Former Cardiff chairman accused of “greed”
Sam Hammam, the former chairman of Championship club Cardiff City, has been accused of "total greed and self-interest" by one of the leading figures behind the club’s new stadium project. He has also been blamed for delays in the financial takeover necessary to allow the project to go-ahead. According to a report on the BBC Hammam agreed to the £27m takeover deal to acquire his stake in the club just 15 minutes before the threat of Cardiff going into administration. Mike Hall, a director of the stadium developers PMG
Estates, revealed that Hammam demanded an extra £500,000 before finally signing the takeover agreement.
He said: "That was money which would have been spent on players. But instead it's gone into Sam's pocket. It was the only way the deal was going to be done. I know people say he's a complex character, but at the
end it was total greed and self-interest. Unfortunately at the death, the football club had to agree to pay another £500,000 to Rudgwick, Sam's company. And would you believe, another £90,000 was paid to his brother on top of the agreement to pay back the majority of the loan notes [worth £24m]. It was amazing, but football is a murky world." Hall said Hammam's demands and negotiation tactics left a lot to be desired. "We were dragged right into it to settle this with Sam," former Wales rugby captain Hall told BBC Wales Sport.
"There was an awful lot at stake for us as the developers and the council who have worked very had on this [new stadium] for the past four or five years.” Hammam acquired an 82.5% stake in Cardiff City six years ago, but the Lebanese-born businessman failed to secure planning permission for a new 30,000-seater stadium. Cardiff Council had been concerned over the project’s financial viability. Hammam agreed to sell his controlling interest in October after Peter Ridsdale, the new chairman of the club, found new investors willing to take over. Cardiff hope to start work on the new stadium at Leckwith in March of this year after the end of the 90-day judicial review period for the planning application. Hall has also revealed the money is
coming from some local sources. He said: "I know who some of the investors are and I think people will be surprised when it's released. They are local investors; people who are interested in the football club and interested in its long-term future. It's not the hedge funds that everybody's been talking about." The identity of the new investors will be made public during the club's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Monday, 15 January.