Ridsdale's Meeting with the fans.

This message was posted on Cardiff City.com a few minutes ago. I might as well publish it here in its entirety.
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An informal meeting took place in the Ninian Park boardroom yesterday morning (25/10/06) between new Cardiff City Chairman Peter Ridsdale and a small group of the club’s supporters. Present at the meeting were Gwyn Davies, Paul Corkrey and Wayne Crichton of the Valley RAMS, Vince Alm of the Cardiff City Supporters Club, Mike Morris and Dave Sugarman from the Cardiffcity.com website, Ninian Park stadium manager Wayne Nash, and Julian Jenkins from the football club’s media department.

A wide range of topics were discussed during a relaxed forum. What follows is a brief summary of the main issues covered:

THE CLUB’S FINANCES – Peter gave those present a detailed breakdown of the recent changes to the club’s financial situation. He said the new investors will be putting up an initial sum of £12 million in the takeover deal currently being brokered by Keith Harris of Seymour Pierce. £9 million of that money will go towards paying off some of the club’s £25 million loan notes debt, and the other £3 million will go towards meeting the running costs of the football club.

This investment is seemingly critical in order to improve the club’s financial health, and it’s apparent that Cardiff City FC will continue to be run on a very tight budget for the time being. I think it’s safe to say that those who think large sums will be spent on new players during the January transfer window as a result of this takeover will be disappointed. However, the Chairman did suggest that efforts will be made to find the necessary money for new players if and when the manager feels his team needs them. He also informed the fans that a hefty seven-figure tax bill has recently been cleared, and negotiations are continuing to clear the club’s remaining debts, including loans from former directors. He said the initial aim of the new investment programme was to make the club debt-free within 12 to 14 months, and to finally get work started on the new stadium project.

THE LOAN NOTES – While the identity of the owners of the club’s loan notes still remains a mystery, Peter told the supporters that the terms of their repayment have been satisfactorily renegotiated as a part of the new takeover deal. He also said the Council have at long last received the assurances they require from the loan note holders’ bankers, which removes the stadium project’s final major stumbling block.

THE STADIUM PROJECT – The Chairman sounded confident that problems with the stadium bid are now a thing of the past, and that work will begin shortly. He talked of how unrealistic the club’s business plan had been before he took control of the project, and said he wasn’t at all surprised that the Council’s financial advisors had dismissed it out of hand. As an example, he made mention of the fact that retail units within the structure of the stadium itself had been an important feature of the initial designs, and the income the club could’ve derived from these units had been factored into the prospective budgets. However, the truth is that planning permission has never actually been granted for any such units. The club does have planning permission to include its own club shop and offices within the stadium structure, but units from outside retailers are not permitted.

Peter said he now felt that all of the major difficulties with the project had been ironed out and that the latest financial information provided by the club should satisfy the Council and therefore enable work to start in the very near future.

THE GROUND-SHARE TALK – Several of the supporters present voiced strong opposition to the idea of a possible ground-share with the Cardiff Blues rugby club at the new stadium. Peter was at pains to point out that such a scheme is merely a consideration at the current point in time, and would only ever become a reality if it was in the best interests of the football club. He also stressed that the football club will always be in control of the stadium, and the rugby team will merely become tenants if a suitable agreement can ever be reached between the two clubs.
The current agreement between Reading FC and the London Irish rugby club was used a prime example of the sort of deal which may be possible here in the future, and it was stressed that the Swansea City and Ospreys ground-share model would definitely not be followed in Cardiff. Stadium manager Wayne Nash dismissed fears that the involvement of a rugby team would seriously damage the playing surface. He said that modern pitch technology is such that any damage can be kept to an absolute minimum, as is the case at places like Reading, Hull and Wigan.

CAPACITY OF THE NEW STADIUM – This issue was discussed only briefly, as nobody in the room had seen the Echo’s report before the meeting. Peter told the fans that the exact capacity for the first phase of the new stadium had yet to be decided, and was dependent upon finances at the time of build. He said a minimum of 25,000 seats will initially be installed, although the number is more likely to be somewhere between 27,000 and 30,000. No mention was made of any further phases of the stadium’s development.

THE NEW BOARD – All City fans will no doubt be pleased to hear that director Steve Borley is to remain on the club’s board for the foreseeable future. Peter spoke very highly of Steve, and it’s clear he is still seen as an important influence in the Ninian Park boardroom. The future of the two remaining directors, Ned Hammam and Jonathan Crystal, is currently unclear, although the Chairman said he felt they were unlikely to remain on the board, and that new directors could step in once the takeover deal has been completed.

