Cardiff owner appoints son’s friend as head of recruitment

Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has suspended Malky Mackay’s right-hand man, Iain Moody, and replaced him with Alisher Apsalyamov, a 23-year-old friend of his son with no known experience in football. Actually that’s not strictly true: three months ago Apsalyamov was painting parts of the stadium.

Apsalyamov, who has no experience at all in football, attended the same Swiss finishing school as Tan’s son.

The Kazakhstani has been shadowing Moody in the last six months, with the general impression being that Apsalyamov’s father may be about to invest in a club where the 23-year-old might also play some kind of professional role.

Moody has been a key part of Mackay’s backroom team, spending two years under him in Wales as well as assisting the Scot at Watford.

The development comes just days after Mackay refused to discuss the recent row that erupted between Tan and the players over end-of-season bonuses. Consequently, the players have requested Tan does not enter the dressing room before or during games.

According to The Independent Tan asked Mackay to quit, during a tense meeting with senior members of club staff on Tuesday, but the Scot had refused.