Former Cardiff City head of recruitment Iain Moody claims he has still not been told why he was sacked by the club's Malaysian owner, Vincent Tan.

Moody was removed from his role in October and was subsequently appointed sporting director at Crystal Palace, who host Cardiff in the Premier League on Saturday.

He was replaced by Alisher Apsalyamov, a 23-year-old Kazakh with no prior experience of elite-level football, who has since been asked to stand down temporarily by the British government over visa concerns.

Moody's exit robbed Cardiff manager Malky Mackay of one of his closest aides and Moody says he is still awaiting an explanation from Tan.

"I look forward to his explanation, because I'm still bereft of any official explanation from him, so it will bring some light on it from my point of view, too," Moody told Friday's edition of British daily The Guardian.

"I have no doubt that it was his decision. But I have had no direct conversation with him at all since something like August 28, at the end of the window."

Moody also shed light on his awkward relationship with Apsalyamov, who shadowed him during the closing weeks of the close-season transfer window.

"I saw him around the club because he was doing work experience, with the academy, with the stadium maintenance team -- doing his painting -- and he was driving people around," Moody said.

"And then, some time in late July, I went to France to watch a game and meet a player and his agent. I was told by (chief executive) Simon Lim a couple of days before that (Apsalyamov) was going to shadow me because he wanted to learn my role and so from now on he was going to be following me around for the last six weeks of the transfer window.

"I told Simon I thought it was a terrible idea. Not that I had anything to hide, but I thought it looked odd.

"The whole thing in France took place in French -- he couldn't speak French, so he kind of sat in the corner twiddling his thumbs while I was negotiating and trying to buy a player."