memory man wrote: GS: We arranged £2m and it was in an account ready to be invested. At that time Peter Ridsdale had already had his tentacles too far in the club and was able to convince enough of the directors that the club needed £7m or more and the £2m would be wasted with the best chance of survival being administration and that he had investors waiting. We believe this was a complete set up now and just a way to take control [b]and make more fees. [/b]
The phrase in bold seems highly believable. Has it ever been established what Ridsdale (the "hero of the hour") actually took out of the club in terms of fees. Were his fees also one of these "football debts" where the richer people get their money and the bloke that supplies the pies gets nothing? Or did his fees come out of what cash there was in terms of income? I am only interested because the £700 I lost as an unsecured creditor actually made a real difference to me at the time.
I believe he was employed by the administrators if so his fee would have been part of their payment. To be fair he couldn't be expected to work for nothing (he had no prior affiliation with the club) and most informed observers accept (many grudgingly) that he was key in the rescue of the club. The amount he received has not, to my knowledge, ever been in the public domain but I've little doubt it would have been generous. The £100,000 CVA settlement was Guilefoyle's doing and Ridsdale's fee would have had no bearing on it. Although people like yourself and others have everyone's sympathy the CVA was necessary to save the club.
Obviously Synan had issues with Ridsdale and his spin on events is coloured by that. Ridsdale was absolutely correct that at that time a £2m investment would have been irrelevant and, as we now know, his £7m estimate would also have been nowhere near sufficient to do anything but postpone administration. Either Kagami saved himself £2m or, as Synan claims, the money went to Stapleton and the local directors after administration in payment for their shares, which they had an option which, worthless or not, Kagami had to honour. It would be very interesting to know the truth about this.