Cardiff manager Mackay assured job safe _ for now

LONDON (AP) — Cardiff manager Malky Mackay's job appears to be safe — for now at least — with the club assuring him of his future on Sunday and attempting to reconcile tensions.

Mackay's position at the Premier League club looked doomed earlier this week after Malaysian owner Vincent Tan sent the manager an email requesting him to stand down or be fired.

But Mackay, who insisted he would not resign, has been handed a reprieve with the hierarchy wanting to heal the rift.

"As things stand Malky is in charge for the foreseeable future and will be until something else happens," chairman Mehmet Dalman said on Sunday on the club website. "I don't want to go game by game on this, with people asking if he will be in charge."

Fans reacted with fury to Tan's attempt to oust Mackay, showing their support for the manager and disdain for the owner throughout a 3-1 loss at Liverpool on Saturday.

Unsettled by the supporters' reaction, Dalman appealed for a display of unity at the next Premier League game against Southampton on Thursday.

"If I had one wish for Boxing Day, it's that they don't hold up 'Tan Out' or 'Malky In' banners, but rather one that says 'Talk to each other,'" Dalman said.

"The crisis for the time being is over. The emphasis as of today is for us to create space and dialogue."

Tan had already alienated some fans by changing the club's colors from blue to red and adopting a new crest.

Tan and Mackay clashed over the dismissal of head of recruitment Iain Moody in October, and the damage is yet to be repaired.

"We managed to create space for everyone to work together back in October and we have to see if we can do that again in order to move forward," Dalman said. "At least we have a platform for dialogue, which gives us an opportunity to try to work our way through this.

"If we wish to work towards a reconciliation, Vincent Tan has offered us that opportunity to move towards that. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't ... let's see if we can fix it. We can't keep having the club under a cloud."

In the unusually blunt and frank statement from a Premier League club, Dalman made it clear that replacing Mackay would be no problem, while denying he had approached potential replacements yet.

"As chairman, (I) have not initiated any dialogue with anybody else," Dalman said. "Can we go out and get another manager? Of course we can."

Mackay led Cardiff into the Premier League for the first time last season. The Welsh club is four points above the drop zone.