Malky Mackay Reportedly Not Asked to Resign by Cardiff City

Malky Mackay has not been asked to leave Cardiff City, despite the Premier League club's decision on Wednesday to suspend Iain Moody, who had served as the manager's head of recruitment.

Sky Sports provides the latest on the bizarre developments taking place at the newly promoted side:

Cardiff have not announced a reason for the suspension of Moody, but the identity of his possible replacement provides a strong hint, as the Press Association (via The Guardian) reports:

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The reason for Moody's suspension is unknown but it is understood that the Kazakh Alisher Apsalyamov, thought to be a friend of the son of the club's owner, Vincent Tan, and who appears to have had no previous experience in football, has taken over from him in an acting capacity.

The decision to suspend Moody, whose work in the scouting and recruitment of players has been publicly praised by Mackay, comes only a matter of days after it was revealed Tan and the Bluebirds squad had been at loggerheads over end-of-season bonus payments.

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No experience in football? What could possibly go wrong?

Naturally, this has prompted a bit of speculation concerning Cardiff, Mackay and the club's management staff.

Moody previously worked with Mackay when Mackay served as manager at Watford, according to the PA. Per the report, Moody helped bring Steven Caulker, Fraizer Campbell and others to the club.

According to the PA, the issue of bonus payments has been resolved. Cardiff's players, however, are reportedly uncomfortable with Tan in the dressing room.

As most Premier League fans will already know, this is just the latest instance in a series of odd moves by Tan, who bought a controlling interest in Cardiff City in 2010. First, Tan rebranded the club last year, changing the primary colours from blue to red. Since then, reports have indicated that he has also flirted with changing the club's name to Cardiff Dragons. 

That said, Tan also funded the team as they returned to the top flight this season for the first time in 51 years. And when his team beat Manchester City early in the season, we got to see tweets like this one.

Cardiff currently sit 14th in the Premier League table, having collected eight points from their first seven fixtures of the season. The Bluebirds visit Chelsea on Oct. 19.