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The deadline for final bids for Cardiff is today, with the Ospreys’ owners understood to be one of the two parties interested
Cardiff supporters have once again reiterated their fears over the owners of rivals Ospreys buying the Arms Park club.
The Blue and Blacks were taken over by the Welsh Rugby Union last year after briefly going into administration last April. The governing body are set to complete the sale of the club to new investors in the coming weeks – with Monday being the deadline for final bids.
After a lengthy process, the WRU’s list is down to the final two bidders.
One is a consortium led by former Cardiff director Martyn Ryan, which also includes Rhino CEO Reg Clarke and three Hollywood producers.
The other is believed to be the Ospreys’ owners, Y11 Sport and Media – with a successful bid from them helping the WRU achieve its goal of culling one of the four professional sides.
However, neither the WRU or Y11 have confirmed officially that Y11 are one of the bidders – leading to intense speculation and uncertainty.
Independent Cardiff supporters group, CF10 Rugby Trust, have previously said that a takeover bid from Y11 cannot be “seriously considered”.
And ahead of the final deadline for bids, CF10 once again outlined their fears over a bid from the Ospreys’ owners.
“It’s never easy being a Cardiff fan,” CF10 chair Lynn Glaister told BBC Radio Wales. “It’s never easy being a Welsh fan.
“We are keeping positive. We’ve got the impending sale of Cardiff coming up. We are getting to the point where we will hopefully know.
“We have met with the WRU and we told them we think whoever owns Cardiff, it should be a positive for Cardiff rugby and not a negative for Welsh rugby as a whole.
“Another owner of another club taking us over would see Cardiff branded as the team who killed off another team for ever.
“Being the capital club, you’re always going to have a derby every time you meet the other Welsh clubs but that would make it even worse.”
Glaister confirmed that CF10 had not been told officially that Y11 had bid for Cardiff – with the supporters’ group having only met with Martin Ryan’s consortium so far.
“They have all had to sign a non-disclosure agreement,” she added. “In terms of meeting with the WRU chair and the chief executive, we are grateful they have met and listened to us but they did not tell us who has bid for us.
“We know one of the bidders because before they signed the non-disclosure agreement they reached out to us and talked to us about their plans if they were successful.
“We met the consortium being led by Martyn Ryan before the official process started and it was an exciting prospect.
“We’ve been there before. We want due diligence.
“The other bidder is a secret. We would love to be able to meet with the other bidders and for them to tell us what their plans are but they are not meeting with us.
“The rumours are that it is an owner of another club. It’s a possibility if you listen to the strong rumours but nobody has officially told us that it is.
“If you want Cardiff, we think you have to be up front and positive.”
