After last year’s run to Wembley, you must fancy your chances at home to Arsenal tomorrow.

It’s exciting. We’re trying to pull a team together to get promoted into the top flight for the first time in 50 years and this will give the players a taste of what they will be up against if we get there. Arsène Wenger has done an outstanding job with Arsenal, particularly in the youth system he has created and the way he spends in the transfer window.

Sixth in the Championship, the play-offs look your best bet . . .

We haven’t lost in two months, so beating Arsenal is important but mainly because it keeps momentum going.

You spent a few quid as chairman of Leeds United. Any chance of Kaká turning up at Ninian Park?

Even if we had millions to spend, we could only attract certain players because of our present status in the Championship. As we don’t have a parachute payment, our transfer activity is in the bargain basement.

We’ll take that as a no . . .

It’s up to Manchester City if they want to spend £100 million on one player, but I found it astonishing. I don’t see how there would have been a market for moving him on if they wanted to in a couple of years. I spent a lot at Leeds, but we made money, like buying Rio Ferdinand for £18 million and selling him two years later for £30 million.

Your reputation took a battering when things went sour at Leeds. How have the Welsh taken to you?

My grandmother was Welsh, so I feel at home. I think they are happy with what we’re doing with the club and the new stadium [with a capacity of 25,000 that is due to open for the 2009-10 season]. I used to go out a lot in Cardiff Bay, but these days I prefer a quiet meal in Cowbridge, a market town a few miles away.

What are you reading?

Not A Proper Journalist by Bob Humphrys, the BBC Wales sports reporter and brother of John Humphrys. He died last year.

Interview by Patrick Kidd

Cardiff City are the only Welsh team to have won the FA Cup, in 1927, and they have the badge to prove it. The new crest, which incorporates a daffodil and a dragon, was voted for by fans last year and is an old design that was used before the club were promoted to the second tier in 2003.