The chairman welcomed the shareholders to the meeting and introduced those at the top table. He announced that Keith Harris would be joining the Cardiff City board as a non-executive director directly following the AGM. In response to a question as to whether the new director holds shares in then club or not, Peter Ridsdale confirmed that his company, Seymour Pierce Ltd, already have a shareholding.
Ridsdale also announced that a successor for departing finance director Tony Brown is currently being sought by the club, and when that person takes up their position they will also join the board.
Ridsdale outlined the position at the club at the moment and painted a very positive picture of the direction in which the club is heading, thanks in particular to the new stadium development and the new training facilities.
He spoke of the management team's financial strategy in terms of their attempts to compete in the Championship and gain promotion to the Premiership. That involves selling players each year in order to raise enough revenue to pay the club's annual wage bill, which he suggested needs to be almost twice the amount that can be covered by the current gate receipts and commercial revenues.
He stressed that the latest set of accounts, which show a loss of almost £5 million for 2006/07, do not include any player sales as Cameron Jerome was sold just before the relevant period began and Michael Chopra was sold weeks after it ended.
Ridsdale said the accounts for the period covering June 2007 to May 2008 were in the process of being signed off and would show that the club made a profit of approximately £750,000 during that time. He stressed that the sale of Aaron Ramsey and the revenue from a record 14,000 season ticket sales are not included in that figure as they will be covered by the following year's accounts (ie: June 2008 to May 2009).
The chairman mentioned the club's success in avoiding summary judgement in the Langston court case and he also confirmed that Langston's recent appeal had failed. He estimated that the court case had cost the club approximately £400,000 and stated that regular dialogue with Langston's representative, Sam Hammam, is now very much ongoing. He said he is extremely confident that this business will be sorted out once and for all in the very near future.
Ridsdale then threw the meeting open for questions from the floor. The first question concerned his wages and bonus payment during 2007, which it was suggested were far too big for a company of the football club's size. The chairman defended his right to his level of earnings by outlining the progress the club has made since he took over his position. He was backed up by Keith Harris, who claimed Ridsdale's basic wages are in line with chief executives at other Championship clubs. He said there are other chief executives in this division who earn far more and stated his belief that Ridsdale's bonus was well deserved given the situation the club was in when he first arrived.
The chairman was asked a question regarding a debt write-off of almost £2 million that was contained in the 2005 accounts. He explained that this money was written off in agreement with Rudgwick Ltd, a company owned and controlled by former chairman Sam Hammam, who were the club's parent company at the time. The figure largely related to management fees which had been charged to the club by Rudgwick in previous years but had never actually been drawn as the club could not afford to pay them. Tony Brown mentioned that this debt write-off was crucial in order for the council to pass the club's stadium project business plan.
A question was asked regarding a large loan, believed to be in the region of £1.5 million plus interest, which is due to be repaid to former vice-chairman Michael Issac fairly soon. The chairman reported that friendly talks with Isaac are underway in a bid to renegotiate the terms and repayment date of that loan.
In answer to a question about the size of the club's current players wage bill, Ridsdale stated there are ten to twelve teams in this division whose wage bills are in excess of £12 million pa, six to eight whose wage bills are between £7 million and £12 million and the rest whose wage bills are less than £7 million. He said City are in the second bracket with a players wage bill of approximately £8 million pa at this current point in time.
The chairman fielded a question about people who had apparently bought season tickets for the forthcoming campaign but had then attempted to cancel their payments following the FA Cup final. He said they number less than a dozen in total and that includes a couple of genuine cases where people have either unexpectedly moved due to work or have passed away. He said the situation is absolutely nothing to worry about.
Ridsdale spoke briefly and proudly about the club's Academy set-up. He stated the current crop of Under 16's are particularly promising and suggested the manager already has his eye on a couple of them with a view to involving them in the senior set-up in the not too distant future.
The chairman was asked about the fee involved when Aaron Ramsey moved to Arsenal. He stated that the agreement made with the Gunners stated that they should pay £2.5 million immediately and then a further £2.5 million one year later in what was effectively a straight cash deal and was not dependent upon appearances. However, he added that Arsenal have in fact reached a further agreement with City since whereby they have already paid a little over £4.8 million in one lump sum to complete the transaction early.
One shareholder complained that the fee for Ramsey was too small by today's standards. Ridsdale explained that Liverpool and Arsenal both initially offered £1 million up front with a further £2 million based on appearances. Manchester United then moved in with a bid of £4.5 million plus a further payment of £500,000 if he made a set number of appearances for City this season as a part of a loan-back agreement. Arsenal effectively topped that with a straight £5 million cash bid. Liverpool dropped out of the running at that stage. Everton then made a late entry into the market and said they were prepared to match the £5 million deals being offered by Arsenal and Man Utd. Agents working for Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton indicated they were not prepared to improve upon those bids, so Ramsey was given permission to speak to all three clubs, which he duly did. Ridsdale and Dave Jones both stated the club wanted the player to stay here for another season and then go on to Man Utd, but he and his family eventually chose Arsenal and were very clear in that choice.
The chairman then moved on to the formalities of asking the shareholders to vote to accept the 2005, 2006 and 2007 accounts, and reappoint Chantrey Vellacott DFK Ltd as the club's auditors. All present with the exception of former chairman Tony Clemo voted to accept the 2005 accounts, the 2006 and 2007 accounts were accepted unanimously, and Chantrey Vellacott were reappointed with only one shareholder voting against.
Overall, I felt the mood at the AGM was a very positive one. Ridsdale's performance as chairman of this meeting was probably the finest I have witnessed from him since he arrived at the club. He dealt with all of the questions asked of him patiently and confidently and the answers he gave were generally plausible. Once again today he demonstrated just how good he is at public speaking and how comfortable he is with dealing with questions from supporters.
The permanent involvement in the club of Keith Harris can only be a good thing in my opinion. He is a real high-flyer within the British game and is certainly not known for backing losers, so his becoming a member of Cardiff City's board must be seen as a step forward for the club.
Dave Jones needed to say very little during the meeting itself but he spoke to a number of shareholders afterwards and seemed far more relaxed than he has done previously in public situations.
The messageboard thread relating to this can be found here:
http://www.ccmb.co.uk/fudforum/index.php?t=msg&goto=731021