My grief

PETER RIDSDALE today spoke for the first time of his shock and disappointment at the way he and Leeds United were treated in the aftermath of the Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate trial. 

The United chairman admits that nothing had quite prepared him for what he calls the 'vitriolic and poisonous' fallout which he believes has done serious damage to the club's image. 

But while the hate mail and anger continues to come his way, undaunted Ridsdale insists he will not stop until the good name of Leeds United is restored. 

His decision to keep Bowyer and Woodgate at the club – despite their actions on the night when student Sarfraz Najeib was attacked – has been vilified in many quarters. 

Both players were charged with GBH and affray but while Bowyer was acquitted, Woodgate was found guilty of affray and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service. 

The level of media coverage has been unprecedented and Ridsdale knows there is a lot of work to be done if he is to succeed in improving United's reputation. 

He points to their continuing work within the community as the ideal way to prove to the world once again that his football club and the people within it are not the demons they have been made out to be. 

Criticism 

"The last few months as chairman of Leeds United have obviously been different to normal," he said. 

"I think the public criticism of the club since the trial has been very disappointing. A lot of people, who did not hear all of the facts like the jury did, had reached a different conclusion in their own minds and they now seem to want to take their personal view of the outcome out on me or the club. That is very disappointing. 

"We as a club have done more than any other football club in this country at working with the community, at working across all groups within our society, and I don't think anybody could do any better than we have done in that area. 

"Our investment in terms of the community programme in bringing education into inner city areas, our commitment to be at the forefront of the campaign to keep racism out of football, all of that work is outstanding. But nobody wants to hear about the good news. 

"It has been a test of resolve over the past few weeks and months, but we will come out stronger for it." 

United have always been proud of their work within the Leeds community and that is what made the attacks on them so hurtful for Ridsdale. 

He admits he was not prepared for such a reaction. 

"We did not know what was coming because we were not sure of, and we could not pre-judge, the outcome of the trial," he said. 

"However, anything that I may have thought was coming was nothing by comparison to what has happened since the conclusion of the trial. 

"I have never seen so many letters, so vitriolic, so poisonous in terms of vitriol against me and against the club. 

"Given how much work we have done within the community it was disappointing. If you ask anybody about that work we have done within the community and then you showed them the letters we have received, you simply cannot match the two together. It is disappointing." 

Ridsdale intends to work even harder than before within the community to repair the damage and he is confident that in time the wounds will have been healed.

"There is no doubt that it has done damage," he said. "But it is not irreparable at all; we will bounce back because what we do in the community is something which we believe in. 

"We will just carry on and you could even argue that we will redouble our efforts because we are going to demonstrate to everybody that we stand for the right things in football and we stand for the right things in the community. 

"We have got to assume that, over a period of time, if we do the right things in the right way then time will hopefully heal and time will make people more objective about the things we do. 

"Regrettably there will be other things which happen that are bound to divert people's attention. 

"All we can do is, if we believe in what we are trying to do and if we believe that we have handled things right, which I do, then we have to just carry on and remain just as focused and just as strong."

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