Sir Alex Ferguson thinks he's mad; so does the man who runs the Cardiff City Supporters Club - not to mention many of its members - but Sam Hammam doesn't care. As his £3.1m takeover of the relegated Third Division team nears completion, one question is dominating football conversation in south Wales: has the godfather of the Crazy Gang finally taken leave of his senses?
After taking Wimbledon from the Southern League and making them into a feared Premiership team, the Lebanese businessman wants to transform the fortunes of the Welsh capital's club.
As part of his plan to provide a team to match the city's status, Hammam has drawn up an audacious blueprint that both delights and outrages Cardiff City's supporters. In return for his money - £500,000 for team strengthening, £1.5m to help clear debts and another £1m to cover losses over the next two years - the prospective owner would like to see: Cardiff City become the Cardiff Celts; the club's colours change from blue to green and white; their bluebird symbol replaced with a Celtic cross; and Cardiff City become the Welsh team, possibly under the banner of Wales United.
Hammam finally severed his ties with Wimbledon just before they lost their place in the top flight after 14 years. Under his leadership, the Crazy Gang had a field day. Expensive clothes were destroyed, graffiti was scrawled on opposition dressing room walls and intimidation - especially under Vinnie Jones - was the name of their game.
Since selling out to a Norwegian consortium, Hammam has been on the look-out for a new toy, with 19 clubs - including Tottenham, Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and Crystal Palace - reportedly in contention. After considering a move to south Wales in the early 90s when Wimbledon's relations with Merton council over Plough Lane reached rock bottom, he re-established the Welsh connection nearly 12 months ago. The Dons were playing Cardiff in front of only 2,272 spectators in the Worthington Cup at Selhurst Park.
"We beat them 3-1 but their fans outnumbered ours by three to one on the night - I couldn't believe it," says Hammam. "I'm attracted to Cardiff because they're underdogs. I've been a fighter all my life - I fought for 23 years at Wimbledon and I want to prove the sceptics wrong again. Sir Alex Ferguson says I'm mad to buy Cardiff but there's something about City which I didn't see in any other club - a cause to correct, a dream to be achieved. I really feel very strongly that Cardiff City should be a Welsh club.
Marching army
"The change of name is something which we have to discuss very deeply with the fans - all I want now is the commitment because Cardiff can go places. We can aspire to compete with Bristol City or Birmingham, maybe even Coventry, but that's not interesting enough for me. I'm hoping that, within 15 to 20 years, we can aspire to compete with Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United. To do that, we have to be the team of the whole nation.
"If the supporters have the guts and the vision to become the marching Welsh army, then I think we have a chance to dream that we can compete with the best."
In the two months since he first threw the beleaguered board a lifeline, Hammam has fallen in love with Cardiff City and their supporters - and they with him. Directors and fans have been seduced by an irresistible cocktail of money and passion.
"With Sam's genuine enthusiasm, you'd expect him to generate ideas," says the chairman Steve Borley, "but nothing's cast in stone and you have to look down every avenue. Cardiff City has never just represented the capital; it's been the club of south Wales and we have supporters from all over Wales."
The Wales United proposal has been given particularly short shrift outside Cardiff. "With respect, I don't think Mr Hammam has done much research into Welsh football," says Carroll Clark, chairman of Wrexham Supporters Club.
"Bearing in mind the intense rivalry between Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham, he hasn't got a hope of establishing Cardiff as the main club in Wales. I'm all for Welsh fans getting behind the national team - that's totally realistic. But this idea just isn't."
Forty miles west of Cardiff, the chairman of Swansea City Supporters Club, John Button, is equally dismissive. "I hope Mr Hammam is just being naive," he says. "If not, it's arrogance at its worst.
"We didn't attract too many non-Swansea supporters when we were top of the old First Division. People support their own team and it's very difficult to change - you stick with your side through thick and thin."
As part of his charm offensive, Hammam met 300 supporters on successive nights at Ninian Park last week and, by all accounts, went down a storm.
"The man has charisma and contacts which can only help the club," says Tony Jeffries, of the Cardiff City Supporters Club. "He's totally bonkers - in the nicest possible way - but you don't get to be a multimillionaire by being an idiot.
"Sam's doing this for all the right reasons. Directors will have to pay for their match tickets and meals, and he says he'll work 24 hours a day, seven days a week and not take one penny out of the club.
"If Sam gets us to the top of the table or going for promotion, he'll realise that there's no need to change the club's name. People from all over Wales and England will come flooding back - which is what he wants. All he's asked supporters to do is to keep an open mind."
As speculation persists that Bobby Gould or Joe Kinnear is about to replace the manager Billy Ayre, Hammam has already scored a spectacular success: everybody is talking about Cardiff City. He wants the deal giving him 82% of the club to be delivered by their first home game against Blackpool, a week on Saturday.
As well as Hammam, Wimbledon and Cardiff have something else in common: Plough Lane and Ninian Park were both built on former council refuse tips. After his brass-and-muck success in south London, City supporters are confident his vision for their club will not become a load of rubbish.