I don't know about my fellow greens, but my thoughts about ridsdale have become even more cynical...to me his decisions, although positive in this seasons result, have been nasty, and only he would say "that was my decision" if the club he owned came through. I would like the spl's decision on craige whyte (12 month ban for mis-management) to be extended to the fl. the way he operated with Cardiff was a disgrace, and no matter what people here or anywhere else say he did not save our club. Anyone could have done that job.
I agree with everything you say GeenArmy, far from saving it as he is so keen to point out to all and sundry, I believe he nearly destroyed it in his quest to buy a club for a £1, he along with the administrators kept the BIL nightmare alive much longer than it needed to be. The people who kept our club alive are all the ones who worked for nothing !
GreenArmy & Gat-Po.........I shall say this only once......whatever people say about Peter Ridsdale.....(and no one person divided opinion more)......the famous,I am only down here on a walking holiday.......was in my opinion a necessary moment in PAFC's walk to the cliff edge. It needed someone to knock the previous Directors heads together and show them that they were walking, no I'll change that to running into total oblivion even with accountants in their numbers. Ridsdale recognized the signs and could see the figures didn't add up, AND DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I have always said that I would judge him by what he did at PAFC.....and he did far more good than bad. AT Leeds and Cardiff.....you can find many views for and against what happened.......I admit he had ways of doing things that were not the standard way of proceeding.the end results were not all bad.........in fact he did things for Cardiff that have put them on a strong footing with a new ground as well. Where is the proof that he has harmed PAFC........he sacked Peter Reid when it was obvious he had no idea what to do......he felt that Carl Fletcher had potential to be a manager ( not the right time for a novice,in my opinion) but we stayed up.....he persuaded Darren Purse to give it a go at Argyle.....and he was involved in getting other clubs to lend Argyle players. That is now all history...and we have survived........if the downward spiral had not stopped and Ridsdale helped to stop it........we could all be supporting AFC Plymouth in a local Sunday league.....and you need to believe it........end of subject.
Totally agree Plym....he was the only bloke that realised we were in the ****e and bothered to keep the ship on course!
Ummm am I not right in saying the club was already on the verge of administration [if not in it] when Ridsdale became involved? That it had a wage bill several times its projected income? That it already had several winding up petitions to its name? Precisely how much of a genius do you need to be, given that you have full access to the club's books & accounts, to realise there may be one or two problems looming? From there on in, Ridsdale took the only actions possible, they weren't some stroke of genius on his part. If Ridsdale hadn't been about to claim credit for it, then the administrator would have had to do exactly the same thing. As Greenarmy says, anyone could have done that, given it consisted largely of selling players at a fraction of their value to cut the huge wage bill. Indeed, anyone SHOULD HAVE done that and the real question is how the old board managed to delude themselves that they didn't need to take drastic action for so long.
With accountants on the board....it beggers belief........that even if they weren't all totally involved with the day-to-day running of the club, regular board meetings should have flashed the odd warning light to so called experts in the field. Did it mean that Todd and his matees were loose cannons and Stapleton stopped Ridsdsale enjoying his walking holiday by asking him to pop by......... heh heh heh. Maybe anyone could have done it.......but Ridsdale being always high profile was the right man on the day.
I see from the WMN reports that Ridsdale said he always thought Brent was the man for the job. I'm a little sceptical about that given that the other lot were willing to sell him the club for £1......................
The answer to that one notdistant is "Oh no he didn't". He was cosying up to Heaney and the Administrators sniffing a bargain. He never once said anything reported that he thought Brent was the right man until pressure from the fans put paid to Heaney and Co. and made the Adminisgtrator pull his finger out. I think he did a job for Argyle which was necessary. That is as much credit as I'm going to give him. He did it for money which I suppose is fair enough in itself. Somebody had to and he was here. I don't think he was the saviour of Argyle but he was a part of the saving of the club along with others. I don't think my opinion of Ridsdale will ever change in that there is always a whiff of dodgy about him even if nothing ever seems to stick.
I think his recent pronouncement is quite annoying actually. In most respects he did absolutely no more than any other competent manager or administrator would have done in the dire circumstances. The one thing he can lay claim to is sacking Reid and appointing Fletcher. Whether you think that was a good thing or bad, is it very classy to be coming around now that the battle has been won and taking credit? No, it's not. A gentleman would have merely congratulated Fletcher and left it at that. I should think Brent would be love to put Ridsdale in his place for claiming to have set it all up for him, but he seems not to be the sort to sink to Ridsdale's level.
