Tonight's Cardiff City news as player relegation clauses confirmed and 'club signings' explained

The latest Bluebirds news from Cardiff City Stadium

Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Friday, April 11.

'Some players' have relegation clauses

Some Cardiff players have relegation clauses included in their contracts in the event that the club suffer the drop to League One, club officials have confirmed.

The Bluebirds are in the relegation zone with five games to go and a seismic game against one of their rivals at the wrong end of the table, Stoke City, to come tomorrow.

Although supporters and everyone attached with their club is praying that it won't be the case, if the Bluebirds do finish in the bottom three then another summer rebuild to arm the squad with the right weaponry to challenge for promotion next season will be needed.

Finance director Philip Jenkins stated the club are now forecasting for two scenarios next season - one in the Championship and one in League One - stating "relegation will affect every single arm of the club".

He added, according to the minutes given by FAB from their March meeting: "But we all know the biggest costs are running the first team and if we are having to make savings that would be the first place we would need to look at, including the structure of our first team squad."

Cardiff board member and non-executive director Steve Borley confirmed "some players' contracts include relegation clause but even that would not be enough, so cost cutting would be needed".

A relegation clause typically stipulates that, following relegation, if a team bids a certain amount as agreed in the contract, the club must accept the offer and allow said player to leave. However, club-imposed clauses can sometimes mean a reduction in wages for players if the team drops to a lower division.

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'Club signings' like Tsunoda and Simic explained

Club officials were asked to explain the difference between a regular signing and a "club signing", a phrase which has been used to describe two recent additions in Ryotaro Tsunoda and Roko Simic.

Both Erol Bulut and Riza have described them as "club" signings, with both having had spells out on loan with sister club KV Kortrijk with varying degrees of success, without playing any first-team minutes.

Borley explained in the FAB meeting that these signings are now being made as part of the club's overarching longer-term vision, rather than simply signing players to fit the manager's current needs.

"There are two things in this," Borley said. "Firstly we currently have 33 players but are only allowed to register 25, so the recent strategy has been to bring in younger players who have potential to make the first team squad, not necessarily signing them for today but possibly tomorrow.

"We had to make eight reductions to the squad, so we send some out on loan to get first team experience. We can never guarantee how long a manager stays at our club and we have a strategy to bring in a younger players here that will benefit the club.

"We are now seeing a younger squad, with other potential players ready to step up in the future."

Leicester loanee Alves 'exceptional'

Leicester City loanee Will Alves has been branded "exceptional" by Callum O'Dowda.

Alves, 19, is getting his first sustained minutes in senior football at Cardiff and netted his first goal in the 2-2 at Preston North End in midweek. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

And O'Dowda, speaking about each player's motivation in these final five games of the season, has said that Alves is making Leicester stand up and take notice of his form and will return to the King Power Stadium a player transformed.

"A lot of people's circumstances are different," O'Dowda said. "But the motivation is the same, whether you've signed (a new deal), whether you haven't got one. You're doing it for the club. And that goes for the people that are from loan as well, like Will Alves, who I think has been exceptional as well.

"This is his first few games in professional football, and he's done so well, but obviously, then he's going back to Leicester, if he now finishes the last five games with a few goals, I think he goes back to Leicester as a different player than when he first came to Cardiff."

Alves has certainly caught the eye since joining in the winter window. He is also hitting a rich seam of form, assisting two and scoring one in his last four outings, the sort of form the Bluebirds need from a number of their players if they are going to stave off the drop.

Speaking about managing the player's minutes, Omer Riza added: “Will’s come off a very bad knee injury and this is his first stint of first-team football.

"He’s 19, still young and sometimes he plays a game and his knee swells up and he wasn't able to play. Sometimes when you ask me I don't say his knee is swollen, because it might go down and he might play. These are things we have to manage.

"The fact he is 19, there was a game here, against Sheffield Wednesday, where I I took him off at half-time, because sometimes he's not been impactful.

"He catches the eye and when you do that the opposition deal with it - it's the same with Yousef (Salech) to a certain extent. It's then how you manipulate that situation.

"With Will Alves, it’s age, it’s injuries, it’s managing as he’s not played loads of first-team football, and sometimes he’s not impactful… I love the kid. I had him at England, I know what his character is like and I know what his application is like."