Fallon to Ipswich

[Pasty Duchy]

On loan 'til the end of January, with a view to a permanent move during the transfer window.

[PASTIE]

He has to be worth a million quid.

Spread the word.

Certainly the most astonishing development of the season so far, more than our winding up orders and the appearance of Ridsdale.

Actually, perhaps the winding up order:

"Tell 'em somebody has signed Fallon"

;D

[ovechkin8]

Are things that bad ?

The sight of a Ridsdale doesn't inspire confidence.

Is Fallon that good. I always thought he was a flake especially as he is from Lootown home of al-Qaeda in the UK.

[PASTIE]

a. Yes things are that bad. We make Wednesday look secure without any of the fun of actually being able to compete in the league.

b. Rory Fallon is a good honest soul. A grafter, born again christian who clearly respects his role in the community, honest and hardworking. Such a shame that he's mostly hopeless

[ovechkin8]

So someone has more money than sense ?

Could it be a football chairman ?

Hope it all works out for you Pilgrims. We've had our scare and are still not out of the woods.

[PASTIE]

Copied from PASOTI, from a Cardiff fan:

Hi all, Cardiff fan here having heard about Ridsdale.

Well, we knew about Leeds, knew about Bradford, little did we know how we'd just about escape his stewardship.

You, as supporters, need to do everything you possibly can to get rid of this cancer from your club. There's no simpler way of saying it.

What did he do at Cardiff?

hammam brought him on board as a consultant. Hammam quite frankly loves his football, mad as a hatter when dealing with a council. Ridsdale brought on board to schmooze our council. Which he did.

Of course, when it came down to the actual plans etc Ridders did zero of that actual work, but hey... took the credit, and a nice sum of money.

So, how did Ridsdale become chairman? Answer is simple, a power play by Paul Guy of PMG - developers of the retail park side of our stadium development and director of the club. Hammam leveraged out with PMG threatening admin.

So, Ridders had full control. What debts did we have when he took over? About 25m to Citibank - which was paid off by the mysterious Langston group.

Under Ridsdale, debts rose. That's natural, stadium build, lots of those offset later on... except the true nature of Ridsdale soon became apparent.

Ridsdale had zero - nadda - zip - nothing - of his own money to invest in the football club. So he was basically freerollnig with other peop-les money. This led to his tactic of not paying transfer fees but paying high wages. Our wage bill for players was towards the top 5 of the Championship - with other clubs having players on prem wages - whilst having one of the smallest squads in the div. Add in Fowler, Hasslebaink, Sinclair...

Oh yes, Hasslebaink. The guy who had a clause in his contract that triggered a new contract if he played enough games. Ridsdale asked him to waive that clause - but didn't get it in writing, costing the club 700k.

Meanwhile, debts escalted - despite selling around 30m worth of players during his reign. Creditors weren't being paid a penny. 3 court appearances with HMRC.

All the while, outgoings escalated - a second stadium manager on 100k, a highly paid PR guy - bnoth of whome Ridders knew from his Leeds day.

Of course, we couldn't afford such things as the lighting needed for the pitch at CCS, but hey.

The club was in very real and clear danger of going under. Other directors were paying thhe wages, VAT et al. Accounts showed that of three directors eligible for stadium completion bonuses, only one drew the money out. I'll leave you to guess who that one was. One of the directors who refused to take the momney out was owed 2m for work their company had done on the stadium, for reference.

But it was all ok. Ridders had other investors lined up. Ben Steele, a very rich man from Guernsey. Fans raised an eyebrow after his Southampton bid failed, but it was ok, Steele said. Just google me, he said. And googling found out he was a wide boy, left huis company years before, scammed a nice weekened break in Cardiff at the clubs expense.

But it was ok, Ridders had American investors lined up. Until it was revealed said Americans were just employees of Citibank and not investors.

So, how did we end up with the Malaysians? Well, there was initial contact made by a fan, actually, chatting when uin Malaysia. Things developed, club dealt with Tien Ghee. And by club, I mean Alan Whiteley. Things were going pretty well, until... Ridders moved Whitley to other things, because Ridders wanted to deal with the Malaysians, getting the credit for rescuing the club from the hole he'd got us in.

And then the s*** hit the fan.

See, Ridders figured maybe revealing the real situation we were in - documents provided were quite the work of fiction; player wages were misrepresented - even to other directors. Except Ridders had met his match. Tien Ghee, Vincent Tan smart cookies - they'd somehow already got the figures, knew about loans even other directors didn't know anything about.

They didn't like dealing with a fibby wibby teller; hence talks broke off, admin a very real certainty.

Steve Borley, owed millions by the club, diehard fan and director, resurrected the talks. That is the sole reason why we've now owners running the club properly.

And then wee've Ridders resignation. Back in Jan, Ridders press conference, expected he'd resign. Except he didn't./ Because whilst other board members would have gladly aaccepted, he waved a contract he'd had drawn up by other directors Ridfders got onto the board - he quit, gets a 1m payoff.

The Malaysians, as I've said, are no dummies. hence he's skulked off and legally been shafted on that contract. Rumour has it forensic accountancy revealed wuite a few things Ridders may not have wanted public - like hotel rooms booked for his affair with a member of staff (now fired), cost of helicopters to fly him home...

Ridders is bascially skint. When the company cars were taken off him, he now drives a Mini.

In short, he's got no money to invest in you. He'll cite our stadium as proof he can drive new developments through, but the point remains he will do nothing other than sell you a dream and bleed you dry.

And I know this is kinda sappy on a footy forum, but when I went to away games, always had a good time at your place. You deservge better than that parasite.

[ovechkin8]

Nice bloke.

How the hell he remained in football after nearly destroying Leeds is a mystery.

He's well off while he's left the clubs he has been at in dire straits.

You should make sure he leaves Argyle well alone.

What a caunt.

[PASTIE]

Agreed. Sounds like there is no choice... We'd all been worrying about our game against Exeter City on the 11th but we could not exist by then. Too much riding on the World Cup bid; if unsuccessful the current incumbents likely to scarper leaving the coast clear for Ridsdale to sweep in and "weave his magic".

[ovechkin8]

Well fingers crossed we get the World Cup tomorrow. It's been long enough and you can get this new stadium.

Nottingham Forest will then go ahead with the Brian Clough Arena and Tottenham with their new stadium as venues.

Pehaps it might be an idea to share with Plymouth Albion RFC as well ?

[PASTIE]

*sigh*

Doomed?

All eggs in one structurally unsound basket I fear.