Images: Lawrence Lustig

Peter Ridsdale is ready to step aside for someone "with a big chequebook" who can take Cardiff City to new heights.

Peter revealed his hopes for the club's future during a two-hour appearance on talkSPORT radio when interviewers Danny Kelly and Stan Collymore asked him about the club's chances of winning promotion to the Premier League and staying there.

Chairman Ridsdale said: "It's a question of whether we can survive, whether I'll be there or not. Frankly, Cardiff City should be in the hands of somebody with a big chequebook who can take us to the next level.

"I think we've done a reasonably good job, but I don't pretend that we did anything but come in on a short-term basis to try and get us to where we are now.

"I would step aside. I went to Cardiff for three months in 2005. I'm not around because I'm hanging on for the sake of it. I came to do a job. It needs someone else to take it to the next level. The moment that happens, I'll shake that person's hand and walk away."

He also revealed the depth of disappointment he felt when the club missed out on the play-offs last May. "I was gutted because we were in the top six every week last season except the last one. We have to make it up to the fans for missing out last season. It would have been easy to change manager and a lot of fans wanted me to do that. But I wrote an e-mail to the board saying this was not the time for a knee-jerk reaction.

"A change of stadium, and signing seven new players has given us a lift. Going back to Ninian Park would have been difficult. Somehow, we went into this season on a real feeling of optimism and it seems to have been borne out on the pitch.

"All our supporters berate us for not being in the Premier League, but we haven't been in the top flight since the early 1960s. When I came in four years ago, we had to keep the club alive and get the stadium built. We're still around and the stadium is there.

"Bringing in Dave Jones, who like me had been in the Premier League - and we'd both like to be back there - suddenly raised the expectations of our supporters. We got to the FA Cup Final in 2008 and that also raised expectations. But we want to get into the Premier League and stay there.

"We have 1.2 million people living within a 30-minute drive of the stadium. It's a massive catchment area and a massive fan base.

"If we were to go up, we would have to look at the people who have done it well, like Stoke City. Peter Coates and Tony Pulis didn't just splash the cash - they've invested it wisely. At Cardiff, we've had to be smart in the transfer market. If things work out and we are promoted, it would be the same in the Premier League. It's not about the amount you spend, it's about how you spend it.

"The first thing to work out would be how much money goes in the bank and stays there, to make sure that we would be in a good position if we were relegated. Then we would decide how much we have to spend.

"Our aim would be to stay in the Premier League. Dave is quite shrewd and would make the best of the money we gave him to keep us up."

Peter also stressed the role of the new stadium in raising the club's hopes of a future in the top flight. He said: "We needed to attract families, sponsors and businesses. We couldn't do that at Ninian Park.

"The atmosphere at the old ground was electric. I was there as Leeds chairman in 2002 when we were knocked out of the FA Cup. But our new stadium has an equally good atmosphere and Ninian Park was a relic, a thing of the past. We needed a venue to play top-class football and the new stadium provides that."