RedHanded Magazine Peter Risdale interview

RedHanded: What is the purpose of the new stadium?
Peter Ridsdale: Ninian Park still has some standing capacity which would have had to be replaced by seats, bringing the capacity down to about 14,000. That is not really good enough for a club with these aspirations. We want to be playing Premiership football and for that we needed to enhance our revenue streams and this, with the extra capacity and corporate opportunities, will increase our match day turnover in the region of 60% next season. It is very important in helping to service our historic debt, which was incurred before I came to the club.

What is the current financial status at the club? I gather the club owe debts of £33million.
If you take the historic debt out of the equation, we are able to wash our face at the moment. We are breaking even. Given our revenue streams and the historic debt, it has been our strategy that the manager has to sell a player every season in order for us to move forward. We have put measures in place, such as the stadium, that will, I believe, see the debt cleared within 12 to 18 months.

What then?
The club can move forward and realise its potential. Hopefully that will amount to a place in the Premier League.

What are your feelings now, looking back, on the season that just passed?
Mixed feelings really. We were outstanding for about 42 games and then the last four games were a bitter disappointment. We somehow just fell apart and didn’t get over the line. It was very disappointing and not good enough.

Are you satisfied with the performance of Dave Jones as manager?
It’s hard not to be. Despite how the season ended, it has to be remembered that it was our highest finish for 38 years. On top of that he took us to an FA Cup final! I think he is a very good manager and we are very happy to have him at the club. You have to remember, the club is in a position where we are regularly selling our top players and to do what he has done in those circumstances is very impressive.

The fans seem fairly angry, which, in the context of the recent progress and current financial affairs at the club, might be considered harsh. I saw that on a recent web chat you were called upon by fans to apologise for the end of season results. Seems a bit silly.
I think you’re right, but supporters at football clubs are rarely satisfied and sometimes I feel it gets forgotten that a few times, not so very long ago, this club was on the point of going out of business. But in the sense that they get upset with results, I can understand. I am passionate about football and as great as it is when your team wins, I know how much it hurts when they lose. The end of our season was very poor and it hurt me too. The game really is infectious. When I left Leeds, it was such a bad experience I didn’t think I would ever come back to football. But it is infectious and when the offer came I took it. There are a lot of emotions so it doesn’t surprise me that people are angry at the way our season ended.

Are you happy at the club? You remain, rightly or wrongly, synonymous with what happened at Leeds and many people generally hold an unfavourable view of you. How are you treated at Cardiff?
I think they grudgingly accept me to an extent. They see that I have been brought in to get rid of the debt and oversee the delivery of the new stadium: stabilising the club. But when it’s time for me to go I don’t think anyone will be too sad to see the back of me. It’s a shame because I have the club's interests at heart and the results on and off the pitch have been very good. We will be at a point soon where the club, which was close to going out of business, will be debt free and playing in a new stadium.

How do you feel about the reputation you have gained from your time at Leeds?
Not great! And at the same time I feel like I was made a scapegoat for a lot of the problems they have had. In the years I was there we made Europe five years running, went to two European semi-finals, repeatedly made the top five and played exciting football. We had some great times. The financial model was such that it would have been okay financially if we stayed in the Premier League. When I left we were still in the Premier League and, while I accept a share of the blame for the spending, I think a lot of the good has been brushed over and I’ve been blamed for what happened subsequently. It ruined my reputation and was a very unpleasant experience. I’ve just been over to the States and in the local newspaper it referred to me as the “ex-Leeds United chairman”. What’s wrong with the “current Cardiff City chairman”? I have to carry it around with me. A very one-sided view of events has been spread.

Why do you stay in football?
Look, I do love the game, but in honesty if I had been given a chance to go back into retail, which is where my background is, I probably would have done. But after everything that happened I couldn’t get a position. Cardiff offered me a job, they thought I was the right person to help in their situation, and I took it. I have a young family and like anyone else I have to work.

There’s no denying Cardiff is currently in a stronger position than when you arrived.
I’d agree with that.

Right, so when are you going to sign Giggs?
He’s a player I would very much like to see at Cardiff one day.

