From Shattered Dreams to Wembley Way – Annis Abraham Jnr.
Continuing the trend in this magazine for featuring anything related to Cardiff City FC, below is a section from the book “From Shattered Dreams to Wembley Way” by Annis Abraham Jnr, printed with kind permission of the author. Annis suffered the unfortunate fate of being tormented by the media after he was caught on camera throwing a punch during Euro 2000. He does regret it, but as Sam Hammam himself said, it was hardly a major incident, and in the book, Annis rightly defends himself against the media portrayal of him. The book is also full of stories about Sam Hammam – Annis, after all, was practically Sam’s right hand man for a good length of time – and is a good reminder of the man who may have his critics now, but despite being an eccentric chairman, successfully led the club to two promotions. You also get a feel for how passionate a Cardiff supporter the author is, and the book includes some views from fellow fans as well. The section below is taken from Chapter 5 of the book.
The new season started on Saturday 12th August 2000, and City fans were the most excited I had ever known them to be about a forthcoming season. Now Sam wasn’t actually the official owner yet, but behind the scenes, it was now Sam pulling all the strings. Steve Borley was still known as the chairman, while Sam for the time being wanted to be called ‘Governor’. Billy Ayre was still our team manager for now but we all knew Bobby Gould would soon be taking his place. So things were starting to take shape behind the scenes. There were no big signings yet, but we all now believed we were finally going forward.
So off I went to Exeter for the first match of the season. We had sold out the roughly two thousand tickets we had been allocated. If they had given us double the amount, we would have sold them too – that’s how much Sam’s arrival to the club had inspired the fans. We were all now feeling positive and looking ahead, instead of how we felt in previous years. As I walked to St. James’ Park, there was a real buzz in the air. The City fans were chanting Sam Hammam’s Barmy Army and nearly everyone was smiling, and we hadn’t even played a league game yet. The BBC was out in force with their cameras. They usually only bring them out for the rugby. As I passed one film crew, I recognised, from my school days, Nick Pallet, who worked for them. He said hello to me and smiled. As soon as my back was turned, he told the camera crew to put the camera on me, which I later saw on a future Panorama programme about Sam Hammam and Cardiff City. There you go; people like Pallet say ‘hello’ and smile to your face, but as soon as your back is turned, I believe they stab you. That’s how I feel the BBC have only ever treated me.
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