Comments on: Living the dream, Cardiff City style!

By: TheReaper08

TheReaper08 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:41:59 +0000

The rest of the board were incompetent too, take Allan Leighton who has ably demonstrated his startlingly poor business knowledge at Royal Mail.

Doesn’t excuse anything though as Ridsdale was the man in charge and he has gone on to screw more things up.

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:22:45 +0000

Don’t you worry Bates has spent some of our money. £1.5m costs from a court case against Levi as I recall.

Bates should have kept his mouth shut and we’d have been £1.5m better off. That would have bought some very nice fish for the boardroom:)

By: TSS

TSS — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:06:01 +0000

Would agree, but we can only really criticise Ridsdale in heinsight and I’ve often thought the rest of the board got off too easily. We demanded big signings and loved every second, put suffered the consequences and paid the price.

Don’t get me wrong here, I aren’t defending Ridsdale, he’s a complete idiot, but maybe he was blinded by his support of Leeds and desire to make us successful that his ability to control the finances went awry.

As for the rest of the board, they fucked up big time with Woodgate. Ridsdale didn’t want to sell, they forced that and were as much to blame as Ridsdale was for the bad buys. Unfortunately for Publicity Pete though, the chairman acts as the figurehead for the democracy of the board and takes the fall when it all fucks up, much like the PM does on a national scale.

By: Grumpy

Grumpy — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:16:41 +0000

Not quite Leeds4eva. Ridsdale was criticised for blowing money we didn’t have. Bates is criticied for NOT spending money we have (surely we have something from last years profits and he sale of Delph). Notwithsdtanding that Simon has said he doesn’t need any.

By: Leeds4eva

Leeds4eva — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:16:41 +0000

We criticize Ridsdale for blowing all our money and criticize Ken for not spending, oh to be a chairman.

By: Yorkshrman

Yorkshrman — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:14:09 +0000

I heard Ridsdale speaking (and later met him) at an event at ER about a year before it all started to go t*ts up. He said (and I remember it very clearly) that the financial planning at Leeds was based on a mid-table finish, and getting knocked out of all the cups in the first round. As was later showed, not a lot of truth in that statement …..

By: TSS

TSS — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:20:59 +0000

Had this debate a few times and have ordered that book since I found the royalties go to charity. I think to some extent having a fan in charge was a problem because we wanted him to spend and he listened. My major problem with him is that he let his desire to make Leeds huge get in the way of his job – keeping Leeds financially stable.

By: TheReaper08

TheReaper08 — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:48:34 +0000

Can’t have that Colin, sorry. He was the leader of the club and as such should be held to account for everything that happens. I have the same in my job with the people that work for me, it’s tough and that’s life.

It can’t be a coincidence that Leeds, Barnsley and Cardiff have allnow suffered at the hands of this guy. I am sure he is a nice guy and I am sure he means well but come on …..

By: Colin

Colin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:12:13 +0000

I’m not going to defend Ridsdale as he did make some mistakes, but he wasn’t alone. If you read both Ridsdale’s book ‘United we fall’ and O’Leary’s ‘Leeds on Trial’ and digest the two, you get somewhere near the truth of what really happened at Leeds.

Leeds were hit with one after another of challenges, such as the Bowyer/Woodgate case, the plane crash, the murder of 2 Leeds fans and missing out on CL by one point in the last game of the season. Leeds were so so close to pulling it off.

Ridsdale was not alone, and since it has come out that some of his board were bad eggs. The board supported his decisions and then let Ridsdale take the rap. I remember the book covering the Woodgate sale to Newcastle – one of the board members (not Ridsdale) was calling Woodgate’s father leaving nasty and threatening messages saying “GET OUT OF LEEDS”. Woodgate’s father spoke to Ridsdale – Ridsdale didn’t want Woody to go. Woody didn’t want to go, but in the end it was inevitable and Ridsdale spoke to Freddy Sheppard of NUFC and said you do know that by me selling Woodgate to you, I’m going to get the sack. Freddy went ‘Yep, that’s football’.

Ridsdale is an easy figure to poke fun at but he was by no means the only reason for Leeds’ demise.

Whether you like him or not, the Ridsdale book is a good read for any Leeds fan and you can pick the book up for about a fiver from Amazon. It’s a really interesting book and a real eye opener into some of the real stick that came Leeds’ way. Is there an underground movement against Leeds? Do the authorities not want Leeds to do well? The book tells some interesting stories. I highly recommend it!

By: Dje

Dje — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:50:55 +0000

I’ve heard that Peter Risdale is being lined-up as the new Chief Executive of RBS.

How the guy can be allowed any role that involves finances at a football club (or any role) after what went on at Leeds is beyond me – but then again the F.A.’s “fit and proper” test for club owners is hardly fit and proper.

An utter embarrassment.