Cardiff City's board have acknowledged the Bluebirds are in a relegation scrap this season and admitted more football knowledge within the club would be "desirable" in the long term.

Chairman Mehmet Dalman, CEO Ken Choo and non-executive director Steve Borley recently met with members of the Supporters' Trust amid escalating fan frustration over the club's management.

The minutes from the meeting, which took place before Cardiff's 1-1 draw with Coventry City on New Year's Day, have been released following two calls from fan groups for discussions with the board. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

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Dalman said the club's "short-term strategy is to maintain status in the Championship" but was challenged on what the longer-term future looked like after years of shortcomings. Choo, meanwhile, insisted that owner Vincent Tan is "absolutely determined to get the club back into the Premier League".

Dalman admitted that Cardiff's decision-makers are eager for more "stability and continuity" at the club, with the chairman adding: "We have had too many changes in manager; too many players arriving and too many players leaving. That doesn't help for building long term.

"It was hoped that Erol Bulut would work out and at first it looked like he could be the answer after a decent first season, but the very poor start to this season meant that the club needed to make changes once again."

Cardiff dismissed manager Bulut in September after just three months following the worst start to a league season in a century, just months after he signed a new two-year contract to stay in south Wales.

Despite an initial improvement under interim boss Omer Riza - who has since been appointed until the end of 2024-25 - Cardiff are second from bottom in the Championship ahead of Saturday's game against promotion-hopefuls Middlesbrough.

A long-hold gripe of supporters is the lack of football IQ at board level which leads to continued poor decision-making. While there is sympathy and gratitude from many with regards to the amount of money owner Tan pumps in, it is also acknowledged among the fan base that the amount of money wasted could have been drastically reduced if the footballing structure had been improved.

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Dalman said once again Tan will not countenance the idea of a director of football, having had "a bad experience before and doesn't want to go down that route again", but the chairman did concede that "more football knowledge would be desirable".

He added: "Long term, the objective is to create a management team on the football side, which can get stability and continuity and build a team that can compete; however, the current focus is short-term and staying in the division. Vincent Tan has more to lose than anybody else, as he’s the one who keeps bank-rolling the club."

Dalman said the club's wage bill was "competitive" enough to sustain a top-half Championship squad, but added that the team was "not punching above its weight". He hopes the January transfer window represents an "opportunity" for the Bluebirds to escape the unthinkable notion of relegation this term.

Of course this is the third time in three seasons Cardiff find themselves in this position after the turn of the year and supporters' anger or frustration over a lack of long-term plan is understandable.

Regarding financial matters, Dalman confirmed the club is still losing money, albeit with a "substantial reduction" in losses.

The club also defended its engagement with fans, referencing recent Fan Advisory Board meetings, while agreeing to enhance communication from the board to the wider fan base.