Thetownend.com

You really couldn't make it up, in a week where Mandaric looks set to take over at Sheff Weds, it now looks like Peter Ridsdale may be taking the reins at Plymouth, do people really not learn anything about these cowboys

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/plymouth_argyle/9228231.stm

Thats it Plymouth in the Conference in two years. :doh:

Despite Plymouth vigorously denying he was there on two separate occasions for any other reason than just to watch a game while on holiday. How do these people expect anyone to trust a word that comes out of their mouths?

Another club to face going under?? Cant see how Ridsdale could help Plymouth really.

Short term he will help but it is the long term ramifications their supporters should be worried about along with his history

Yeah 'cause he's properly fucked up Cardiff hasn't he. FA cup finalists a couple of years ago, currently sitting second in the championship, watching Craig Bellamy play up front for them in their brand new 26,500 seater stadium.

I feel really sorry for the poor bastards.

He left them in a shocking state, facing multiple winding up orders and on the brink of going bust. By your criterion, Diamandis would be the ideal owner

They only escaped administration due to a takeover that saw Ridsdale leave

What does Risdale gain from all of this?

They were on the brink of going into administration when took over the club with the stadium developer in 2005(6?) and were forced to hand over £600k to Sam Hammans bunch of cowboys to do so.

There's been one winding up order I think, a year ago, from HMRC (as they always fucking are). They staved that off, and then brought in the Malaysians who had the money to take the club forward. That's a fucking long way from the regime of bleeding the club dry and being prepared to risk it go completely tits up if there was the chance to screw a few more quid out of it that Baron Greenback oversaw.

There were 5 actually, the last 3 of which went right to the wire, with the club in real danger of going bust due to Ridsdale's tenure. But don't let a completely inaccurate grasp of the facts cloud your view

But Paul, surely if he is aggressive and condescending enough, he must be right?

He does have a point actually. Ridsdale did take Cardiff right to the brink, lying to shareholders and season ticket holders along the way (remember the great "Buy your season ticket early and we'll spend it on players in Jan, ooh whoops, we threw it down a black hole instead" scam of last Jan), but they did at least come out of it with a new stadium. Albeit one he completely fucked up the budget on

Some new fish.

Fucking hell I feel sorry for Plymouth already.

Didnt take him long to weave his magic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/plymouth_argyle/9230347.stm

Looks like that was put forward on 23rd... presumably as soon as the phone-call from Ridsdale had ended!

It's got to the stage where I think nothing of stories like these.

One day a club will go under and I'll be genuinely shocked.

I have a Plymouth supporting mate, he's on suicide watch.

Whay exactly was aggressive about my post? This from the man with "Fuck off Twat" as a subtitle is pushing the irony meter a little isn't it?

at least it wasn't patronising.

My point still remains however. Ridsdale didn't take Cardiff to the brink, they were already there when he took over. That board kept them teetering there for 5 years, but made progress on and off the pitch, and then made way when they needed to. If the Wills family had built us a new stadium, taken us up the leagues and to an FA cup final, and then quietly fucked off when Fitton showed up, Town fans would have had a lot less to complain about.

I'm pretty sure condescending is a close enough synonym

True dat.

I think we're two different sides of the same coin on the Ridsdale thing - you see it that he did a pretty good job, all things considered, I see it that he damn near managed to pull disaster from the jaws of victory when a more competent chairman who perhaps quietly went about the task of getting the job done instead of blowing his own damn trumpet could have achieved all he did, without the lies, threat of bankruptcy etc. Be honest, would you want Ridsdale here?

I forgot to agree earlier btw that Sam Hamman is a Grade A gobshite. There should be some kind of law in football that if the authorities aren't going to bother to regulate the game properly to prevent bad owners/directors from ruining clubs, you should at least get some respite. So if you've just had a Sam Hamman, you shouldn't get a Ridsdale. Or, for example, a prior Gaydamak would prevent a Chainrai until you'd at least had a Fitton in between

What Risdale has done is in the past has paid himself £1m a year salery and slowley siphoned of the assests from all the clubs he has been invloved with.
Leeds, Bradford, Barnsley and Cardiff

Yes thay had debts before but under the new regime these increased and they paid players silly wages. Same as he did at Leeds and paid himself very nicely for doing it. There was somewhere a list of Cardiffs accounts and private helicopter rides etc for Risdale and others was on it.
He is a leech.

Bumpity-Bump-Bump. Ridsdale charged with fraud for his season ticket scam at Cardiff:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/06/cardiff-chairman-peter-ridsdale-court-fraud

And meanwhile he's asking the Plymouth administrator for permission to start selling season tickets (with such a strong track record, who could object?) while their fans are no closer to knowing the identity of their mystery preferred bidders who may or may not prefer Ridsdale to remain in charge. After all, he's done such a sterling job everywhere else he's been.

Bloody hell hadn't heard about that season ticket thing before.

Imagine its only a matter of time before he runs for FIFA president with form like that.