Neil Warnock has addressed speculation on the future of Mehmet Dalman, insisting it's vital the Cardiff City chairman stays with the club.
The Bluebirds boss says it would be "very difficult" for him to do his job without Dalman, who has been in advanced talks with Charlton about a £33milion buyout of the newly-promoted Championship club.
When asked about the chairman's future, Warnock said: "It's absolutely vital (he stays). I think it would be very difficult for me to do the job without him.
"He knows everything about the background and he deals with Vincent and Ken. He's not just a man about football.
"He's got so much experience in so many fields and that's what we need as a football club. We need that experience there. He's already proven how supportive he is.
"It's no coincidence that we've had a great couple of years since we've been together and we want to give it another shot this year."
As of last week, a deal between Dalman and Charlton owner Roland Duchatelet appeared to have stalled - with Dalman not speaking specifically about the link to the south London club in public.
His departure at some stage, though, does remain a possibility.
"I've been aware of the situation before the stories came out," Warnock added.
"He's one of, if not the, best chairmen I've worked with.
"I've spoken to him a great deal over the last six weeks to seek assurances and he's assured me he wants to give it a go and try and help me get another promotion. He's really supportive of everything I do.
"I think he's spoken to Vincent and Ken at great length and I think together they're all trying their hardest - probably too hard at times.
"I'm getting that many players thrown at me. It's not very often a manager says slow down to his chairman and chief executive but that's what I'm doing.
"I'm telling them to calm down a bit - we can't sign everybody!
"But having spoken to Mehmet, I have no doubt that he sees the challenge of trying to get us back up there. It's a great challenge at Cardiff."