Have you made an approach?
No, I have not. But he is one of those players and people that I think can serve as a role model for everyone. He has quietly gone about his business and been a great success without any of the bad behaviour you can see in the game. I’d of course welcome him here, but that might be a way off.

And the day Cardiff fans fully accept you?
That might be further off, but I can only do my best.

2009/10 Season tickets can be purchased online at www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk.

It seems like there is an edge to your music again, because of his lyrics…
Yeah, there is because I could never write as well as him. But, with all respect, I don’t think Richey could have written the lyrics to A Design for Life, because of their simplicity and social history. I don’t know, when we were sat around James’ table, writing music for this album, it just flowed. It’s like we were guided by the lyrics! So, you do have that edginess to it, but there are also acoustic moments in there as well – they’re just not as full-on!
In hindsight, were there any warning signs about Richey?
Oh, I don’t know. Towards the end - sort of post-Holy Bible - you could see that something wasn’t right but you just can’t understand, because he’s going through so much process. It was getting harder to communicate with him and he’d lost the ability to sleep, or shut-down. You know, we all have our ways of [switching off], whether it’s drinking, watching sport, for me it's watching films... but I think he just didn’t have the ability to be calm. He was creating all the time: he was either painting, writing, reading, typing…and you just can’t keep up with someone like that. But it was hard, because you could see that that was causing him stress, really.
You were once a cult band but are now the granddaddies of Welsh rock. Is that why you decided to up the ante with your last album, Send Away The Tigers and also this one?
I think so. I think we got to a point, with Lifeblood, where although there are some songs on there which I think are genuinely the best, pure song-writing we’ve ever done, there’s such a lack of energy and a lack of connection with ourselves. We literally didn’t go into the studio together - we all recorded separately. But it wasn’t that we weren’t getting on, we just saw it as an experiment. And I think from Know Your Enemy to Lifeblood it’s just a pretty confused, midseason lull. But I think the trick is getting out of it and I think we have managed to get out.

Do you think you’re still relevant then?
Yeah, I do. I mean, all bands make bad records – we’ve done it – and anyone who denies that are just idiots. All bands make average records and some make blistering ones. But, there aren’t that many contemporaries, from when we started, that are still – even the ones that are going – as relevant or as vital as we can be at times.

There’s always been a political edge to your music, so how do you feel about the fiasco over MPs’ expenses?
I think what they’re doing with expenses is terrible. It’s just rubbish. But also I think if every one of us was put under the same scrutiny, as politicians, we’d all be screwed! I’m not defending them, because they do a lot of terrible, petty stuff, but I think the fear of them being found out, for the tiniest thing, actually hampers them from doing their job properly.

Has what’s happened ended your love affair with New Labour?
Well, it was something I was never sucked into in the first place, actually. We were never invited to Downing Street that year [when everyone else was] even though we were probably the biggest band in Britain, bar Oasis. I was always amazed that people were disappointed [by New Labour] because that means they fell for it in the first place!

It sounds like you’ve gone off politics…
No, I’m one of the few – despite Labour and all that’s been going on recently with expenses – who enjoy politics on many different levels. I enjoy it at its grittiest - as a spectator sport! I know people are so disillusioned by politics – they just can’t see that it can do any good – but if you go back to, say, the Northern Ireland peace process it was politics that solved it. It was the same with devolution for Wales: it was still done through voting, democracy and politics. So, whether it’s for good or bad, I kind of still believe in politics more than I do, say, charity, because I still think politics is the one thing that can do good things, like that.

