Cardiff owner Tan dismisses 'villain' tag

The Malaysian businessman has attracted controversy since taking over the Welsh club in 2010, angering supporters by changing the club's traditional club colours of blue to red, before ousting popular manager Malky Mackay earlier this season.

Tan, however, believes he retains the backing of the vast majority of the Cardiff supporters and feels he has been unfairly treated by the British media, who he dubbed "a little bit racist".

In an interview with BBC Sport, he said: "Do you think that Malky Mackay would have got us promoted without my investment? Without me giving him money? After we got promoted the fans were all very supportive, everybody was appreciative.

"Overall, even now, I think, I would say even 90 per cent of the fans are supportive, the problem is you have 10 per cent or five per cent or maybe even a few hundred people that are not supportive, who are more vocal.

"And then you have the British press who have been misled by some people, feeding them wrong information and saying what a terrible person I am and trying to make fun of me and paint me like a villain.

"But my experience is the majority are very supportive. I go to the club, many people come and shake my hand, want to shake hands with me, want my autograph, so generally I think it is not too bad.

"I will say that the British press is unfair and maybe they are unfair because we didn't tell our side of the story that well.

"And sometimes the British press (are) maybe a little bit racist and quite unfair."

Tan described Mackay as "lucky" to have managed Cardiff and, although they remain three points adrift of Premier League safety, he is sure replacement Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will ensure survival.

"He (Mackay) didn't do very well at Watford, but somehow our CEO and our chairman hired him and replaced Dave Jones," he added. "Dave Jones actually did much better. So I think Malky got lucky when he came to Cardiff.

"Although we're not doing very well now, we are in the relegation zone, I'm convinced and believe that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be able to keep us in the Premier League."

And despite the criticism of his tenure, Tan is adamant he will remain at Cardiff for the long term.

"The club would have gone bust many times if I had not been around," he continued. "I came to invest in the club and I just put in some money and I thought that's about it, actually I didn't know the club was in such bad shape.

"I made a decision and when I make a decision to do something I want to stick by it and see it through (to) the end and make it a success. And likewise the same for Cardiff."