Former Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale has sprung to his own defence over the early-2000s capitulation at Elland Road. It comes amidst drastic proposals to change Premier League spending limits in November.

Leeds’ battles to stay in the Premier League this season aren’t helped by PSR restrictions hampering their ability to spend on overhauling the squad.

The Premier League are proposing changes to how clubs are permitted to spend, per The Times. If a vote is approved next month, a ‘salary cap’ could come in that limits each side to a budget of around £550million per season.

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Peter Ridsdale responds to Premier League salary cap debate and leaps to Leeds United defence

Former Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale was brought in by talkSPORT on Thursday morning to dissect the issues regarding this Premier League proposal.

Such a change would be a significant detriment to the bigger clubs in the league. It would harm their chances of offering competitive wages compared to other elite clubs in Europe.

Peter Ridsdale opposes Premier League changes to clubs’ spending limits. (REUTERS/Phil Noble)

Ridsdale was against the notion of this de facto ‘salary cap’. To which, host Jim White asked if such a restriction would have prevented Leeds from going under in the early 2000s. Ridsdale oversaw short-sighted spending in pursuit of Champions League football, but doesn’t think he was to blame.

“I don’t believe it would,” Ridsdale responded. “I mean, people keep throwing Leeds United back in my face, but the reality was after I left, 18 months later, they got relegated.

“And in those days, it’s a separate subject as you know, parachute payments didn’t exist, and it was on relegation that Leeds got into financial difficulties.

“When I was chairman, we were never outside of the top five, and therefore we were sustainable until relegation.”

Peter Ridsdale makes a shocking claim about Leeds United’s sustainability

Ridsdale may have a point when discussing the impact that this Premier League rule change will have on the best clubs. But he’s just wrong with how he references Leeds.

Leeds after the turn of the millennium are perhaps the most famous case study in football history when it comes to running a club unsustainably.

Leeds were dishing out massive contracts and spending huge fees, gambling on the basis of securing consistent Champions League football. When United finished outside the Champions League places, they were then forced into a fire sale of their best players. Ultimately we ended up relegated in 2004, before tumbling down to League One and facing complete oblivion.

Leeds United’s former chairman Peter Ridsdale has defended his time at the club. (Action Images, Digital)

Ridsdale held a press conference in 2003 addressing the huge cost-cutting that came as a direct result of the financial mismanagement under his stewardship. His iconic phrasing of course goes against everything he just said to Jim White.

“Should we have spent so heavily in the past? Probably not, but we lived the dream, we enjoyed the dream. Only by making the right decisions today can we rekindle the dream once again in the future, and that is what we intend to do.”

Leeds were relegated as a direct result of being unsustainable on Ridsdale’s watch. Maybe these current spending restrictions wouldn’t have changed anything. However, there’s no hiding from the fact that we absolutely weren’t “sustainable” during Ridsdale’s tenure. Because we couldn’t sustain it.

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