And people wonder why I and others dont trust Football Chairmen!

[davieG]

Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale has apologised to supporters over the club's financial crisis but says he will not be resigning.

The club announced on Wednesday that "assets" would be sold to help pay off a £2.7m tax bill and no players will join before Monday's transfer deadline.

That is despite raising around £3m from a season-ticket initiative to buy new players in the January window.

"Today is about me quite rightly eating humble pie," said Ridsdale on Thursday.

"It's saying to our supporters, if I misled you - and clearly you feel I did - I apologise.

"We undoubtedly have some short-term challenges and these challenges will be addressed fairly and squarely, and it would not have been appropriate to add to our overheads by bringing in players until they've been resolved."

The Bluebirds face a second winding up order 10 February if they fail to pay an outstanding tax bill of £2.7m owed to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Ridsdale made assurances earlier this month that the club was "trading as normal" and there was "no immediate threat" to the future of the club.

And asked on 8 January if the money from the season ticket initiative, known as the "Golden Ticket", would be used to pay off the debt, he said: "No, there is money to pay for that."

Around 10,000 supporters signed up to the initiative which offered full refunds if Cardiff wins promotion to the Premier League this season, and Ridsdale says that agreement "will be honoured".

Earlier on Thursday, fans had called for an extraordinary general meeting, saying a lot of supporters would feel cheated over the "Golden Ticket" initiative.

But Ridsdale responded: "At the time, we were working on a number of areas of funding which we believed, combined with the season ticket offer, would allow us to sort out paying our creditors and also bring in players for Dave's [Jones] squad.

"The other areas that we were working on have not materialised to date although some of them are still being discussed.

"To the degree therefore that the campaign was misleading, I reiterate my personal apology but it was not deliberate. It was said at the time with the best intentions."

Ridsdale accepted that supporters would be looking for a "knee-jerk reaction" and expect changes to be made at boardroom level.

But he said: "Contrary to popular belief, I am not resigning as chairman of Cardiff City Football Club.

"I had a long discussion with our shareholders this morning and with the board.

"It was the unanimous decision that to have regime change at this moment in the club's history would be inappropriate.

"That doesn't mean to say that might be appropriate in the future."

Ridsdale repeated that he would leave Cardiff when the job he came to do was "completed".

And he insisted: "This club in the long term will be in better health than it's been for many years."

But when asked if the HMRC tax bill will be paid by the time Cardiff were due in court on 10 February, he said: "You will find out on 10 February."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ity/8485325.stm

[davieG]

And of course the fans will have to accept it as the alternative of administration or the like is unacceptable and they will be considered disloyal.

[tewkesbury-fox]

Ridsdale repeated that he would leave Cardiff when the job he came to do was "completed

That should be soon then now that they are broke ! the man should not be let near a football club.......

[andyh1884]

'Peter Ridsdale' and 'Football club in financial crisis' go hand in hand. Let's not forget his spectacular work at Leeds, it was only a matter of time really.

[Head Honcho]

Ha ha a few of my friends are livid.

They've splashed out on season tickets for next season missed two home FA cup games due to lack of funds and now they've been told it's all been a con

[Guest ttfn]

Can we move this topic to massive cvnts of our time?

How the guy was even let near a football club again after Leeds is a brutal indictment of this country's football administrators

[Daggers]

Live the dream, Peter. Live the dream.

You have to say though - at least that twat Chairman has apologised for his January-window lies which is more than our Meelan has done.

[Cobbo]

'Fit & proper person' tests?

How can he go from club to club, leading all of them to the brink?

fooking ban him from running football clubs. Or maybe any business. Or ban him from the country. Yeah, that works.

[Flynny]

Very facile to place it on Ridsdale's shoulders.

[Hitesh]

As AndyH said, it was only a matter of time!

He should never be let near a football club ever again!

[Daggers]

The last set of accounts submitted by the club show a deficit of £38m, but also reveal that Ridsdale and his consultancy company have been paid a total of £1.5m in wages and fees over the past two years.

Keith Morgan from the supporters' trust added: "Certainly, issues like paying the tax man should come before player pay rises, or new signings, or bonuses to directors, or anything like that. We feel that sometimes the club might have got its priorities wrong."

[The Doctor]

wait. IF they face the winding up order next week, they could well go out of business. What would happen to the league and FA cup if they did?

[Zingari]

your problem is that you don't trust any fooker

[Guest Bilo]

wait. IF they face the winding up order next week, they could well go out of business. What would happen to the league and FA cup if they did?

In the league, I imagine it would just go down to 23 teams and the results of Cardiff would be null and void, which would have an effect on the teams they've played obviously. In the cup, not sure. Either we'd go through to play Chelsea or, far more likely, Chelsea would have a bye to the next round.

Cardiff going out of business and existence though is very unlikely though surely?

[davieG]

your problem is that you don't trust any fooker

Certainly the older I get I'm finding the fewer people I trust. Whether that's an age thing, as a nation we're becoming more aware of what's going on around us or that there's a lot more shittier people around I don't know.

[Zingari]

Certainly the older I get I'm finding the fewer people I trust. Whether that's an age thing, as a nation we're becoming more aware of what's going on around us or that there's a lot more shittier people around I don't know.

true , but at least we can still rely on the politicians and the bankers

[davieG]

true , but at least we can still rely on the politicians and the bankers

You do start to think politicians always been self serving despite what history says about them. I guess in the past, even though the weren't getting paid it enabled them to open doors and bypass certain laws.

[Zingari]

You do start to think politicians always been self serving despite what history says about them. I guess in the past, even though the weren't getting paid it enabled them to open doors and bypass certain laws.

Fairly sure we are taught a very sanitized version of history ,

Not sure if i believe it or not , but I read somewhere that Rothschild witnessed the battle of Waterloo , saw the victory , but raced back to London , spread the rumour that we were defeated , which caused a total collapse of the stock market and him and his mates snapped up the lot for peanuts

It could be a myth though , as I'm easily fooled by this stuff , and never do any research into the veracity of it

[harpendenfox]

The amount of dodgy dealings in football does may me wish for greater transparency from our own Club. You look at what's going on at Cardiff, Palace, Pompey and others, and it does give cause for concern.

I'd like City to publish full annual accounts with clear lists of debtors and creditors, borrowings and investments. Total transparency. Total disclosure of transfer fees in and out, and salary bands. No need to identify who gets paid what, but I'd like to see something like this:

Number of employees earning salaries per annum in each of the following bands:

up to £20,000

£20,000 to £50,000

£50,000 to £100,000

£150,000 to £200,000

£200,000 to £300,000

etc etc

OK so i don't own the Club, I'm not a shareholder (I was once, before that company went tits up), but I've been a loyal customer for 35 years, and I'd like there still to be a Leicester City in another 35 years time.

[davieG]

Public companies have to publish these details don't they or at least LCFC did under Elsom & Co, not that it stopped them mis-managing the club. There seems to me no logical reason why privately owned companies shouldn't do the same voluntarily. If they don't then I'll continue to believe they have something to and distrust them whilst taking a cynical view of what is being said in the absence of what's not being said.

[The Doctor]

In the league, I imagine it would just go down to 23 teams and the results of Cardiff would be null and void, which would have an effect on the teams they've played obviously. In the cup, not sure. Either we'd go through to play Chelsea or, far more likely, Chelsea would have a bye to the next round.

Cardiff going out of business and existence though is very unlikely though surely?

would expect it's similar to what was going on with hinckley a couple of weeks back and from what i heard if hinckley couldn't pay the debt to HMRC then they would fold.