Under Ridsdale's stewardship the club borrowed £60m against future gate receipts, effectively gambling on Leeds qualifying for the Champions League in successive seasons, which they failed to do.
Ridsdale has repeatedly denied any blame with regard to the later situation of the club[5] but has also conflictingly admitted it was a mistake to allow David O'Leary to spend so lavishly on players.
[6] Ridsdale also claimed that he would have saved Leeds from subsequent relegations to the third tier of English football and the debt his board had incurred in the name of the club.
[9] He was also the owner of Barnsley for a while, rescuing them from folding after dropping from the Premier League to Division Two and loss of revenue from the ITV Digital collapse.
[11] It has been alleged that the former Leeds chairman has flirted with disaster, trying to build a promotion-winning side while, at the same time, the Bluebirds have fought off four winding-up orders.
[10] Ridsdale was forced to apologise for "misleading" fans when he conceded money raised during Christmas period 2009 from season ticket renewals for 2011 had to be spent on settling debts rather than reinforcements.
Craig Noone and Réda Johnson were subsequently sold, and the club survived the winding-up attempt for debts owed to HM Revenue & Customs.
Brendan Guilfoyle (a Leeds-based insolvency practitioner) was appointed as administrator and retained Ridsdale to run the footballing side of the business.
David O'Leary called Ridsdale's claims "deranged" and suggested that he was 'two faced' with his comments compared to how the pair's relationship had continued since both had left Leeds.