Ridsdale hints at a new future for City

Apr 26 2008 by Steve Tucker, Western Mail

CHAIRMAN Peter Ridsdale has warned Cardiff City may quit the FAW following comments by former secretary Alun Evans about the Bluebirds eligibility for Europe.

The angry City supremo has given the clearest indication yet he is considering shunning the association in Wales and turning to the English FA, who this week gave the green light to Cardiff competing in next season’s Uefa Cup should they beat Portsmouth in next month’s FA Cup final.

Evans described the decision by the FA as “a backward step for Welsh football” and said it meant Cardiff might as well now be regarded as an English club.

Ridsdale said he believed the FA had made the right decision in allowing Cardiff to qualify and said Evans should be congratulating the club for reaching its first FA Cup final in 81 years and not rubbishing the situation.

“While we wish the FAW well, for Alun Evans to say ‘you might as well say that Cardiff is an English club and has no relevance to Welsh football’ may well prompt us to consider our options for the future as far as affiliation to a national association is concerned,” Ridsdale told the club’s official website.

“I am disappointed at the comments. You would think at a time when Cardiff City have reached an FA Cup final for the first time in 81 years he would be congratulating us rather than rubbishing the decision to give us the ultimate reward of a Uefa Cup place if we were to win on May 17.

“Cardiff City have played in the English league system for some 100 years and should rightly be given the rewards accorded to any other club that wins any of the English competitions.”

Evans recently wrote a document entitled FAW Strategic Plan 2007-12, which called for Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham to be permitted to field teams in the Welsh Premier league.

He suggested the three exiled Welsh clubs be allowed to continue to play in the English Football League, but field second teams in the Welsh Premier.

If successful in the Welsh Premier, these teams would then qualify for European competitions providing more powerful Welsh representation in Europe than is currently on offer.

But Ridsdale poured cold water on any such ambitions, insisting they had not been thought through properly.

Ridsdale added: “As for plans to field second teams in the Welsh leagues, this idea is ill thought through, faces massive obstacles and has never been discussed with us.”

But Evans was unrepentant about his comments yesterday and said his aim had been to improve the domestic game in Wales rather than take the gloss off the Bluebirds FA Cup final qualification.

“It is good news for Cardiff City and its fans, but I think it’s a backward step for Welsh football,” maintained Evans.

“In administrative terms and in terms of the credibility of Welsh football on an international basis then I don’t think the argument for their entrance into Europe can be sustained.

“The job of the Welsh FA has been to work towards getting Cardiff back towards representing Wales.

“For all that Cardiff have played for 80-odd years in the FA Cup, they also played in the Welsh Cup and represented Wales on several occasions through that competition.

“It would have been far better if we could have worked back towards that or indeed to get a Cardiff team and a Swansea team and a Wrexham team in the Welsh Premier league.

“The reintegration of those clubs into Welsh football structures is now going to be put aside effectively forever.

“At the moment you might as well say that Cardiff is an English club and has no relevance to Welsh football.”

Meanwhile, on the pitch Cardiff boss Dave Jones takes his side to Burnley today insisting he expects total commitment from his players despite there being nothing left to play for in the league.

A 3-2 defeat at Scunthorpe last weekend and a 3-0 drubbing at Wolves midweek has left Jones disappointed with his side’s commitment of late.

The Bluebirds boss was left rattled by the fact his side have leaked six goals in their last two outings when they had only conceded four in their previous 10 matches.

And he rounded on his side, warning they were still playing for their places in next month’s big Wembley appearance.

“I would have felt a lot better if we had picked up the win at Scunthorpe because we would have probably gone into the Wolves game in a different frame of mind,” he said.

“But they switched off into FA Cup mode and that is what they cannot do.

“Don’t switch off because you might find you are sitting next to me on the bench at Wembley or sitting in the stands.”

Bluebirds top-scorer Paul Parry looks set to miss out at Turf Moor today as he battles to overcome a hamstring problem ahead of the FA Cup final. Parry looks set to make his comeback in the Bluebirds final game of the season at home to Barnsley next weekend. Fans will be keeping fingers crossed that’s the case.