Welsh football team Cardiff City's Malaysian owner Vincent Tan has been accused of flouting Barclays Premier League rules by offering his players a £3.7 million (RM 20.224 million) incentive if they can avoid relegation from England's premier club competition.

British newspaper Daily Mail in a report today said Tan allegedly made the offer at the Hilton Hotel in London, before Cardiff's crucial match against Tottenham at White Hart Lane last Sunday.

Cardiff lost the match 1-0, and remained second from bottom in the Premier League table.

According to the daily, it is illegal for club owners to offer verbal incentives that are not declared beforehand to the Premier League before the league season commences.

Tan reportedly did not disclose any plan to offer an incentive to avoid relegation from the Premier League because he did not believe his team would be moved to a lower division.

His offer breached rules T12 and T13 of the league, which are designed to prevent owners from inducing players with money in order to motivate them.

'Tan not aware the offer is illegal'

The report also quoted a spokesperson for Tan as saying that Tan was not aware such an offer was illegal and that he has since rescinded the offer.

Daily Mail said the Premier League will now write to Tan to seek an explanation on the matter, and if sanctions are imposed, it could be wide-ranging, from fines to points deduction.

Tan, who brought the club in 2010 and had invested heavily in enabling it to earn promotion to the Premier League, has quickly become one of the most controversial owners in the club's maiden season in the Premier League.

Already unpopular with a section of the home support for his rebranding in 2012 by changing Cardiff City’s crest and club jerseys, Tan was involved in a public row with popular manager Malky Mackay earlier this season.

Tan sacked Mackay and recruitment head Ian Moody when Cardiff City was mired in the mid-table of the league, believing that the club should be performing better after a £50 million pound (RM273.3 million) summer investment.

However, his subsequent appointment of Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as the manager only resulted in a downturn of form, with the team only winning one of its nine league games and dropping to second from bottom in the table. It also faces the prospect of being relegated.