Palace supremo Simon Jordan hits back at Peter Ridsdale

Last week it was Coin-Gate, this week it's Elbow-Gate, just another ordinary week in the extraordinary twists and tales that come with Cardiff City Football Club.


The incident with Roger Johnson at Crystal Palace was a bad one. Fortunately, Roger is improving but it's a certainty he will miss today's key home game with Burnley.


However after Peter Ridsdale issuing a statement on www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk yesterday morning claiming police would have been involved if Claude Davies had taken that action off the pitch and that they have asked the F.A. to investigate the incident in which the Palace man pole-axed Roger with an elbow to the throat, a response from the South London club was only to be expected.


It has come in the form of a phone call by Palace's maverick owner Simon Jordan to SkySportsNews in which he claims Ridsdale is being 'irresponsible' and 'outrageous', that the incident was unintentional and that Cardiff City are doing it as a smokescreen to cover Dave Jones being sent off and possibly suspended to the stands as Cardiff are in the midst of an end of season promotion race.

Jordan commented that he gets on with Peter Ridsdale before damning him issuing such a statement and added about the incident that, "I think Peter's assertions about Claude Davis' motivations, you can't speak about another man's intent unless you can read that man's mind. I don't think for any instance that Claude has tried to elbow the kid in the throat, I think it's unfortunate that he has caught him in the throat, but I think it's an accident."

Of Davies' elbow, he added, "I think Peter's assertions about Claude Davis' motivations, you can't speak about another man's intent unless you can read that man's mind. I don't think for any instance that Claude has tried to elbow the kid in the throat, I think it's unfortunate that he has caught him in the throat, but I think it's an accident."

Questionning Ridsdale's motives - this part seems especially ridiuclous - Jordan quipped its main motive was, "trying to ensure that his manager's conduct doesn't get brought to book so he doesn't get a touchline ban for what would be a critical time of the season."

Jordan also had his say on the half-time fracas which saw Dave Jones sent to the stands along with his own boss Neil Warnock. The Palace supremo quipped, "What I saw was the Cardiff bench being very irate at the time and then a lot of nonsense of going backwards and forwards. What I've heard was very vociferous and very aggressive walking towards the tunnel and it caused a brawl." adding that Dave Jones is, "not a young manager, he is a senior manager. I think Cardiff's conduct is reprehensible and I think Peter Ridsdale's smokescreen is definitive about distracting it from the conflict of his manager".

City have promised to make no more comment until hearing back from the F.A., let's hope they keep to their word as distractions like this as such a crucial time for the club won't help anyone or anything.