Thursday, January 28, 2010

Why can't people tell the truth? Lies, damn lies and football club chairmen

Things are looking pretty grim on the financial side of things for many football clubs at the moment.

City are in the pooh, Crystal Palace have gone into administration, Portsmouth are in dire straits, and even Man Utd are over £700 million in debit (yes, you read that right - seven hundred million) if the news is to be believed.

As well as the commonality of the financial plight that all these clubs are facing, is the complete inability of those in positions of seniority within the clubs to tell the damn truth about the state of affairs and why things are as bad as they are.

All that failure does, is lead to speculation amongst the fans and hand rubbing headlines for the media.

Why won't any of these slick (or is that slimy) chairman cum Del boys just stand up and tell it how it is.

I said in a previous post here, if Peter Ridsdale has said, "Look fella's, we're in the poop, buy your season tickets early, we'll pay off the taxman, and there might be a bit left over for players", I'd have paid up, and respected him for his candour.

Having committed to pay out almost £450 (thank God City aren't charging Premier League prices) in December 09 for 20101/11 season tickets, promises of refunds if we're promoted (Ha!) and the money going to players, I find out it's going to the taxman. Pissed off? I surely am.

All this "seeking investment" nonsense is I'm sure hard graft. You don't just stick an ad in the local press saying "Got £40 million - wanna buy a footie club?", but at least don't lead us to believe a deal is done, or almost done, and start spending the money, until it is.

I was all for giving Peter Ridsdale some respect. I thought when he came in on Sam Hamman's bequest it was a very dodgy scenario for the club, but he does did, appear to be turning the club around. But his blatant untruths in the last few weeks have turned all that on it's head, and any respect I had for him is waning fast, and his credibility has hit rick bottom with most City fans.

He can still turn it round I think, but he needs to do it quickly. It's going to be interesting at CCS on Saturday when Doncaster visit. There are already threats - probably more than threats of a big protest.

It's not so much a chant of "where's the money gone", because we've been in doodoo for a while, but it's definitely a shout of "you can't hide your lyin' eyes...."

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