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Cardiff City sack Malky Mackay Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the target after Cardiff City sack Malky Mackay
(about 2 hours later)
Malky Mackay has been sacked by Cardiff after months of public disagreements with the club's owner Vincent Tan. Cardiff City have made Ole Gunnar Solskjaer their No1 target to replace Malky Mackay, with Vincent Tan, the club's owner, optimistic that he can convince the former Manchester United striker to leave Norway in favour of the chance to manage in the Premier League.
The news comes just five days after Mehmet Dalman, Cardiff's chairman, said that Mackay would be in charge for "the foreseeable future". Instead Mackay, who led the Welsh club into the top flight for the first time in 51 years, was this morning told that he had been relieved of his duties. Tan, Cardiff's owner, finally got his way. Solskjaer is in charge of Molde but his contract expires in the summer and the club have been frustrated about the lack of progress with negotiations over extending that deal. The big question is whether Solskjaer is prepared to take a leap of faith and manage Cardiff, where the club's inaugural season in the Premier League has been overshadowed by off-the-field antics, culminating in Mackay's dismissal on Friday.
There was a sense of inevitability about the decision, which has been coming for months, ever since Iain Moody, the club's head of recruitment, was sacked in October. Mackay's position was undermined from that point on and his position became untenable when he was issued with an extraordinary email at the start of last week, ordering him to resign or face being sacked. Mackay was adamant that he would continue. The decision was made less than 24 hours after the 3-0 home defeat against Southampton and only five days after Mehmet Dalman, the club's chairman, had said that Mackay would be "in charge for the foreseeable future".
Although that ultimatum was withdrawn after the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last Saturday, following talks between Dalman and Tan, the news that Mackay would continue in his post felt like no more than a stay of execution. That proved to be the case when Tan responded to the 3-0 home defeat against Southampton on Boxing Day by sacking Mackay less than 24 hours later. With no desire to take a break from the game, Mackay has since emerged as a potential candidate for the vacancy at West Bromwich Albion, which it is understood he would be interested in after the Midlands club abandoned their pursuit of Pepe Mel.
A brief statement on the club website said: "The Board of Directors at Cardiff City Football Club have today relieved Malky Mackay of his duties. A new first-team manager will be appointed and announced in due course." After news of Mackay's sacking was announced on Cardiff's website, Tan released a personal statement in which he criticised publicity around the manager's future and implied that it was generated by Mackay. "Far too much dirty linen has been exposed to the public gaze but, I stress, not by me," Tan said. "Indeed, I have deliberately not responded to this, hoping that the club can be judged on its football rather than personalised arguments about who said what to whom.
Tan later released a subsequent personal statement in which he criticised publicity around Mackay's future that he implied was generated by the manager. "There has been a good deal of publicity generated by, and about, Mr Malky Mackay for the last few months," a statment released to Sky Sports news read. "Indeed, far too much dirty linen has been exposed to the public gaze but, I stress, not by me. "I have, however, regretfully concluded that it is no longer fair to the club, its players, its fans and the public more generally for this uncomfortable state of affairs to continue. Cardiff City means far too much to us all for it to be distracted by this."
"Indeed, I have deliberately not responded to this, hoping that the club can be judged on its football rather than personalised arguments about who said what to whom. While Solskjaer would represent a coup for Cardiff and there are suggestions that a deal could be close, there are doubts in Norway about whether he would be willing to work for Tan. Solskjaer has had opportunities to come to the Premier League, including with Aston Villa, but declined them. He has also referred to the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson, whom he played under at Manchester United, advised him on going into management that it was important to choose an owner rather than a club.
"I have, however, regretfully concluded that it is no longer fair to the club, its players, its fans and the public more generally for this uncomfortable state of affairs to continue. Cardiff City Football Club means far too much to us all for it to be distracted by this." The other candidates potentially in the frame include the former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and Yilmaz Vural, the Turkish journeyman whose name has kept cropping up over the past few tumultuous weeks. Solskjaer is clearly the frontrunner, with Tan hopeful that the 40-year-old will be encouraged by the prospect of being given significant backing in the January transfer window.
Mackay had been appointed Cardiff's manager in the summer of 2011. He led the club to the League Cup final that season, where they lost to Liverpool on penalties, and reached the play-offs. In his second season in charge Cardiff won the Championship title. They are currently 16th in the Premier League, one point and two places above the relegation zone. The sacking of Mackay had been coming ever since Iain Moody was dismissed as head of recruitment at the start of October. Mackay's authority was undermined from that point and his position became untenable when he was issued with an email at the start of last week, ordering him to resign or face being sacked. Although that ultimatum was withdrawn after the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last Saturday, the announcement that Mackay would continue in his post was no more than a stay of execution.
On Thursday Mackay had insisted that he was doing a good job, in difficult circumstances. "Myself and my staff knew exactly how tough this was going to be this season, as did the players and the media," he said. "We are competing well, there are games we should have won, there are games we should have done better in. Mackay, who was appointed in 2011 and led Cardiff to the League Cup final in his first season in charge and the Championship title in his second campaign, said: "I leave with my head held high having gained a level of experience that, upon reflection, I suspect would have been difficult to find anywhere else in British football."
"This is a season where I firmly believe we can stay in this league and build on it. There are plenty of good people at this football club, in terms of staff and players, all pulling in one direction and we believe we can do that."
Earlier the agent of Yilmaz Vural, the Turkish journeyman who has been linked with the Cardiff job, mischeviously tweeted that "explosive" events lie ahead. Muzzi Ozcan tweeted: "The story is coming to a End in Wales and a new story will be born ... The next 48 hours will be explosive !"
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