You’ve had a pop at rock stars in the past – any regrets about it?
Yeah, of course, because some of the times I’ve [done that I’ve] just been an idiot. I regret a lot – I’m not one of these people who says, ‘I don’t regret anything about my life, it’s a journey’. There’s plenty of stuff where I’ve just been stupid! But I think the sense of fun – the sarcasm I use – when I’m saying something doesn’t always come across. Besides, it’s just bedroom talk, or pub talk. It’s what most people say, or musicians say to each other – but not usually in public. I mean, we all know musicians are the biggest bitches - apart from producers, who are the worst!
Journal for Plague Lovers is in shops now

It seems like there is an edge to your music again, because of his lyrics…
Yeah, there is because I could never write as well as him. But, with all respect, I don’t think Richey could have written the lyrics to A Design for Life, because of their simplicity and social history. I don’t know, when we were sat around James’ table, writing music for this album, it just flowed. It’s like we were guided by the lyrics! So, you do have that edginess to it, but there are also acoustic moments in there as well – they’re just not as full-on!
In hindsight, were there any warning signs about Richey?
Oh, I don’t know. Towards the end - sort of post-Holy Bible - you could see that something wasn’t right but you just can’t understand, because he’s going through so much process. It was getting harder to communicate with him and he’d lost the ability to sleep, or shut-down. You know, we all have our ways of [switching off], whether it’s drinking, watching sport, for me it's watching films... but I think he just didn’t have the ability to be calm. He was creating all the time: he was either painting, writing, reading, typing…and you just can’t keep up with someone like that. But it was hard, because you could see that that was causing him stress, really.

You were once a cult band but are now the granddaddies of Welsh rock. Is that why you decided to up the ante with your last album, Send Away The Tigers and also this one?
I think so. I think we got to a point, with Lifeblood, where although there are some songs on there which I think are genuinely the best, pure song-writing we’ve ever done, there’s such a lack of energy and a lack of connection with ourselves. We literally didn’t go into the studio together - we all recorded separately. But it wasn’t that we weren’t getting on, we just saw it as an experiment. And I think from Know Your Enemy to Lifeblood it’s just a pretty confused, midseason lull. But I think the trick is getting out of it and I think we have managed to get out.

Do you think you’re still relevant then?
Yeah, I do. I mean, all bands make bad records – we’ve done it – and anyone who denies that are just idiots. All bands make average records and some make blistering ones. But, there aren’t that many contemporaries, from when we started, that are still – even the ones that are going – as relevant or as vital as we can be at times.

There’s always been a political edge to your music, so how do you feel about the fiasco over MPs’ expenses?
I think what they’re doing with expenses is terrible. It’s just rubbish. But also I think if every one of us was put under the same scrutiny, as politicians, we’d all be screwed! I’m not defending them, because they do a lot of terrible, petty stuff, but I think the fear of them being found out, for the tiniest thing, actually hampers them from doing their job properly.

Has what’s happened ended your love affair with New Labour?
Well, it was something I was never sucked into in the first place, actually. We were never invited to Downing Street that year [when everyone else was] even though we were probably the biggest band in Britain, bar Oasis. I was always amazed that people were disappointed [by New Labour] because that means they fell for it in the first place!

It sounds like you’ve gone off politics…
No, I’m one of the few – despite Labour and all that’s been going on recently with expenses – who enjoy politics on many different levels. I enjoy it at its grittiest - as a spectator sport! I know people are so disillusioned by politics – they just can’t see that it can do any good – but if you go back to, say, the Northern Ireland peace process it was politics that solved it. It was the same with devolution for Wales: it was still done through voting, democracy and politics. So, whether it’s for good or bad, I kind of still believe in politics more than I do, say, charity, because I still think politics is the one thing that can do good things, like that.

You’ve had a pop at rock stars in the past – any regrets about it?
Yeah, of course, because some of the times I’ve [done that I’ve] just been an idiot. I regret a lot – I’m not one of these people who says, ‘I don’t regret anything about my life, it’s a journey’. There’s plenty of stuff where I’ve just been stupid! But I think the sense of fun – the sarcasm I use – when I’m saying something doesn’t always come across. Besides, it’s just bedroom talk, or pub talk. It’s what most people say, or musicians say to each other – but not usually in public. I mean, we all know musicians are the biggest bitches - apart from producers, who are the worst!
Journal for Plague Lovers is in shops now

Leeds supporters still curse his name, but Peter Ridsdale is salvaging his reputation at Cardiff City. As he tells Riath Al-Samarrai, it's no small task

The Chairman

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