English Soccer Owner Invested $162 Million So He Could Change The Team's Uniforms To His Lucky Color

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vincent tan

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Vincent Tan, the owner of Cardiff City FC, spoke about his controversial decision to change the 114-year-old club's colors from blue to red in an interview with Sky Sports.

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Tan and a group of Malaysian investors took over the team in 2010. He is despised by the club's supporters for, among other things, replacing the bluebird on the team's crest with a dragon and changing the team's colors to red before the 2012-13 season.

Tan told Sky that permission to change the colors was a condition of a $162 investment he made in the club at the time.

"Most people know I put in £6million when my business partner Mr Chang became a director of Cardiff in 2010. He persuaded me and said the club were doing well and going to make the play-offs and all I'd need to invest was £6million.

"But after the £6million, they actually got to the playoffs against Blackpool at Wembley and that was actually the first football match in my life and after that I got bitten by the football bug

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"I found it very exciting, very interesting. 90,000 people cheering, full of energy, although we lost 3-2.

"So after that, I put in, I think, £20million and said that's enough and said I'm willing to put in maybe £100million if I'm able to change the colour from blue to red and I said red's my lucky colour and also said to them it's the national symbol, the national flag of Wales is red and it also has a red dragon so I'd like to use that and the red dragon (badge)."

Tan treated the club like it was his and his alone. During the team's lone Premier League campaign under Tan in 2013-14, fans continued to dress in blue and there were protests against Tan.

cardiff protests

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vincent tan protest

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The old kit:

cardiff blue

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The new one:

cardiff fc

Christopher Lee/Getty Images