There was tremendous sadness at last week as Tony the ' people's chairmarn' Clemo bade his final farewell to Cardiff City. Tony, ever conscious of costs, insisted there should be little or no formal ceremony to mark his departure. His wishes wer respected as hired thug unceremoniously threw his chair, desk and brief case out of his office window into Sloper Road. His cascading paperwork provided a fine 'ticker-tape' accompaniment to his final moments at 'the City'.

Rick Wright, not wishing to prolong Tony's agony made his final remarks brief and to the point. He thanked M Clemo for his tireless effor during his 20 years at Ninian Park then told him to get out. "But remember Tony, there will always be a seat reserved for you at Ninian Park." He added pointing to a toilet door.

Tony surveyed Ninian Park for the last time and thought about his greatest achievements. Then he thought about the football for a moment.

But this wasn't quite the end, for that evening at a derelict B&B in Newport Road a special celebratory dinner and dance was held in his honour. And it was a glittering occasion. Scores of ex-managers and players sent their apologies but several first team regulars and Eddie May were forced to attend.

 

The showpiece of the evening was, of course the Welsh Cup, passport into Europe and the reason for a trip to MFI for a knockdown trophy Cabinet (which was erected by non other than ex-City favourite Jim Eadie). There was some consternation when the trophy went missing. But it turned up when the waiter returned with some ashtrays he had been emptying.

The evening kicked off with something different, a threehour video of the aggro at Ashton Gate in 1990 plus police photographs of the damage caused to Red Dragon travel in Church Street - The only media coverage of Cardiff City during the last three years of Tony Clemo's tenure of office. Next came the Cabaret spot, radio and TV personality Roy Noble introduced some male strippers courtesy of the
Majestic Holiday camp and indicative of Rick Wright's commitment 'family entertainment'. Noble then returned deliver a series of fatuous remarks masquerading a speech but was thankfully canned-off.

 Stan Stennett made a brief appearance but the bouncer at the door managed convince him that there was nothing going on inside relating to Cardiff City and he went away again. To end the evening, Rick Wright made a brief speech outlining the achievements of Tony Clemo over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, at that moment Paul Miller dropped his pint and the speech was missed in the momentary hubbub this caused.

Clemo was invited up on stage to receive a special commemorative Junior Bluebird membership card and the bill for the evening. He received these mementos to a rising crescendo of cat-calls, hoots and farts. The party finally finished at 3am. It was scheduled to finish at 10.pm but was gate-crashed by bunch of rugby supporter who forced the bar to stay open at knife-point and tried to get off with the male stripper.

The police were called and after heated argument and a scuffle the police got their way and the bar stayed open till 4am. Tired and bedraggled, the ex-City supremo made his way to the carpark only to find that, in display of good-natured teasing, it had been vandalised. The tyres and seats were slashed and a swastika had been daubed on the windscreen.He didn have to look far for the culprits, he smiled, perhaps for the first time that evening because he knew, yes he knew, that he was at last one of the boys.