Whilst not in any way taking away the damage done by previous regimes, the on going legacy of that should only have been the ramifications of the lease & licence at the Ricoh. Even then the club had a greater share of the incomes at the Ricoh in 2008 than it did when the keys were thrown back in 2013.
The massive debts incurred up until December 2007 were very largely written off, if you include the further write down in 2010 then it looks to me like the net debt taken over by SISU ended up at around £3m. We are presently north of £32m
The debt situation and living within means were known factors in 2008 and like the lease & licence SISU made a choice not to deal with it until 2012. If they did not make that choice then that points to poor management of a situation they have expertise in..... distressed companies. The debt problems was precisely why SISU were here in the first place - they saw an opportunity to buy debt cheap and then to sell on for a profit - it is what they do, how they making their living and they can not hide behind "I didn't realise but it was someone else's fault"
Currently they are in terms of CCFC alone adopting a far better approach to get a viable business, living within means, only increasing debt if absolutely necessary, dealing with the lease & licence etc.
But they made choices/decisions on every day of their tenure so far and they are responsible for those choices, no one else. You can not blame Richardson for something planned in 2008 2011 or 2014. Yes the previous regimes got us to a place of extreme vulnerability in December 2008 but nearly all the debt currently outstanding is derived since their takeover.
Ask yourself had they said in Feb 2008 the club has to be viable live within means but that means relying on youth, selling players for a few seasons, keeping wages down (like now) would you have gone with that - I suspect most fans would if for no other reason they would so relieved to still have a team. It was the sensible business thing to do at that time. 2008 they were in the driving seat and could make demands, relationships were new not broken, trust was starting not a word to be spat at.
Did they get the management wrong to begin with? yes. Did they adopt simple procedures like challenging expenses from the off (first thing anyone does taking over a company let alone a severely distressed one)? No Were there other choices? yes
They may have provided a team to hold its own in League 1 but that doesn't stop them taking responsibility for this mess much earlier than as of today