SAM HAMMAM – Peter confirmed that current owner Sam Hammam has been offered the position of Life President, and as such he will always be made welcome in the Director’s Box and the boardroom on match days. However, Sam will no longer play any part in board meetings; he will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the club and will not sit on the bench during matches. Peter said he was anxious that Saturday’s game against Derby County should be all about Dave Jones and his team getting back to winning ways after the defeat at Norwich rather than being about Sam.

NINIAN PARK AND THE PREMIERSHIP – The Chairman confirmed that Cardiff City will make an application for the continued use of the Ninian Park terraces should the club get promoted to the Premiership before the new stadium is completed. Many fans, including myself, have been under the impression that the club would either have to put seats on the Ninian terraces or close them down altogether if promotion was secured, as Premiership rules would preclude their use. However, it seems that the rules regarding all-seated stadiums are the same in both of the top two divisions, and it is therefore possible for City to gain continued special dispensation to use the Ninian terraces provided that work on the new stadium gets underway.
Peter totally dismissed the idea of renting the Millennium Stadium for future Premiership fixtures, and said that both he and Dave Jones were convinced that the atmosphere generated at Ninian Park would be a distinct advantage to City’s players if they got to the top flight. He said the idea of playing against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium was quite simply a non-starter. The subject of ticket prices at the new stadium was discussed, and particular attention was paid to the likelihood of increases should the club reach the Premiership. The Chairman outlined his intention to keep prices well within reach of the average supporter, just as he did during his time in charge of Leeds United. He said the club would be looking to significantly increase its revenue from areas such as corporate hospitality and sponsorship at the new stadium as opposed to from drastic ticket price increases.
MASCOTS – Peter talked of his keen desire to market Cardiff City as a family club and indicated that, with that in mind, match day mascots will be returning almost immediately. The Bluebirds will also be looking to have a new club mascot very soon. Exactly what it will be and what it will be named will probably be the subject of a forthcoming competition for the children.
THE CLUB BADGE – The possibility of altering the current club badge to include the words ‘CARDIFF CITY’ instead of ‘BLUEBIRDS’ was discussed briefly, and will be examined shortly by the relevant people at the club.

The Chairman closed the meeting by saying that he and his staff will always welcome suggestions from City’s supporters, and he urged fans to contact the club with their ideas, observations and concerns whenever they feel it necessary to do so.

The King is Dead - Long Live etc...

No sooner is Hammam out of the door than the new boss, Peter Ridsdale is calling a summit of "fan leaders" to meet with him. Where other clubs have a PR officer and a press list, Cardiff City have a list of punters. This club cuts out all the middlemen, and the Chairman spins the news through the most committed fans. This is a particularly unsavoury way of doing things. Whereas a cynical and independent (in theory) press might question some of the club's statements, the fans are less likely to do so. The angle that gets peddled to the club's supporters comes stright from the horse's mouth. It is a disingenuous, manipulative abuse of trust and loyalty. We thought the tactic might have disappeared with Hammam, but it appears that Ridsdale is taking the same route.

So what came out of yeterdays meeting ? Ridsdale obviously wanted his version of events to seep out of Ninian Park and into the Lansdowne, the Napier and the King's. The version above is an edited/censored summary of the meeting. Other things were apparently said, but that won't go public. These things get round by word of mouth.

It's safe to say that the club is in the middle of one big gamble. If we go up and onto to better things, a lot of people stand to make a lot of money. If we don't, then the club will sink. My money is on the latter. Quite literally - I've laid City against promotion on Betfair.

Cardiff City are not the only club making this gamble, and you could say that it is an achievement that we are even allowed to play at the table.

Out of respect for my sources I don't want to reveal too much about what was said at the meeting, but I am a little happier today that my scepticism about Sam Hammam appears to have been justified.

Will this unpublished message filter through to the messageboard today ? If it does, then we might be able to enjoy Saturday's match without the toe-curling banners and sycophantic chants about Sam Hammam. Crossed fingers are what this club needs at the moment.

It is worth repeating my opposition statement now that I have a platform via this blog. This City does not need another retail park. It does not need another stadium. We have plenty of both.

Another voice of reason

From the message board at Cardiff City Mad

Just my thoughts:-

£30m in debt - Thanks Sam!
Got rid of our brilliant badge even though the majority wanted it kept - Thanks Sam!
Paul Guy keeping us afloat - Thanks Sam!
Got rid of mascots - Thanks Sam!
Caused in-fighting beteween loyal fans - Thanks Sam!
Peter Risdale actually got Dave Jones in - Thanks Sam!
Threatening to change our name and colours - Thanks Sam!
Lost any family atmosphere - Thanks Sam!
For having the minority love him, who then shouted down the majority who didn't - Thanks Sam!
Saying we represent the whole of Wales when we quite obviously don't - Thanks Sam!
Banning fans, Jack Brown bookmakers and anyone else that displeased him - Thanks Sam!
Not being a 'family' but a one man ego show - Thanks Sam!
For the continuous lying (administration error etc. etc.)- Thanks Sam!
For finally going - Yes, Thanks Sam!
And yet people are still saying 'thanks Sam'.
Like I said, just my thoughts............

