back to the Championship.

Given how Cardiff are going this season, they shouldn’t add to that number.

Promotion won’t solve everything, though.

“I came into this season determined to enjoy it,” Perry says.

“We are doing well, playing with a brand that we stand out and everyone is happy.

“But just look around the football club and I still see the same mistakes.”