Cardiff sell 1000 replica Bellamy shirts

Cardiff chief executive Gethin Jenkins claims the club sold more than 1,000 replica Craig Bellamy shirts on Saturday alone as the on-loan Manchester City striker made a goalscoring debut for his home town club in a 4-0 win against Doncaster in the npower Championship.

Jenkins insisted the loan deal, in which Manchester City continue to pay a proportion of Bellamy's £90,000-a-week wages, makes commercial sense for the cash-strapped Welsh club.

He told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "I think it helps raise our profile and there has certainly been lots of discussion about it but we think as a business and as a sporting case this deal stacks up.

"We had a sell-out yesterday, there has been renewed interest in season tickets and obviously the much-publicised jersey sales have increased."

Cardiff have been criticised in some quarters for the deal on the basis that, by paying some of Bellamy's wages, Manchester City are subsidising the Welsh club's bid for promotion.

Jenkins responded: "I don't think there is another chief executive in the Championship who if faced with the deal and the opportunity that I had who would have turned it down."

Meanwhile, Jenkins insisted the £175,000 owed to Motherwell following the transfer of defender Paul Quinn, which had seen the Scottish club threaten legal action, will be paid by Wednesday.