BETTY WROTE: only with hindsight is he ever not to blame. I THINK THAT is precisely the point, but the other way round..........it is only with hindsight that he IS to blame because not many peeps were complaining at the time. I remember having a slightly queasy feeling about the 60 year bond based on gate receipts, I must admit, but apart from that........
I think the key factor, which I'm surprised actually that Ridsdale didn't really develop was this: everyone knew we were gambling buying all those players, and paying those wages, but at the time, it wasn't SUCH a massive gamble. Ie nobody dreamed the consequences of failure would be what they were. It was a calculated gamble; if things went wobbly, all we had to do was sell off a few players again. The presence of so many young players from our own academy meant that we had a built in release valve where we could cash in at any time and be sure of a handsome profit. We could have been sure of sums of well over 20 m for Kewell, over 15 for Woody, over 12 probably for Smithy, over 10 for Robbo etc. What did we get for that lot in the end? Under 20 for the lot! What no one foresaw was a) a downturn in the transfer market b) the sudden effect of our fall meaning that bastard vulture clubs like Newcastle & Liverpool could hold us over a barrel, and most of all, the effect of the (then) newly introduced transfer window. That bloody killed us, because it allowed eg Newcastle, knowing we were desperate for the cash, to play brinkmanship over Woody's transfer. Ridsdale makes clear that a 14 m sale of Dacourt to Juventus and a 12 - 14 m sale of Weaselface to Liverpool were both sabotaged (the first by OLeary, the second by the rat himself)..........and a 7m sale of Seth bloody Johnson to Middlesbrough also fell through because the wanker failed a fitness test. That's 33 m quid we lost and we ended up giving all 3 of those players away just to get their wages off the books. You can't blame Ridsdale for that. I'm getting all upset about it all over again now. I was watching Chelsea v Villa the other night and fantasising..........what if Martin O'Neill had joined and taken over a reduced but still strong squad and a stabilised financial situation........where would we be now? Anyway........let's hope we can get a point at Swansea in a massive game this w/e!!! Rob Heath Bangkok Khow. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist DELETE THE FOOTERS WHEN REPLYING YOU LAZY SODS!!!! DELETE THE FOOTERS WHEN REPLYING YOU LAZY SODS!!!!
