Cardiff City’s Embargo To Be Lifted Today ?

Cardiff City hope to be released from the transfer embargo today, a massive step which would allow us to register Jason Koumas, Danny Drinkwater and Tom Heaton ahead of the all-important season opener against Sheffield United on Sunday.

Longstanding debts to HMRC, Charlton Athletic and Sunderland had seen the Bluebirds hit by the embargo, which has hindered Dave Jones` movements in the transfer market. Whilst other clubs have enjoyed the steady revenue stream provided by season ticket sales – we are denied this due to Peter Ridsdale`s devious and unforgivable shame whereby he misled supporters on a false pretence to cover other debts.

Since the £6m investment from TG and his Malaysian counterparts, we have steadily begun to trawl through the financial mess and are now returning to somewhat of an even keel. There is no magic wand to be waved and years of money mis-management creates a plethora of other problems down to the roots of our business.

In the past week, a major injection of cash has been transferred from the far East, money which was necessary to pay staff wages for July, appearances bonuses over last season, over £1m to pay off footballing debts and a further sum, currently unknown, which was negotiated to buy time from HMRC. The Bluebirds are confident they have satisfied Football League stipulations in order that the embargo be lifted imminently.

Chief Executive Gethin Jenkins told BBC Sport Wales:

“We are working with the Football League to confirm that we are out of the embargo, we hope that to be done soon so we can register the three new players we have on our books.”

“We are confident we have met the Football League obligations and working through the paperwork with league to come out of the embargo – and we are working very hard to do that in time for the first match.”

“A transfer embargo occurs if you haven’t paid the inland revenue within a certain number of days and if you have any football debts you haven’t paid. We’ve rectified them now and worked through various challenges.”

It would be a major boost for Cardiff City to come out of embargo in time to register the three new acquisitions. Whilst Koumas is well short of fitness, both Drinkwater and Heaton would be assured of a place in the squad and add much needed cover to the starting XI.