Cardiff Owner Vincent Tan Interested In Buying MLS Club

UPDATE: Sports Illustrated is reporting that Vincent Tan is one of the investors interested in acquiring MLS club Chivas USA.

Vincent Tan just won’t go away.

The enigmatic and controversial Cardiff City owner, who has avoided dullness at all costs since coming to the Welsh club, has been quoted in an interview today saying he’d be interested in buying an MLS club.

Tan responded to rumors that he is looking to get out of Cardiff and looked towards his future in an interview with Sky Sports aboard a yacht in Malaysia. Apparently Tan’s future might include MLS.

“If I sell Cardiff City, I will buy another club in the UK,” said Tan.

“I love football now. I’ve got a club in Sarajevo, in Bosnia. Oh, I love that. The fans are fantastic. The people who run the club are incredible. Honest people, and they really motivate me.

“I’m looking to buy another club in Europe, and then I may invest in a club in US, in MLS.”

Asked how much money he has to invest in new clubs, Tan responded, “It’s about $700,000,000-$800,000,000. I got lucky (in investment and business).”

Tan’s reputation and residence and business interests abroad would prevent him from becoming a majority MLS owner, but the possibility is exists that Tan could hold a minority share in an MLS club.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated has reported that Tan will be a minority shareholder in the group headed by Henry Nguyen and including former NBA front office member Tom Penn that is buying Chivas USA.

That club will take a two-year hiatus, and most likely start playing in 2017 as a new MLS expansion team.

Tan’s money may talk louder in smaller leagues, where it would be more valuable than in the stable and increasingly rich American league.

Nevertheless, Tan will continue to keep himself in the spotlight – and taking his charade to America would be a dream for those who love to be entertained.

In the UK, Tan is a punch-line at best, and reviled at worst.

Tan introduced himself to English football and Cardiff by changing the Bluebirds’ colors to red and white to better market the team in Asia.

In the last fifteen months, Tan destroyed the stable Cardiff management setup – first sacking the influential Iain Moody and replacing him with Tan’s son’s friend, and then sacking manager Malky Mackay, in the face of fierce public outrage.

There have also been scandals involving leaked team-sheets, and a further twist in the Moody-Mackay case earlier this year, when the club lodged a complaint with the FA and revealed racist, homophobic and sexist text messages from Moody and Mackay – developments that cost both Moody and Mackay jobs at Crystal Palace.

Needless to say, things haven’t gone as planned at Cardiff, who were relegated back to the Championship after one season in the Premier League last year.

Tan’s Cardiff currently sits in fifteenth place in the Championship, with manager Ole Gunner Solskjear leaving the club two weeks ago.