Say what you will about Cardiff City owner and chairman
Vincent Tan and how he runs his club but one thing you can say about him or
just one more thing you can say about the eccentric billionaire is that he has
a long memory.
Former Cardiff City manager Malkay Mackay and Ian Moody,
Cardiff’s former head of recruitment and now Crystal Palace’s technical
director were to find this out to their detriment as Tan sent a comprehensive
document to the FA detailing their transfers made during their time at The
Cardiff City Stadium and a litany of crude emails and text messages sent
between the two “including one about South Korean international Kim Bo-Kyung
which refers to him as a “fkn chinky””[1].
The Fallout from the release of the document to the FA and
some of the more lurid and offensive messages leaked to the press has had
immediate ramifications for the pair as Mackay is now out of contention for the
vacant Crystal Palace manager position that had his name written all over it and
Moody could soon be out of one as according The Telegraph “Moody is on the
verge of leaving Palace after the revelations, with sources describing his
position as technical director as “untenable””[2].
According to the Daily Mail, the messages between Moody and
Mackay were sourced as a result of a raid on Moody’s home in March “as part of Cardiff’s
£750,000 investigation into eight controversial transfers”[3]. The raid produced a treasure trove of text
messages and emails as investigators from the law firm hired by Cardiff, “seiz(ed)
work computers and phones and taking electronic imagery of evidence”[4].
All this drama has stemmed from Tan’s dissatisfaction with
Mackay’s and Moody’s additions to the playing staff during their time at the
club as he estimated at least a £2om overspend on eight players he thought
worth less than the £50m that was spent on eight players last summer. Just a
cursory review of how Mackay’s signings fared at Cardiff suggest that Tan
indeed had a point as most of his additions looked woefully out of their depth
at the top level particularly £10m forward Andreas Cornelius who hardly made an
appearance under Mackay despite such a large price tag.
Already heavily invested in the club and feeling cheated out
of his hard earned millions, Tan sought to have the deals made by Mackay and
Moody investigated which has yielded the controversial text messages and number
of ‘discoveries’ regarding their transfers. According to the Daily Mail:
“The
law firm (hired by Cardiff) are understood to have discovered a series of
papers relating to certain transfers that were not included in official
transfer documents. Investigators also discovered the authorisation of payments
to agents for deals in which there was no evidence of their involvement. One
£600,000 transfer included an additional £600,000 fee to an agent”[5]
Mackay and Moody were set to link up again at Crystal Palace
as the club were planning to hire the 42 year old Scot to take over as manager
but his, Moody’s, and Palace’s plans have been scuppered by the shocking
revelations that have gripped the headlines as the dark side of the beautiful
game has reared its ugly head.
In sum, the fate of Mackay’s and almost certainly Moody’s
futures in football maybe be unclear at best at the time of writing but this
instance of alleged misconduct again reveals a nastier side of the game we all
rather wouldn’t like to confront.
[1] J.
Percy, 2014, Football Association investigates Cardiff City claims of alleged
misconduct by Malky Mackay and Iain Moody, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/crystal-palace/11047311/Football-Association-investigates-Cardiff-City-claims-of-alleged-misconduct-by-Malky-Mackay-and-Iain-Moody.html
[2]
Ibid
[3] M.
Lawton, 2014, Malky Mackay and Iain Moody investigated by FA over ‘sexist,
racist and homophobic’ text messages during time at Cardiff, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2730307/Malky-Mackay-Iain-Moody-investigated-FA-sexist-racist-homophobic-text-messages-time-Cardiff.html
[4]
Ibid
[5] Ibid
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