Cardiff City Chairman Peter Ridsdale has moved to quell fears of a fans backlash amid uncertainty regarding the financial situation at the club and recent reports of a £2.5m tax bill unpaid and due this month.
The recent CCFC ticket initiative, billed as a funds raising programme to allow Dave Jones to strengthen during January inevitably began to look like an emergency funds scam – and fears grew that Ridsdale would use this money to abil the club out, having lied to the fans.
Peter Ridsdale has talked himself out of tighter corners, and has lost the trust of many fans of late. However, you most certainly cannot accuse him of being stupid, or anything less than a very effective public relations operator. That then should give the fans heart after his recent claims made to the Western Mail:
“We will be bringing in new players this month, I can guarantee that.”
“I would go so far as to say that come January 31, we will be holding a press conference to parade the players we have brought in during the month.”
To renege on that promise now would be a PR disaster, and not something Ridsdale is prone to. For the doom merchants amongst us, it may suggest that Risdale is on his last chance and it’s all or nothing in the coming weeks – i.e. he has nothing to lose.
However, more likely is that we will bring in new recruits in January, though most likely loan players on reasonable wages. Expect:
– ‘Premiership clubs want to hang onto their players right now’,
– ‘We won’t bring anybody in unless they improve the current squad’,
and
– ‘We won’t be held to ransom, some of the clubs want ridiculous loan fees’.
Remember, we have actually ‘strengthened’ in previous years during the Jabnuary transfer window. This time is supposed to be different, we will see as to whether we get the likes of Jason Byrne, Iwan Redan and Warren Feeney……OR…..the calibre of player we have apparently been scouting of late e.g. Jason Koumas, Darron Gibson and Fabien Delph.
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“Peter Ridsdale has talked himself out of tighter corners, and has lost the trust of many fans of late. ”
This is a man who STILL denies that he had any responsibility for what happened at Leeds. I had the dubious pleasure of meeting him, about a year before the proverbial hit the fan at Leeds; after a meeting at which he publicly stated that the club’s finances were based on a mid-table league finish, and getting knocked out of all the cups in the first round.
Judge for yourselves how much truth there was in that statement. And then reappraise his comments above …..
I doubt that’s going to have any effect whatsoever as to how Cardiff fans will appraise him