City 'Can't Compete Financially'

Spare Change, Sir?
By Chris O'Brien
December 22 2004

A club statement has confirmed that Cardiff City couldn't compete financially with Nottingham Forest to sign Neil Harris. Are we still 'Bigger than Barcelona', Mr Hammam?

The latest twist in a terrible season at Ninian Park has left supporters fuming as Cardiff City's season continues in a downward spiral. As reported, striker Neil Harris has been snatched from under our noses by Football League Championship rivals Nottingham Forest, despite Lennie Lawrence insisting he wanted to sign the player on a permanent basis.

Harris impressed in the 2-1 defeat at Sheffield United, scoring an impressive goal before the break and putting in an all-round good performance, reverting to a number of different positions which showed his versatility as an attacker. Fans had quickly warmed to the 26-year-old, and he seemed an ideal addition to a beleaguered squad available for only a nominal fee.

"I want to stay at Cardiff and I hope to get a few more goals to prove to everybody that I'm worth signing. I'm at Cardiff and I want to stay. If the goals go in for me then I know that will happen," was the quote from Harris after the trip to Yorkshire.

"It's great to have an experienced striker like Harris here on loan, and I hope to make the move permanent." These were Lawrence's thoughts only days earlier. So with the player, surplus to requirements at the Den, wanting to move and the manager wanting to sign him, it was surely a done deal. So, what went wrong?

The fact is - despite Sam Hammam, our apparent saviour, claiming we are bigger than Barcelona, we couldn't compete financially with Forest who are struggling with money themselves. We are up to £30million in debt with debts growing by the day, a massive wage bill hanging over the club, and we now cannot afford to offer potential transfer targets decent contracts, allowing them to join team's who could yet relegate us.

"We made Neil an offer of an 18-month contract on comparable terms to Nottingham Forest." read a club statement.

"The deciding factor was the length of contract offered by Nottingham Forest. We could not commit to that financial outlay at this present time."

Now, before Sam Hammam arrived on the scene the only time the word million was heard on the Ninian Park terraces was when fans analysed how many years away we were from top flight football. Suddenly, transfer records were being smashed, twice, three times over. Fans were told the club was bigger than Spurs, Aston Villa, Barcelona to name but a few - I bet the Catalan giants have never lost a transfer tussle for a wanted player with a team positioned 22nd in the second flight!

Harris wanted to come to Ninian Park, and Ninian Park wanted to Harris. The fact is we couldn't compete with a club like Nottingham Forest, with years of foolish over-spending and poor transfer moves coming back to haunt. Gavin Gordon and David Hughes cost £1million combined, where are they now? One competing for places at Notts County, the other former manager of Barry Town. Millions of pounds have been wasted and now the banks won't loan us anymore.

It's time to get real. The league position doesn't lie and we are where we are because we are not good enough. I do think City will stay up, but even though Lawrence seems to have the safest job in football he is not the man to take this club forward. Pipe dreams of 60,000 stadiums and European football (which, incidentally, is another big problem) are all well and good but, not for the first time, I feel Sam Hammam and everybody at Ninian Park need to take a big reality check.