The guy kept us out of administration on a shoestring by selling players at a good price, once he left players went for nothing or small fees but he got us the best investors he could before he went.
During his time we suddenly became a force in the championship which has led to high expectations each season.
I appreciate what he did if no one else does.
jck
Who are you talking about jck - I assume it's the Riddler and if so, you're not entirely correct.
Rog was sold to Brum for a fee that seems fair the way things have panned out, but at the time he was being talked about as a prospective England call up candidate. We couldn't afford refuse their offer anyway given our circumstances but he was worth more than the alleged £4.5M that they paid.
Ramsey was a giveaway. Wenger must have been laughing all the way to the bank when he took him off us. Again we were between a rock and a hard place, and the deal was done to keep us afloat if you accept the official view.
Other than that, we allowed players to walk - noteably Ledley, Mathews, Burke and Bothroyd. No great loss with any of them as it's turned out, but we should have tied them down for a fee not let them just walk away.
As for PR bringing in the investors, he didn't. He actually appointed Keith Harris as a director to do just that. Paid him for two years at a six figure salary for bugger all until TG and VT turfed him out. The present owners were not brought in by Ridsdale. TG offered to get involved because of his son's presence at the club and introduced Vincent Tan as the principle investor.
In fact, it was Ridsdale himself that nearly ruined the whole deal by his obstinence over the ridiculous value he placed on his personal share holding at the club at the time.
It was only when Steve Borley personally went to Malaysia to calm the waters and resurrect the deal that eventually got VT involved again and faced Ridsdale down.
The rest is history and Ridsdale walked with a lot less than he was demanding.
Other than that, Ridsdale's time at the club was probabaly worthwhile after the Hamman years and fiasco over the stadium if only for overseeing it's construction.
We needed someone with a strong character at the time, but he had no personal wealth to invest. Instead he used the borrowing tool with dubious organisations like Ranson's PFF to keep us going.
In hindsight it worked, but it would have all gone horribly wrong if the present owners hadn't got involved - and that was nothing to do with Ridsdale.
Someone called?
Hi-Yo!
