Fascinating interview from Peter "it wasn't my fault" Ridsdale in the Evening Standard today: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...ter-my-time-with-leeds-says-peter-ridsdale.do The chutzpah of the man is extraordinary - "it wasn't me, it was the board what done it". The claim that the debt could have been paid of over 25 years is interesting but surely incorrect. If a team with an £80m turnover is £79m in debt, then surely it can't be paid away like a mortgage? The only redeeming bit of his interview is that he slags off Terry Venables. The interview did make me think though - if we were so heavily in debt, why didn't we just sell some of our many, many valuable players at good prices to pay it off? The mid boggles to think of the potential value of Kewell, Bowyer, Smith, Woodgate, Viduka - surely at least £80m put together. I can even remember when Milan were supposably going to pay £15m for Ian Harte. Them were the days!
Couldn't sell players as they were being leased, yes thst's right, leased. The gamble was to stay in Champs Lge to cover the debt, and that killed us. Ridsdale was reckless and panicked too soon. Venables couldn't believe his luck, signing a contract that guaranteed him £2m if he got sacked. So what did he do? Picked a fight with Dacourt to get rid of him, insisted on picking Jacob Burns in his midfield and constantly came out with negative comments in the press about how bad Leeds were as a club. He couldn't wait to get sacked so he could pocket the dosh and head back to Spain. Venables is a wide boy, and Ridsdale is a fool.
