Football
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Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan confirms return to traditional blue kit

#INSERT type:image caption:Cardiff's Kenwyne Jones, wearing the club's red kit, scores against Colchester in the FA Cup. END#

Cardiff City will revert to their traditional blue kit, from the red that club owner Vincent Tan introduced in 2012, ahead of their weekend match with Fulham.

The Malaysian businessman's move came on the back of a record low Cardiff City Stadium crowd of just over 4,000 for the FA Cup third round win over with Colchester.

His rebranding saw the club move to playing in red shirts with a dragon on the badge rather than their traditional blue kit with a bluebird badge. However, the club also confirmed that the crest would be changing too.

Cardiff manager Russell Slade, speaking before the change had been confirmed, described it as a "giant step'' which will allow them to sustain future success after Tan called a meeting between Cardiff officials and supporters on Thursday night.

"People were able to say what they thought and they said it an eloquent and intelligent way,'' said Slade, who attended Thursday's meeting at the Cardiff City Stadium. "It was received very well from everyone at the football club and I thought it was a giant step.

"If ever that was a big step that was it and it would be nice if we were in blue on Saturday. This is a fantastic opportunity to build a new platform and put the bricks in place to rebuild and start again.''

Cardiff have slipped to 12th in the Championship after going five games without a win but Slade believes changing the colour and the crest could provide the momentum necessary to make a charge for the play-offs in the second half of the season.

"If you're going to be successful in any business, any football club, you need everyone pulling together as a unit,'' Slade said. "Only that way can you sustain success. You might have a modicum of success in the short term but if you want long-term success you need unity.''

The Football League later confirmed on its official Twitter account that the immediate change of kit colour had been approved.

Cardiff later published a statement from Tan on their official website.

He said: "To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, 'Let us never compromise out of fear. But let us never fear to compromise.' My wish is to unite and make the club successful and in order to achieve this I fully support the board's decision to implement the following changes:

"Starting from Saturday, January 10 2015 and until the end of this season, our home kit shall be blue. Our away kit shall be red. I would like to thank the Football League for their approval to facilitate my request.

"For the 2015-16 season, Cardiff's home kit colour shall be blue. Our away kit colour shall be red.

"The challenge ahead for us is enormous and I truly believe we will overcome these obstacles as a united club. I believe with divine blessings, Cardiff City Football Club will achieve great success.''

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