Vincent Tan makes new appointment after relegation as Cardiff City fans given hope for change
Vincent Tan makes new appointment after relegation as Cardiff City fans given hope for change
The Bluebirds owner has had to made drastic change at his other club in Belgium
Vincent Tan owner of KVK Kortrijk
(Image: Getty Images )
Vincent Tan has made a swift and drastic decision at KV Kortrijk after their relegation, with the Belgian club set to appoint a new CEO sports after firing their one who oversaw a disastrous campaign.
Tan has suffered the ignominy of overseeing two clubs getting relegated from the respective leagues, with KVK dropping out of the Jupiler Pro League and Cardiff City also suffering relegation from the Championship. On both fronts, Tan needs to act quickly and decisively in order to ready his clubs for promotion pushes next season.
The Bluebirds owner is looking for managers for both of his teams. KVK boss Bernd Storck has sensationally left the club, following their defeat in the relegation play-offs, to take charge of Cercle Brugge for their relegation play-off decider against Patro Eisden to stay in the top flight.
Given KVK were fighting against Cercle Brugge just last week in the relegation play-offs, and Storck has taken over for just these two games, it's a rather stunning set of circumstances playing out over in Belgium. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community
As for Cardiff, their season tailed off under the management of Omer Riza, while interim Aaron Ramsey could not save the club from the drop, winning none of his three matches in charge, meaning City have now started what they believe is a rigorous process to find their own manager for the League One campaign.
The club have appointed a sub-committee comprised of Mark Allen, head of academy Gavin Chesterfield and one external appointment from sports agency Wasserman to help conduct the search for a new manager. You can read about that in detail here.
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While some at the club want Cardiff to have a full-time director of football, or at the very least more football knowledge at the top end, Tan is understood to be reluctant. However there is hope that this is some comfortable middle ground which, if successful, could point the way towards a more permanent appointment in the future.
Indeed, the structure of Tan's club hierarchy in Kortrijk is evidence that he is open to the idea of appointing such personnel. It is, unfortunately, also proof that these appointments are not a silver bullet and it must be the right person in the right position.
Tan moved quickly to fire Pieter Eecloo, who held the position of CEO sports at KVK. Rik Foulon is the actual sporting director at the club, but worked closely with Eecloo to run the footballing side of things, with Tan and Ken Choo, who holds the position of managing director, overseeing things from a distance.
According to reports in Belgium, Nils Vanneste is set to become the club's new CEO sports, helping to drive KVK's push for promotion from the Belgian second tier next season.
Vanneste will join from Zulte Waregem, the club Joel Bagan spent a season on loan, where he was academy director. The 36-year-old previously held positions at KV Oostende and Beerschot.
Cardiff fans have long called for the club to have a better sporting infrastructure and seeing Tan appoint a new person to run the football operation in Kortrijk at least offers some hope that the door is not completely shut on that front at Cardiff.
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Indeed, just this week, Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said he would welcome the addition of more expertise in the field.
"Overall, I would say I would welcome more knowledge on football," he added. "After all, this is a football club and the more people it has who understand football the better it is. We're striving towards that.'
Bluebirds fans, as well as many within the club — Aaron Ramsey himself has spoken openly about the need for someone on the ground, running the day-to-day football operation — will hope that the sub-committee, coupled with Tan's commitment to a more rigorous-looking football structure in Belgium, perhaps represents a stepping stone in the right direction. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
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