Cardiff City fans for preservation of the Bluebird

We, the undersigned Cardiff City fans, have no fear of change and progress.

We have seen much of both during a tumultuous decade: we have embraced a new stadium in our thousands, and grown in our numbers because of it; we have embraced new owners, managers, and players, whatever their origins, loudly and proudly as our own; we have worked with the club and amongst ourselves to change the way we are thought of by the outside world, culminating in the fantastic Family Club award.

We do not sign this petition without respect for change and progress. Nor do we sign it without respect for you, our Malaysian owners. We respect the commitment you have shown to our football club and our corner of Wales, and hope that our mutual relationship grows and flourishes. We also respect that you are businessmen, first and foremost. Your business interest in our club has no doubt been fuelled by the commercial power of English football.

But that commercial power comes on the back of over 100 years of devoted crowds clothed in historic colours and a rich culture steeped in local traditions. When a young lad picks his favourite team, it is not because the badge or emblem paints a beautiful picture in itself – it is because he develops a bond with history that the emblem represents.

That is because football devotion is born not out of logic, but of emotion – we follow our heart, no matter what our head (or the wife!) says. This is why so many of us travel far and wide, at great financial expense, to chase participation in an unlikely victory that never seems to come, again and again – because we feel it is part of a story that is ours, no matter how illogical.

That is the passion, the devotion in which you have invested so handsomely. And we, the undersigned, are the people who embody it. We live that identity and heritage, and we will tell tales in years to come of the Bluebird flying over Wembley Way to our children – just as our fathers told tales of our boys in blue triumphing over Real Madrid in the 70s, and their forefathers talked of Keenor bringing glory to the City and to Wales in his blue shirt while lifting the FA Cup in 1927.

The Cardiff City fan community are a culture, a heritage and nation of their own. When we sing “I’ll be there, with my little pick and shovel I’ll be there” we celebrate not only the moment in which we sing it, but our forefathers who literally walked from the valleys in dark financial times to come to see our boys in blue. The Bluebird and blue shirt are the visual symbols of that heritage which keeps us coming back, making Cardiff City such a worthy institution for your investment.

We the undersigned respect your business acumen, and trust that you make your decisions with the best of this club’s business interest at heart. But we now ask you to respect us as we say, from the bottom of the hearts that tie us to this club, that we want Cardiff City to build on its history, not dismiss it without consultation. We ask that you heed our warnings of the damage you will do to this heritage, community, and your business if you proceed with a plan which will make Cardiff City unrecognisable in all but name.

We the undersigned ask that you preserve our blue shirt and Bluebird.