Peter Ridsdale’s lack of financial control at Leeds United still haunts the club to this day. One of his final deals at Elland Road was the signing of Robbie Fowler from Liverpool.
Ridsdale and Leeds opted to spend big to get the club into the Champions League, having reached the semi-finals in 2000. Leeds would fail to do so in 2000-01 and then 2001-02, ending David O’Leary’s era.
Ridsdale splashed £50m in 2000-01 on the likes of Mark Viduka, Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Keane. The season after, the spending didn’t stop, with the £11m signing of Fowler and Seth Johnson from Derby.
Leeds’ debts would rise to £82m around the same period and would increase north of £100m further on, as Leeds dreamed big but failed to buy themselves Champions League qualification under Ridsdale.
Leeds collapsed, like the club’s coffers. They have never been able to recover that position within English football. 21 years after relegation, Leeds are only back in the Premier League for a fourth season now.
Robbie Fowler never wanted to leave Liverpool for Leeds
Fowler’s stats were impressive at Elland Road, the England international and Anfield hero netting 14 times in 33 games. But he was once again forced to leave, this time because of the club’s dismal finances.
Bought for £12m, Fowler was sold for an initial £3m to Man City a year later, plus £3m in add-ons. Such was the disastrous running of the club under Ridsdale, Leeds still paid a large portion of Fowler’s wages.
But it all could have been avoided. Fowler tells Fenners on the former Soccer AM presenter’s LifeJacket podcast that he felt ‘forced’ to leave Liverpool, after an initial approach from Gianluca Vialli’s Chelsea.
“It was difficult. Ultimately, it was my decision, but I felt as though I was forced to leave. I left to go to Leeds, but Leeds weren’t the first that came in for me. The club [Liverpool] tried to sell me a few times.
“Newcastle was one, Villa was another. I remember sitting at my mate’s house one night. Phone goes, Gialluca Vialli at Chelsea. Said the club had agreed a fee, I was taken aback. I was happy at Liverpool.
“But they were trying to sell me. I knew my days were numbered. Leeds came in a few weeks later, and I knew I needed to leave. If I could have been at Liverpool my whole life, I would’ve taken that all day long.”
Robbie Fowler was past his peak by the time he joined Leeds
During the 1999-2000 season, Fowler only managed three goals – largely due to injury. Another 17 came in the season before joining Leeds, but it was still far below what fans had come to expect from Fowler.
Injuries were creeping into his game and by the time he joined Leeds, despite his 14 goals in 33 games for the Whites, Fowler was not the same player. Nigel Martyn says Leeds overpaid for Fowler in 2001.
Ultimately, that would be proved during his next season at Man City, in which he would only score 10 goals. It is more proof that Ridsdale and O’Leary overspent trying to sign a big name during their time.
Leeds could have easily signed Steve McManaman from Real Madrid, too. Another player that would go to Man City having been at Liverpool. Fowler would eventually return to Liverpool in January 2006.
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