Earle on Cardiff courtier Hammam

Robbie Earle with Welsh international John Hartson

Cardiff City fans are hoping that Sam Hammam is the man with the unique qualities to realise the club's unfulfilled potential.

Wimbledon and Jamaica midfielder Robie Earle knows Hammam better than most and he has been fulsome in his praise of the Lebanese businessman.

"If there's any one person I've met in football who can do it, it's Sam."

"From the first time of meeting him you realise he's a unique person... very much different to the norm."

Earle was struck by the fact that, in contrast to other football chairmen, Hammam's main concerns were not money and contracts.

Sam Hammam - very much different from the norm

"This guy is an avid football fan as much as anything else."

He was largely responsible for instilling and maintaining the 'Crazy Gang' mentality that did so much to inspire Wimbledon's success.

Cardiff's players can expect to be told exactly where they stand: "You always get straight answers to straight questions."

Great PR man

If there's any one person I've met in football who can do it, it's Sam

  Robbie Earle

Perhaps Bluebirds fans should not fear some of his wilder claims about changing the team name and their playing colours, though.

Earle describes Hammam as a great PR man who will get people talking about Cardiff City:

"He makes statements he knows will make column inches."

Wimbledon influx

Earle would not be surprised if Hammam was followed to Cardiff by a number of his ex-Wimbledon side-kicks, possibly Bobby Gould or Joe Kinnear.

"I wouldn't be surprised - he likes to work with people he knows."

But will Robbie Earle be joining a possible Cardiff revolution?

"You never know - I'm still getting over quite a bad injury... you never say never in football."