Voices of Dissent

Not everybody is fawning with gratitude at the feet of Sam Hammam. Here are some emails that I have received from less enamoured Cardiff City fans.
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It's shades of grey though, isn't it ? If you want to call it a bereavement, then I will be taking the same actions as I took when the Queen Mother's passing was "celebrated" at PN - except I won't be in a seat on Saturday that I can remain seated in, quietly. By the same token, if others want to applaud him, that's their choice, and that's up to them. I won't be joining in, but I do respect others' rights to do so if they so choose.

Eric, you're right on the legacy - take away the means, throw in a bit of luck, and the club is marginally in a better place now than it was 6 years ago. Where were we exactly ? Sloshing around the lower leagues, no money to sign decent players, no sustainable long term infrastructure. Prognosis ? On a blunt kitchen knife edge - we could have gone down to the Conference - or someone with a few pennies could have come in (probably a couple of million), stabilised the club, and realistically, we would have spent the foreseeable future at a slightly tarted up Ninian Park, oscillating between the Third and Fourth Divisions.

Instead, we got Sam. Due to family connections, and some previous, he was able to get his hands on a bit more than a couple of million, and therefore in six years,
he's delivered two promotions, and we've had a decent first quarter to this season. We have an Academy, which has started to produce good players. Some dreadful purchases - Barker, Prior, Gavin Gordon - and many forget David Hughes, who even before injury struck him down prematurely hardly looked like a half million pound player. Rumours of grossly inflated wages. So as well as the positives, we also have a £30m debt. We're on a very sharp machete edge - we saw the shape of things potentially to come on Black Friday - home grown heroes being sold in a fire sale. There is no permanence in the Academy. And I mentioned his previous earlier - Wimbledon, from non league football, to the FA Cup and half a dozen years in the Premier League - their fans had a great time for half a generation. But where are they now ? And how much heartache has that caused along the way ? How do you begin to weigh up the pleasure against the pain of lifelong Wimbledon fans - but moreover, what right has one man got to dictate that equation coming into being in the first place ?

Then you've got the bullshit - the bigger than Barcelona., shirt burning, Big brother little brother bullshit - the unnecessary braggadocio which never backfired on him, but on each and every one of us, making us look like blind followers of some mindless cult.

To use a metaphor, before Sam we were a point to point horse - turning up week in, week out, always fishing the race, occasionally coming in as an each way bet, often following most of the rest of the field - but it was always there next week with a chance of giving us a return on our money, and even occasionally making a small profit, sharing the transient glories of victory amongst us all. Then Sam turned us into a Grand National horse - at the end of the first circuit, we were up with the leaders, with a real chance of real fame and glory in a lap's time. But the stakes were a lot higher - as the horse gets more tired, a fatal fall can take place. Don't forget the last horse he'd taken through the Grand National - it competed for a long part of the race, but then fell, and had to be put down. It was never going to come back for the next race.

This time, he got lucky - for whatever reason, whether it was his choice or someone else's, they've changed the jockey half way round. But the horse is still tired - it
still carries a lot of extra weight - £30m of lead in its saddlebag. But a big bottle of lucozade is possibly on offer, to give the horse a bit of extra energy. It may go the course - and provide some transient glory. But it can still fall.

So what is Sam's legacy then ? He's put us in a race where the rewards are quantatively bigger - but the the penalties for failing are a lot harsher, and more permanent. Some people are happy for others to make this decision for them - and either don't care about the harsher penalty for failing - or can't see it till it hits them like a bullet between the eyes. Personally, I'm not happy for other people to hijack my fortunes in that way, which is why I'm glad Sam is going. Unfortunately, I'm not sure yet what the new jockey is like, and anyway, this isn't a race I really wanted to be in anyway. I think I would have preferred the Derby - when you finally fail
there, you get to spend the rest of your days shagging in a nice field, rather than being shafted, permanently, in the race that Hammam entered us into.

Which is why I'll be silent on Saturday.

