THE game that had just finished took a back seat in what was a strange post-match Cardiff City press conference on Saturday evening - which included an interjection from the home side's chairman, who was sat in the media room.

Cardiff's heavy defeat to Middlesbrough wasn't the headline act when Erol Bulut spoke to the press after the game. Instead, it was the future of the Cardiff boss, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

And when Bulut was pressed on the uncertainty and whether he'll be sticking around as boss, chairman Mehmet Dalman stepped in and said: "Why don't you let me have dinner with him tonight?"

The club's chief executive Ken Choo joined Dalman in opting to take in the press conference but the final decision on Bulut's future lies with owner Vincent Tan.

"It's up to the board," said Bulut.

"The chairman is here (in press room) and he gave the answer before. We hope it's positive from both sides."

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Talk did turn to the game and Cardiff's defeat to Boro in what was the Bluebirds' final home fixture of the campaign.

Bulut said: “I’m disappointed with the result, to concede four goals, but if we see the whole game, how many chances we had, we didn’t deserve to lose that game by three goals.

“We had enough chances to score and even to lead, but we concede in the last second of the first half. Then in the second half we concede a goal in three minutes. That was an unlucky goal.

“We had enough chances to come back but we couldn’t finalise our chances. We don’t have to forget also that we didn’t have half of the team with us today, but this is not the reason that we didn’t score. We didn’t have the final touch today.

"The last game at home, we wanted to win in front of the fans, it didn't happen. If we see the whole season, until now, I am personally satisfied with the season.

"I think our fans and our board are satisfied with where we are now. We have one more game left against Rotherham. We could have had a few points more but we have built really good and progressed as a club this season. Cardiff can only build on it."