Revealing video interview with Vincent Tan
I came across this 17 min video last night, it is from July 18th 2013 when Vincent Tan received a honorary degree from the University of South Wales, there have been many questions about the debt to equity swap and when it would take place etc.
In this video Tan outlines his plans to convert all his loans to equity once he has settled the Langston loan notes, you will note that Tan says once he has done everything he will have invested £120m into the club.
A few have argued that financial fair play and Tan had only put £50m in when he stated he would convert all his loans to equity but by his own admission, less than 12 months ago, financial fair play was not an issue then and he was prepared to settle all of his loans.
Tan was also very supportive of Malky Mackay and Craig Bellamy in this piece but less than one month after this interview the fall out had already started from the players bonus row and the trust he had in Malky had gone in the same timeframe.
Looking back and listening with the knowledge of what has happened since makes this, for me anyway, interesting viewing.
I remember the media headlines to this interview was about the 5% ‘disruptive, negative and ungrateful’ fans and the ‘days away’ agreement with Langston but I have never seen this video until now.
Below are some of Tan’s quotes from the interview, if you got 17 minutes and are interested in the politics of football, you may enjoy watching.
‘When I convert everything then the club will be financially stable, we would like to do that so the club is not under any threats.’
‘I am someone who believes in don’t worry about crossing the river until you reach the riverbank, so when we get there we will worry about how to cross!’
‘Like I always say ‘Never say never!’
‘We have a good combination, we have a good manager (Malky Mackay), good squad, Craig Bellamy and combined with ‘Lucky Red’ we got promoted’
‘We would like to make the club more recognisable in Malaysia, hopefully we will get some Malaysian shareholders, personally I would like to list (float) the club in Malaysia to give it a higher profile in Malaysia and Asia.’
‘We are talking to Sam Hammam about resolving the Langston issue, we are days away from an agreement, hopefully we can get that done and I can then convert all my loans to equity and make the club financially much more secure and hopefully debt free, that is my goal to make the club debt free!’
‘The club won’t be under any threat and after that we have to manage it prudently.’
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