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And from another dissenter:

I had to try and explain to an Arsenal supporting colleague why I was so happy about Hammam fucking off yesterday. Although I offended him deeply by using a Hitler comparison, I still feel it was a fundamentally sound analogy. City from 2000 – 2006 was much better on the field than the previous 20 years. Its something like the improvements seen in the German economy after the National Socialists came to power, between 1933 and 1938. For you average German things seemed great, compared to the hyper-inflation experienced in the 20s. But there was a cost. Sections of society (the fanbase) were persecuted, and though popular support for the leader remained strong, there were those who could see that ultimately there was a terrible price to pay. The soul of the nation/club, was deeply disfigured by those who supported the success at any costs mentality and either didn’t care about, or actively supported, the evil agenda of the leader.

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And finally

No one can make any kind of judgement based on the PR campaign we have had so far, only the reality of the next few years. I don't think our situation has changed very markedly, someone will still want a return on their "serious money" that has "replaced the debt" and the future well-being of the club is still staked on a property development.

Getting in to the Premiership does not in itself guarantee healthy finances even with the new TV deal starting, it depends on what you spend when you're there. Obviously I think having Hammam's unstable and possibly incompetent character out of the way is probably a positive and I am very glad he's gone due to my personal dislike of his actions, pronouncements and methods.

Most of all I won't have to suffer his horrendous cult of personality and the lie that he "wasn't doing it for money"So, in summary, I think we MIGHT be slightly better off, slightly more stable and with a very slightly less odious man at the helm. Also, I wonder if the excellent work the council have done in protecting us from Hammam's unworkable (no one disputes this now do they? His having to walk away pretty much confirms that) and dangerous plans will ever be remarked upon en masse by the fans?

Sound familiar ?

This is a report of the 2002-02 season at Leeds United:

It was not the first time that the question of money had been raised as a major issue. The Guardian carried the following report a month earlier: "The scale of the financial implications of Leeds United's underachievement this season became clear yesterday when the chairman Peter Ridsdale announced that they had lost almost £14m in this financial year and that they would have to sell £30m-worth of players this summer in order to reduce their debt by £15m to £20m.

"Leeds are believed to have received a bid of £30m for Rio Ferdinand alone but would not countenance selling their captain, so the mooted sale of Mark Viduka to Roma should account for half the £30m. Internazionale and Juventus have offered a similar sum for Olivier Dacourt but his season has been affected by injury and the likelihood of him not making France's World Cup squad will affect his value. Despite all the speculation surrounding Harry Kewell, Leeds have not received one bid for the Australian.

"The ease or difficulty of reaching the £30m figure then depends to a degree on how Leeds finish this season. Were they to secure a Champions League place, their players would end their season on a high note and values would rise correspondingly. However, if Elland Road experiences another downturn, the marketability of fringe players such as Stephen McPhail and Robbie Keane will decrease. The manager David O'Leary will also want to bring in at least two new faces, so Ridsdale's estimate that up to six players may leave the club could be correct.
"He said: 'One of the transfers will probably be more than £10m with three or four more smaller deals made up of squad players who are not regular first-teamers. The amount left for the manager to spend will depend on European qualification.'

"The situation has been forced on Leeds as they try to reduce long-term borrowings that have risen to more than £85m after a £90m spending spree that has brought no silverware. An indication of how results-driven the economics are is that when they topped the Premiership in September, Leeds's shares were worth 14p. Yesterday they fell to 7p.

"Ridsdale was speaking after Leeds unveiled a £13.8m full-year loss which served to compound fears in the City that the stock market-listed club has borrowed too much in its quest for success on the pitch. Leeds have had the squad independently valued at £198m but the City values the entire club at just £25m. But Ridsdale remains bullish. 'There are a lot of people waiting for Leeds to have a hiccup,' he said, 'but we're committed to a strategy of building one of Europe's biggest clubs and all our shareholders support us. We have no concerns about either our cash or debt levels.'

"A sign of Ridsdale's confidence, or concern, is that along with his fellow director Allan Leighton he is preparing to buy out one significant investor in the club, the bank UBS Warburgs, who own 11%. At yesterday's prices that would cost around £3m.

"Explaining the yearly loss, Ridsdale said the uncertainty surrounding the Lee Bowyer-Jonathan Woodgate trial and the injuries to Lucas Radebe and Michael Bridges had forced Leeds to carry more players on their wage bill than they had originally wanted. 'We didn't know who was going to be available to the manager,' he said. 'It was not an ideal situation.'

"Ridsdale also insisted that plans to move to a new stadium and fund it by selling naming rights were unaffected by the impending player sales. He said: 'We're in discussions with three multinationals over naming rights and already have one indicative offer.'"
It was an astonishing turn of events and few supporters could recall when financial pressures had put the club's on-field performances so much in the shade.