Search: 'Peter Ridsdale'

Four clubs fight to their keep heads above water. By Tom Davies

Who could possibly have imagined that the link-up between Sam Hammam and Peter Ridsdale at Cardiff City would have brought problems? The fallout from Hammam’s departure as chairman is casting a considerable shadow over City’s future, with the club facing a court action in March over ­£24 million of unsecured “loan notes” owed to investor Langston, for whom Hammam is now acting as “mediator”. Defeat in court is likely to land the club in administration.

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Boardroom Truths About The Beautiful Game
by Peter Ridsdale
Macmillan, £18.99
Reviewed by Duncan Young
From WSC 251 January 2008 

Buy this book

On the face of it, Peter Ridsdale’s account of his life at Leeds – and especially the events that led to him leaving the club – is a hard sell. It’s light on sensational revelations, supporters at his current club, Cardiff City, will have little interest and Leeds fans in general regard him with views ranging between ­disappointment and fury.

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As Leeds have lurched from crisis to crisis, outsiders have wondered why fans have not become more militant. For Duncan Young, it’s because there’s no question of a move from Elland Road

As this summer’s Leeds United pantomime ran its course, I was increasingly confronted by passionate supporters of other clubs, incredulous that Leeds fans have not risen in righteous anger and deposed Ken Bates, or at the very least made a stand against him. How much humiliation would it take before we finally seized control of our own destiny rather than accept a constant diet of wailing and gnashing of teeth?

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Pete Green watches Manchester Disunuted, a film about Manchester's splinter club

When Malcolm Glazer seized Manchester United two years ago, the protests at Old Trafford elicited little sympathy from other fans. Maybe the claim that the club was suddenly “not for sale” grated a bit after United had done very well out of plc status since 1991. Maybe, when debt and changes of ownership are commonplace, outsiders saw the violent reaction to Glazer as arbitrary and disproportionate. And, let’s face it, it didn’t help that it was Manyoo. Whatever the reasons, if AFC Wimbledon became everyone’s second favourite club, then FC United of Manchester have not found goodwill so easy to come by.

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Update on clubs in crisis, Tom Davies reports

How do you solve a problem like Leeds United? Reeling from relegation, fans have spent the subsequent weeks wondering who will control their club in League One. After much wrangling, Ken Bates has secured the 75 per cent backing needed from creditors for his newly formed company, Leeds United Football Club Limited, to take over and bring the club out of administration, though the deal will not be finalised until the Football League are satisfied that all “football debts” are met in full. Other creditors stand to receive just an ­eyebrow-raising 1p in the pound.

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