Well he tells it as it is and as we already knew, or at least guessed.

The thing is he is really in a strong postion, he is wearing Supermans shirt and pants, the Japanese are Lex Luther !
If it goes right he is our saviour. If it goes wrong, well he told us so and its the directors fault (which it is)

I am deeply concerned about Stapletons role in all this, he is THE accountant and has held the books for some years.

Milehouse man appears to have a sound fiscal view of matters, I hope his knowledege of the game of brinkmanship is true.

As I suspected some of the things I most wanted to know were not answered.

The VAT liability of HPPL which we were lead to believe were 260K were explained away as being part of a group scheme between all the companies. Why was HPPL's VAT liability given separately and had a separate petition if it had nothing to do with them? Why wasn't there one petition for the whole group?

I suspect that some details of the inner workings of the companies that make up the club have not been revealed to Peter Ridsdale. Indeed why would the directors of those companies do so apart from revealing the extent of their debts?

This might account for some of the rather vague answers as to the size of the cash hole - 'a chasm' - and not knowing the exact percentage of the wage bill to turnover - "120? I might have that wrong, but more than 100%"

Administration seems to have been ruled out by him as he believed this money was coming from Japan. We have now sold off all the assets which could have been used in administration to generate cash when our debt to HMRC and other non-football creditors would have been reduced to 10p in the pound. That was done by PR in good faith that we would be getting the money from Japan.

One thing that springs to mind in all this is what would have happened if Peter Ridsdale had not turned up to offer his help and had chosen another club? Surely even our directors wouldn't have just stood by and done nothing while their investment and their reputations went down the pan. While we cant fault anything Peter Ridsdale has done so far but I can't believe that we didn't have anyone on the board that couldn't have done the same. For some reason they didn't seem to want to face the situation or do anything about it and seemed happy to just watch it all fall apart around them.

Interesting comment at the end "I am in the luxury position that the problems are not of my making". As he pointed out earlier the problems at those other clubs were not of his making either so why the comment?

[Mark Pedlar]

Chris,

I imagine you will understand that some of the things Ridsdale said were asked to be kept "off record". A couple of the questions posed in your last post above were answered.

Regarding the "not of my making" comment. I didn't feel there was anything in that other than the fact that directors and shareholders have responsibilities and liabilities - the luxury he was responding to was that as he isn't part of the structure, none of the Argyle mess is heading his way, regardless of the situation that develops. In some ways I see that as healthy as he can make his decisions and recommendations without too much baggage.

I'm not gonna be suckered in at the mo

I remember what a great job Peter Ridsdale did in terms of the Leeds Utd tragery when they were in Europe. I cant remember if it was Turkey when they were in the champions league but I remember how well he spoke to people on football focus about the tragery.

However, just because the bloke is very good at Public Relations I cant help but feel a sense of something doesnt seem right. I cant help but go back to this point last year when he told Cardiff fans to buy season tickets (for the following season) for new player investment and in the end he went to paid off a tax bill.

I know how bad the situation is. I understand fully there could be no club at the end of the season. Yet I just cant believe anything he says.

I wish there was a way of saving our football club where he wasnt involved!!

To counter that, MGM, take a look at Ridsdale's answer to the question regarding half season tickets. He advised the Board not to sell them to supporters because the club may not have been able to honour them.

It would have been easy money, but Ridsdale didn't want to risk taking money off fans for something that could have ended up worthless.

Chris,

I imagine you will understand that some of the things Ridsdale said were asked to be kept "off record". A couple of the questions posed in your last post above were answered.

Regarding the "not of my making" comment. I didn't feel there was anything in that other than the fact that directors and shareholders have responsibilities and liabilities - the luxury he was responding to was that as he isn't part of the structure, none of the Argyle mess is heading his way, regardless of the situation that develops. In some ways I see that as healthy as he can make his decisions and recommendations without too much baggage.

So far as mentioned in other posts he has done exactly what an administrator would have done. It is too early to judge whether the arrival of Peter Ridsdale at the club will save it from extinction or not.

We might never get to hear why the money from Japan has not arrived as promised. The arrival of another party whoever it may be at the request of other board members who haven't put any money in themselves to persuade them to do so might have had the opposite effect.

If they were going to honour their promise of funds why has it been delayed to a point where it is having a detrimental effect on the future of the club to which that investment is directed?

Chris,

I imagine you will understand that some of the things Ridsdale said were asked to be kept "off record". A couple of the questions posed in your last post above were answered.

Regarding the "not of my making" comment. I didn't feel there was anything in that other than the fact that directors and shareholders have responsibilities and liabilities - the luxury he was responding to was that as he isn't part of the structure, none of the Argyle mess is heading his way, regardless of the situation that develops. In some ways I see that as healthy as he can make his decisions and recommendations without too much baggage.

In the interests of full disclosure, that might helpfully have been pointed out at the start of the thread - that the transcript is an edited version.

I'm not gonna be suckered in at the mo

I remember what a great job Peter Ridsdale did in terms of the Leeds Utd tragery when they were in Europe. I cant remember if it was Turkey when they were in the champions league but I remember how well he spoke to people on football focus about the tragery.

However, just because the bloke is very good at Public Relations I cant help but feel a sense of something doesnt seem right. I cant help but go back to this point last year when he told Cardiff fans to buy season tickets (for the following season) for new player investment and in the end he went to paid off a tax bill.

I know how bad the situation is. I understand fully there could be no club at the end of the season. Yet I just cant believe anything he says.

I wish there was a way of saving our football club where he wasnt involved!!

To counter that, MGM, take a look at Ridsdale's answer to the question regarding half season tickets. He advised the Board not to sell them to supporters because the club may not have been able to honour them.

It would have been easy money, but Ridsdale didn't want to risk taking money off fans for something that could have ended up worthless.

Or, Ridsdale didn't want to risk being associated with taking money off of fans for something that was worthless.

Hair successfully split.

Sorry if I misread your post; I took it to mean that he was looking out for the fans. I was trying to point out that given his record, and the fact that he's on a final warning with the authorities, he'd want to avoid having his name mentioned if people were left out of pocket.

Apologies if that's what you were saying as well.

Re: An evening with Peter Ridsdale.

Would it be possible to ask whether he knows what the £12 million worth of "other operating cost" over the last three years went on, and if he can tell us 'on the record?'

I did ask for that question to be asked.

Not sure if it was or not.

Re: An evening with Peter Ridsdale.

Would it be possible to ask whether he knows what the £12 million worth of "other operating cost" over the last three years went on, and if he can tell us 'on the record?'

This, I think, is the most significant aspect of the whole sorry mess. It smacks of something very sinister - it may well not be, but with the unknowing, we are left with a situation where people will be drawing conclusions.

Re: An evening with Peter Ridsdale.

Would it be possible to ask whether he knows what the £12 million worth of "other operating cost" over the last three years went on, and if he can tell us 'on the record?'

This, I think, is the most significant aspect of the whole sorry mess. It smacks of something very sinister - it may well not be, but with the unknowing, we are left with a situation where people will be drawing conclusions.

Ridsdale did mention something about creditors for development ventures? I don't have time just now to re-read it all.
Good to see some dialogue between club and fans, well done to all concerned.