April Fool: Ridsdale to Join Grimsby Board!

By: Jon Mjedsson
Date: 01/04/2003

IN a surprise announcement, it has been announced that Peter Ridsdale will be joining the Grimsby Town board. The ex-Leeds chairman has only been out of work for less than 24 hours since yesterday's announcement to the City that he had resigned from the board of the Premiership club.

A spokesperson for Grimsby Town Football Club has said "The club has made a brave choice in inviting Mr Peter Ridsdale to join the board, but we feel that he is genuine lover of football, and has a lot of experience of being on the board of a football club in difficult times. He can only be a positive influence on Grimsby Town Football Club."

The appointment is likely to cause controversy for the N.E. Lincs club. Ridsdale has presided over a dramatic downturn in Leeds Utd's fortunes. He has taken them from a team competing in the potential Premiership champions to the danger of being drawn into a relegation dogfight. By gambling and losing on Leeds' continuing presence in the Champions' League and the substantial income that entails, he was forced to sell leading players to settle debts. His poor relationship with manager Terry Venables was infamous. It is also unclear what the reaction of ordinary Mariners fans will be to the appointment of the former chairman of a disliked Yorkshire side.

But could the "genuine football fan" Ridsdale bring new money and perhaps players to Blundell Park? If he cares to contribute even a small part of his reputed 7-figure payoff from Leeds Utd, it could help stabilise the club's finances. Unlikely as it may seem, he may be Grimsby's saviour.

No one was available at GTFC for comment when the Fishy contacted them.

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